Jonesboro Genealogy Records

Jonesboro genealogy records are held by Craighead County, with the Jonesboro Public Library providing one of the stronger genealogy collections in northeast Arkansas and Arkansas State University maintaining regional history archives.

Craighead County Courthouse Records

Jonesboro is the county seat of Craighead County. The Craighead County Clerk's office is at 511 South Main Street, Jonesboro, AR 72401, phone (870) 933-4520. The Clerk holds marriage records from 1878 and probate records from 1878. Craighead County was formed in 1859 from Mississippi and Greene counties and has two district seats — Jonesboro is the Western District seat and Lake City is the Eastern District seat. Most records for the Jonesboro area are at the Jonesboro courthouse.

Pre-1859 records for the Jonesboro area are in Mississippi County and Greene County. Mississippi County records go back to 1834 and Greene County records go back to 1834. Researchers tracing families in the Jonesboro area before Craighead County was formed should check both parent counties, as the division between them ran through the area that became Craighead County.

The Jonesboro City Clerk at City Hall holds city records including ordinances and historical documents.


The Jonesboro City Clerk maintains city records. County genealogy records are at the Craighead County courthouse at 511 South Main Street.

Jonesboro Public Library Genealogy Collection

The Craighead County Jonesboro Public Library provides an extensive genealogy collection for the Jonesboro area. The library holds in-library access to American Ancestors, Ancestry Library Edition, Fold3 military records, Heritage Quest, Newspapers.com Jonesboro Collection, and Jonesboro newspapers on microfilm dating back to the 1890s. The library is a significant research resource for anyone tracing northeast Arkansas families.

The Jonesboro Public Library's genealogy section is one of the better-equipped genealogy research facilities in northeast Arkansas.


The Jonesboro Public Library holds Ancestry Library Edition, Fold3, and Jonesboro newspaper archives on microfilm dating to the 1890s.

Northeast Arkansas Regional Archives

The Northeast Arkansas Regional Archives (NEARA) is located at the historic Lawrence County Courthouse in Powhatan, phone (870) 878-6528. NEARA serves a 16-county region of northeast and north-central Arkansas including Craighead County. Because Craighead County was formed from Greene and Mississippi counties, NEARA's collections covering those parent counties are relevant to pre-1859 Jonesboro area research. Arkansas State University's Dean B. Ellis Library in Jonesboro also holds regional history collections and manuscript materials relevant to northeast Arkansas genealogy.

The Arkansas Department of Health holds birth and death records from 1914. The Arkansas State Archives in Little Rock holds Confederate pension files and microfilmed county materials for Craighead County. Federal records are at the National Archives at Fort Worth, 501 W Felix Street, Fort Worth, TX 76115, phone (817) 831-5620.

Nearby Cities

Cities near Jonesboro with genealogy pages include Paragould. Paragould is the county seat of Greene County to the north, which is one of the parent counties for Craighead County and holds pre-1859 records for part of the Jonesboro area.