Lincoln County Genealogy Records
Lincoln County genealogy records begin in 1871, when this southeast Arkansas county was formed from Arkansas, Desha, Drew, and Jefferson counties. The county seat is Star City, and the courthouse holds marriage registers, probate files, and land records for family history research in this part of the lower Arkansas and Saline river valleys.
Lincoln County at a Glance
Lincoln County Courthouse Genealogy Records
The Lincoln County Clerk's office is at 300 S. Drew Street, Star City, AR 71667, phone (870) 628-5114. The Clerk holds marriage records from 1871 and probate records from 1871. Lincoln County was created on March 28, 1871, from parts of Arkansas County, Desha County, Drew County, and Jefferson County. The Circuit Court Clerk at the courthouse holds divorce filings, court records, and land records from 1871. Birth and death records at the county level begin in 1914.
Lincoln County was formed from four parent counties during the Reconstruction period. Its creation in 1871 means that the earliest courthouse records were made in the context of post-Civil War reorganization, and they include documentation of both white and Black families establishing themselves in the new county structure. The 1870 census for the parent counties captures the pre-formation population of the Lincoln County area and is essential for tracing families that appear in Lincoln County records after 1871.
For pre-1871 research in the Lincoln County area, Arkansas County records (at De Witt and Stuttgart) go back to 1814, Desha County records (at Arkansas City) to 1840, Drew County records (at Monticello) to 1847, and Jefferson County records (at Pine Bluff) to 1830. The part of Lincoln County where your ancestor lived before 1871 determines which parent county to search.
Note: Lincoln County was formed in 1871 from Arkansas, Desha, Drew, and Jefferson counties, so pre-1871 family records are distributed across those four parent county courthouses.
Lincoln County Genealogy on FamilySearch
The FamilySearch Lincoln County wiki lists available records and links to digitized collections. Marriage records from 1871 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 complete federal census for Lincoln County and lists every household member with ages, birthplaces, and occupations. It captures the county in its first decade of existence and includes both families who moved from the parent counties and families who had been in the area under those parent county jurisdictions before 1871. For African American families, the 1880 census is a key source since it documents individuals who had been enslaved before the Civil War and are now named as heads of household in their own right.
FamilySearch has indexed the antebellum Slave Schedules for the parent counties. Cross-referencing these against the 1870 and 1880 census population schedules and the Freedmen's Bureau records from 1865 to 1872 is the standard method for tracing Black families in Lincoln County back through the slavery period. The Freedmen's Bureau records for southeast Arkansas are particularly comprehensive and include labor contracts and marriage registers that name formerly enslaved individuals and their family connections.
ARGenWeb Lincoln County Resources
The ARGenWeb Lincoln County page provides free genealogical resources compiled by volunteers. Cemetery surveys, family history submissions, and historical documents for this southeast Arkansas county are available on the site.
Lincoln County cemeteries document families from both the plantation period in the parent counties and the post-war settlement in the new county. Rural cemeteries across the county include both white and Black burial sites from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The ARGenWeb transcriptions preserve records of these burial sites, including some on private farmland that are not accessible without local knowledge.
The ARGenWeb Lincoln County page provides cemetery records, family history submissions, and genealogical resources for researchers tracing southeast Arkansas families.
Family histories on the ARGenWeb site for Lincoln County trace families from their origins in the parent counties through the founding of Lincoln County in 1871. For African American genealogy, submitted family histories sometimes document oral traditions and private family records that bridge the gap between the slavery period and the post-war documentation in official records.
Vital Records and State Archives
The Arkansas Department of Health holds birth and death records for Lincoln County from 1914. The state marriage index starts in January 1917. For events before those dates, the county courthouse in Star City is the primary official source. Birth certificates cost $12 and death certificates are $10 per copy from the state.
The Arkansas State Archives in Little Rock holds Confederate pension files, military records, and microfilmed county materials for Lincoln County. Federal records including Freedmen's Bureau materials are at the National Archives at Fort Worth, 501 W Felix Street, Fort Worth, TX 76115, phone (817) 831-5620. The BLM land records database holds federal land patents for the Lincoln County area from the parent county period onward.
Nearby Counties
Lincoln County borders Arkansas County, Desha County, Drew County, Jefferson County, and Cleveland County. All four parent counties hold pre-1871 records for Lincoln County families.