Miller County Genealogy Records

Miller County genealogy records begin in 1880, when the county courthouse in Texarkana started keeping continuous records after the county's reorganization. The county seat is Texarkana, a city that straddles the Arkansas-Texas state line, and the courthouse holds marriage registers, probate files, and land records for family history research in this corner of southwest Arkansas.

Miller County Courthouse Genealogy Records

The Miller County Clerk's office is at 400 Laurel Street, Texarkana, AR 71854, phone (870) 774-1301. The Clerk holds marriage records from 1880 and probate records from 1880. The Circuit Court Clerk at the courthouse holds divorce filings, court records, and land records. Birth and death records at the county level begin in 1914.

Miller County has an unusual history that explains why courthouse records begin only in 1880 despite the county's origins going back to 1820. The original Miller County, formed from Hempstead County in 1820, covered land that was disputed between Arkansas and Texas. When the Republic of Texas claimed this territory in the late 1830s, the county was effectively abolished and residents came under Texas jurisdiction. The area was later restored to Arkansas after the U.S.-Texas boundary was settled, and Miller County was re-established in 1874. The 1880 record start date reflects the re-established county rather than the original 1820 organization.

This boundary dispute history means that researchers looking for Miller County families before 1880 may need to search both Arkansas and Texas records. Families in this area in the 1840s through 1870s may have filed documents in Texas courts, recorded deeds in Bowie County, Texas (which adjoins Miller County), or left records in the Hempstead County courthouse at Hope, which was the parent county for the original Miller County formation. The unusual jurisdictional history makes Miller County research more complex than most Arkansas counties.

Miller County Genealogy on FamilySearch

The FamilySearch Miller County wiki lists available records and links to digitized collections. Marriage records from 1880 are in the statewide Arkansas marriage index on FamilySearch. Probate records are indexed for the county, and census records run from 1830 through 1940.

The 1880 census for Miller County is a key document because it was taken in the same period that the reorganized county courthouse began keeping records. It names every household member with ages, birthplaces, and occupations and gives researchers a baseline picture of who was in the Texarkana area as the county was being rebuilt after the boundary dispute period. The 1880 entries often show birthplaces in Arkansas, Texas, and older southern states, reflecting the mixed origins of the population in this border area.

FamilySearch also has records relevant to the earlier period of settlement in this area. The 1830 and 1840 censuses for the original Miller County area are available and document households during the period when the county still existed in its first form. Cross-referencing these against Hempstead County records and early Texas land records can help trace families through the confused jurisdictional period from the late 1830s through the 1870s.

ARGenWeb Miller County Resources

The ARGenWeb Miller County page provides free genealogical resources compiled by volunteers. Cemetery surveys, family history submissions, and historical documents for this southwest Arkansas border county are available on the site.

Miller County cemeteries reflect the county's border location and its unusual history. Some burial sites document families who were in the area during the disputed period and span the Arkansas-Texas jurisdictional divide in their records. The ARGenWeb transcriptions are especially useful here because they preserve evidence of family continuity across a period that official courthouse records do not fully document.


The ARGenWeb Miller County page provides cemetery records, family history submissions, and genealogical resources for researchers tracing southwest Arkansas families in the Texarkana border area.

Family histories on the ARGenWeb site for Miller County often trace families across both the Arkansas and Texas sides of the Texarkana area. Given that the city of Texarkana itself straddles the state line, many family records span both states, and the ARGenWeb submissions reflect this cross-border research pattern.

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 including Miller County. SARA's collections include materials from the territorial and early statehood period that predate the existing Miller County courthouse records. For families in the Miller County area before 1880, SARA may hold relevant regional records from the parent county period.

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

Nearby Counties

Miller County borders Hempstead County, Lafayette County, and Little River County. The southern border meets Texas. Hempstead County at Hope holds the parent county records for Miller County families from before the county's re-establishment. The city of Texarkana, the county seat, also borders Bowie County, Texas, which holds relevant records for families in this border area.