Howard County Genealogy Records
Howard County genealogy records begin in 1874, when this southwest Arkansas county was formed from Pike, Polk, and Sevier counties. The county seat is Nashville, and the courthouse holds marriage registers, probate files, and land records for family history research in this rural southwest Arkansas county near the Oklahoma border.
Howard County at a Glance
Howard County Courthouse Genealogy Records
The Howard County Clerk's office is at 421 N. Main Street, Nashville, AR 71852, phone (870) 845-7502. The Clerk holds marriage records from 1874 and probate records from 1874. Howard County was created on April 17, 1873, from Pike County, Polk County, and Sevier County, with courthouse records beginning in 1874. The Circuit Court Clerk at the same courthouse holds divorce filings, court records, and land records from 1874. Birth and death records at the county level begin in 1914.
Howard County was formed from three parent counties, so pre-1874 records for families in this area are spread across Pike County (at Murfreesboro), Polk County (at Mena), and Sevier County (at De Queen). The part of the county where your ancestor lived before 1874 determines which parent county to search. Old township maps or the early 1870 census can help you identify the right parent county for pre-formation records.
Howard County sits in the Ouachita Mountains region of southwest Arkansas near the Oklahoma border. Families in this part of the state often had connections to Indian Territory and later to Oklahoma after it became a state in 1907. If your Howard County family disappears from Arkansas records in the late 19th century, checking early Oklahoma territory records is sometimes productive. The county also borders Texas, and some families had connections across the Red River.
Note: Howard County was formed in 1873 from Pike, Polk, and Sevier counties, so pre-1874 family records are held in those three parent county courthouses.
Howard County Genealogy on FamilySearch
The FamilySearch Howard County wiki lists available records and links to digitized collections. Marriage records from 1874 are in the statewide Arkansas marriage index on FamilySearch. Probate records are indexed for the county, and census records run from 1880 through 1940.
The 1880 census is the first federal census for Howard County, taken six years after the county was formed. It names heads of household with ages, birthplaces, and occupations, giving a picture of the founding generation of settlers. Many Howard County families in 1880 had recently arrived from the parent counties — Pike, Polk, and Sevier — or from older southern states including Tennessee, Georgia, and the Carolinas. The birthplace entries in the census can trace families back through those earlier residences.
FamilySearch also provides military records for Arkansas including Civil War pension files. Howard County veterans included both Confederate soldiers and some Union men from the Ouachita Mountain region, where Unionist sentiment was not uncommon. The pension files contain sworn statements with marriage dates, children's names, and birthplaces that add detail to family histories. If your ancestor was a Civil War veteran who settled in Howard County, searching the pension records through FamilySearch is a high priority.
ARGenWeb Howard County Resources
The ARGenWeb project maintains a page for Howard County at ARGenWeb Howard County with volunteer-compiled genealogical resources. Cemetery surveys, family history submissions, and historical documents for this southwest Arkansas county are available on the site. Cemetery records are particularly important for Howard County research, as gravestones can provide death dates and family relationships that courthouse records do not directly address.
Howard County has rural family cemeteries established on private farmland across the county's townships. Some of these are on remote terrain in the Ouachita foothills and are not accessible without local knowledge. The ARGenWeb volunteers have transcribed many of these burial sites, preserving records for stones that have weathered or been displaced over the decades.
The Arkansas State Archives in Little Rock holds microfilmed county records, Confederate pension files, and other genealogy materials for Howard County research.
Family histories on the ARGenWeb site sometimes trace Howard County families from their origins in the parent counties and older southern states through the founding of the county in 1873. If another researcher has compiled information on your family line in Howard County, checking the ARGenWeb family history submissions is a quick way to find it before starting from scratch at the courthouse.
Southwest Arkansas Regional Archives
The Southwest Arkansas Regional Archives (SARA) at 201 Hwy 195 S, Washington, AR 71862, phone (870) 983-2633, covers 12 southwest Arkansas counties and holds county records, family papers, and historical manuscripts from the region. Howard County falls within SARA's coverage area, and the archives may hold supplementary materials for Howard County research. Washington, where SARA is located, was the first capital of Arkansas Territory, and its collections include early territorial records relevant to southwest Arkansas genealogy.
The Arkansas State Archives at 1100 North Street, Little Rock, (501) 682-6900, holds Confederate pension files, military records, and microfilmed county materials for Howard County. The Archives is free and open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m., plus the first and third Saturday of each month.
Vital Records and Federal Resources
The Arkansas Department of Health holds birth and death records for Howard County from 1914. The state marriage index starts in January 1917. For events before those dates, the county courthouse in Nashville is the primary official source. Birth certificates cost $12 and death certificates are $10 per copy from the state.
The Bureau of Land Management database holds federal land patents for the Howard County area, including patents issued under the parent county jurisdictions before 1874. Federal records for Howard County are at the National Archives at Fort Worth, 501 W Felix Street, Fort Worth, TX 76115, phone (817) 831-5620. Military pension files and Freedmen's Bureau records from 1865 to 1872 covering southwest Arkansas are available there.
Nearby Counties
Howard County borders Sevier County, Pike County, Polk County, Scott County, Little River County, and Nevada County. The three parent counties of Pike, Polk, and Sevier hold pre-1874 records for families who lived in the Howard County area.