Lonoke County, Arkansas Genealogy

United States

Arkansas

Lonoke County

 

Guide to Lonoke County, Arkansas ancestry, genealogy and family history, birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

Arkansas Online Genealogy Records

County Facts County seat: Lonoke Organized: April 16, 1873 Parent County(s): Pulaski and Prairie Neighboring Counties Arkansas  • Faulkner  • Jefferson  • Prairie  • Pulaski  • White See County Maps Courthouse Location Map Adoption This page is available for adoption

County Information

Description

The county was named for a "lone oak" tree that stood on the site of the present county seat and was used as a local landmark.It is located in the central area of the state.

County Courthouse

Lonoke County Courthouse
3rd & N Center Street
PO Box 431
Lonoke, AR 72086-0431
Phone: 501.676.2368
Lonoke County Website

County Clerk has marriage and probate records.

Lonoke County, Arkansas

Information for this chart was taken from various sources, often containing conflicting dates. This information should be taken as a guide and should be verified by contacting the county and/or the state government agency.

Known Beginning Dates for Major Records
Birth*	Marriage	Death*	Court	Land	Probate	Census
1914	1873	1914	1873	1873	1873	1830
*State birth and death records began in 1914. Limited compliance until the 1920s

Record Loss

There is no known history of courthouse disasters in this county.

Boundary Changes

1873--Lonoke County was created 16 April 1873 from Pulaski and Prairie  Counties.  County seat: Lonoke For animated maps illustrating Arkansas county boundary changes, "Rotating Formation Arkansas County Boundary Maps" (1813-1925) may be viewed for free at the MapofUS.org website.

Populated Places

For a complete list of populated places, including small neighborhoods and suburbs, visit Hometown Locator. The following are the most historically and genealogically relevant populated places in this county:

Cities
Austin Cabot Carlisle	England Humnoke Lonoke (county seat)	Ward
Towns
Allport	Coy	Keo
Census-designated places
Scott
Townships
Butler Carlisle (Carlisle) Caroline (Austin, small part of Cabot, part of Ward) Cleveland Crooked Creek (Allport, Humnoke) Dortch (CDP Scott) Eagle Fletcher Furlow Goodrum	Gray Gum Woods (England) Hamilton Indian Bayou (Coy) Isbell Lafayette (Keo) Lonoke (Lonoke) Magness (part of Cabot) Oak Grove (small part of Cabot) Pettus	Prairie Pulaski Richwoods Scott Totten Walls Ward (part of Ward) Williams York (most of Cabot)

History Timeline

Emphasis for this timeline is on events that affected migration, records, or record-keeping. Unless otherwise mentioned, the events below were taken from the Lonoke County page on the website, The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture.

• 1821 - The first known white settlement was on Moss Prairie, founded by Sampson Gray from Williamson County, Tennessee.
• 1849 August 9 - To encourage more people to settle in Brownsville, an ad was placed in the Arkansas Gazette. It read, “The site is a beautiful and elevated situation and persons wishing to make an investment in town prosperity will do well to attend this sale."
• 1865 - As the soldiers returned home from the Civil War, they found that land, homes, and businesses had been destroyed. They began the task of rebuilding homes and businesses and getting the land ready to plant crops for the next year.
• 1873 April 16 - Governor Elisha Baxter signed the act creating Lonoke County from the parent counties Prairie and Pulaski.
• 2010 - Lonoke County has had a steady increase in population from its very beginning and now (2010) tops 68,300.

Resources

Cemeteries

Cemeteries of Lonoke, Arkansas online and in print
Tombstone Transcriptions Online	ARGenWeb ARGenWeb Archives Tombstone Project Arkansas Gravestones Cemetery Records by Interment Billion Graves
TombstoneTranscriptions in Print (Often more complete)	Family History Library WorldCat
List of Cemeteries in the County	Findagrave.com Billion Graves Cemetery Records by Accessgenealogy FamilySearch Places
See Arkansas Cemeteries for more information

Census Records

Historical populations
Census	Pop.	%±
1880	12,146	—
1890	19,263	58.6%
1900	22,544	17.0%
1910	27,983	24.1%
1920	33,400	19.4%
1930	33,759	1.1%
1940	29,802	−11.7%
1950	27,278	−8.5%
1960	24,551	−10.0%
1970	26,249	6.9%
1980	34,518	31.5%
1990	39,268	13.8%
2000	52,828	34.5%
2010	68,356	29.4%
Source: "Wikipedia.org".

Church Records

List of Churches and Church Parishes

• FamilySearch Places
• 1875-1899 - Nebraska, Church Records, 1875-1899 at FamilySearch — index - How to Use this Collection

Guardianship

• Probate Records 1861-1949 Lonoke County portion of the collection: Arkansas Probate Records, 1817-1979: Arkansas Probate Records, 1817-1979 FamilySearch Historical Collections (Free, browse images) - [[

Arkansas Probate Records - FamilySearch Historical Records|How to Use this Collection]]

• • Includes Administration records 1873-1884; Administration, executor and guardian dockets 1861-1886; Executor bonds and letters 1873-1949; Guardian records 1873-1892; Probate records 1873-1891; Wills 1873-1939.

Local Histories

Local histories are available for Lonoke County. They may include biographies, church, school and government history, and military information. For more about local histories, see Arkansas Local Histories.

• Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Pulaski, Jefferson, Lonoke, Faulkner, Grant, Saline, Perry, Garland and Hot Spring Counties, Arkansas. 1889. Chicago ; St. Louis : Goodspeed Pub. Co. Online at: FamilySearch Digital Library, Hathitrust, Internet Archive; At various libraries (WorldCat).

Maps and Gazetteers

Click a neighboring county
for more resources

• Maps of Arkansas (1813-1925)
• FamilySearch Places:Cities and Towns- How to Use FS Places

Military Records

Civil War

Regiments. Men in Lonoke County served in various regiments and companies. Those listed below were specifically formed in this county:

- 2nd Regiment, Arkansas Volunteers (Confederate), Company B

Online Records

• 1861-1865 - Arkansas Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers, 1861-1865 at FamilySearch — index - How to Use this Collection
• 1890-1963 - Arkansas Confederate Soldier Home,1890-1963 at FamilySearch — index and images - How to Use this Collection
• 1891-1939 - Arkansas Ex-Confederate Pension Records, 1891-1939 at FamilySearch — index and images - How to Use this Collection
• 1901-1929 - Arkansas Confederate Pensions, 1901-1929 at FamilySearch — index and images - How to Use this Collection

Newspapers

Finding More Arkansas Newspapers Additional newspapers abstracts can sometimes be found using search phrases such as Lonoke newspapers in online catalogs like:

• WorldCat
• FamilySearch. Do a Lonoke County, Arkansas Genealogy Place-name search for these and other records in the FamilySearch Catalog (For instructions see, FamilySearch Catalog Places Search).
• Fayetteville Democrat at Ancestry.com ($)
• Fayetteville Daily Democrat at Ancestry.com ($)
• Daily Fayetteville Democrat at Ancestry.com ($)
• Northwest Arkansas Times at Ancestry.com ($)
• Courier Times at Ancestry.com ($)

Probate Records

Online Probate Records

• 1783 – 1998 Arkansas Wills and Probate Records 1783-1998 at Ancestry.com — index and images $
• 1817 – 1979 Arkansas Probate Records 1817-1979 at FamilySearch — images - How to Use this Collection
• Probate Records 1861-1949 Lonoke County portion of the collection: Arkansas Probate Records, 1817-1979: Arkansas Probate Records, 1817-1979 FamilySearch Historical Collections (Free, browse images) - How to Use this Collection
  • Includes Administration records 1873-1884; Administration, executor and guardian dockets 1861-1886; Executor bonds and letters 1873-1949; Guardian records 1873-1892; Probate records 1873-1891; Wills 1873-1939.

Social Security Records

• 1935-2014 United States Social Security Death Index at FamilySearch - How to use this collection; index. Also at Ancestry, findmypast, Fold3, GenealogyBank, MyHeritage, and Steve Morse. Click here for more information.
• 1936-2007 U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 at Ancestry ($) — index, click here for more information.

Vital Records

See also How to order Arkansas Vital Records

Birth

Birth Records reveal
Yes or Maybe ⇒	Y	M
Name of Child
Birth Date and Place
Parent's Names
Mother's Maiden Name
Parent's Ages
Father's Occupation
Current Residence
Name of Doctor or Midwife

In 1877, a few county and city clerks started keeping birth and death records.

In 1914, the state law required all county clerks to record births and forward them to the state.

• Arkansas Births and Christenings, 1812-1965 at FamilySearch. (Free, index only)
  • Small file, but worth searching. Most entries were user-submitted.

See also: • Arkansas Online Genealogy Records, • How to Find Arkansas Birth Records and • Arkansas Vital Records—Birth.

Marriage

• 1779-1966 - Arkansas, United States Marriages at FindMyPast — index $
• 1860 - 1976 - Arkansas Church Marriages, 1860-1976 at FamilySearch — index and images - How to Use this Collection
• 1868 - 1921 - Lonoke County Marriage Books A-U Index 1868-1921 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch - free.
• 1873 - 1951 - Lonoke County Marriage Books A-Z, 27-41 Index 1873-1951 in Arkansas, County Marriages, 1837-1957 at FamilySearch - free. - How to Use this Collection
• 1917-1969 Arkansas, Marriage Certificates, 1917-1969 at Ancestry.com - index and images ($)

Death

• 1914-1969 Arkansas, Death Certificates, 1914-1969 at Ancestry.com - index and images ($)
• 1935-1961 Arkansas, Death Index, 1935-1961 at MyHeritage - index and images ($)

Divorce

• 1923-1969 Arkansas, Divorces, 1923-1969 at Ancestry.com - index ($)

Voter Records

• 1868-1910 - Arkansas, County Voter Registration Records, 1868-1910 at FamilySearch — index and images - How to Use this Collection

Research Facilities

Archives

Listed below are archives in Lonoke County. For state-wide archival repositories, see Arkansas Archives and Libraries.

Family History Centers

Family History Centers provide one-on-one assistance, free access to center-only databases, and to premium genealogical websites.
FamilySearch Affiliate Libraries have access to most center-only databases, but may not always have full services normally provided by a family history center.

• Family History Center and Affiliate Library Locator

Local Centers and Libraries

Libraries

Listed below are libraries in Lonoke County. For state-wide library facilities, see Arkansas Archives and Libraries.

Societies

Listed below are societies in Lonoke County. For state-wide genealogical societies, see Arkansas Societies.

Websites

• ARGenWeb. Free. Data may be submitted by individuals or complete transcriptions
• USGenWeb Archives. Free. Data may be submitted by individuals or may be complete transcriptions
• RootsWeb. Free. Data may be submitted by individuals or may be complete transcriptions
• Linkpendium. Free. Click links. Some sites they link to may have fees ($)
• CyndisList. Free. Click links. Some sites they link to may have fees ($)
• FamilySearch Catalog - The FamilySearch catalog contains descriptions and access information for all genealogical materials (including books, online materials, microfilm, microfiche, and publications) in their collection.  Use Historical Records to search for specific individuals in genealogical records

This website requires a paid subscription for full access.