Ouachita County Genealogy Records
Ouachita County genealogy records begin in 1843, when this south-central Arkansas county was formed from Union County. The county seat is Camden, and the courthouse holds marriage registers, probate files, and land records for family history research along the Ouachita River in this part of the state.
Ouachita County at a Glance
Ouachita County Courthouse Genealogy Records
The Ouachita County Clerk's office is at 145 Jefferson Street SW, Camden, AR 71701, phone (870) 837-2220. The Clerk holds marriage records from 1843 and probate records from 1843. Ouachita County was created on November 29, 1842, from Union County, with courthouse records beginning in 1843. The Circuit Court Clerk at the courthouse holds divorce filings, court records, and land records from 1843. Birth and death records at the county level begin in 1914.
Ouachita County sits along the Ouachita River, and Camden became a significant river port and later a railroad town. The county had a large cotton-farming economy in the antebellum period, with a substantial enslaved population. The early courthouse records from the 1840s document both the planter families who came from older southern states and the land transactions that accompanied cotton agriculture's expansion in this part of south Arkansas.
Ouachita County was the parent county for several later counties in south Arkansas. Nevada County was carved from Ouachita County in 1871. This means that families in the Nevada County area before 1871 would have their records in the Ouachita County courthouse. Researchers tracing south Arkansas families should be aware of these boundary changes when searching the record base.
Note: Ouachita County was formed in 1842 from Union County. Pre-1842 family records for this area are held in the Union County courthouse at El Dorado.
Ouachita County Genealogy on FamilySearch
The FamilySearch Ouachita County wiki lists available records and links to digitized collections. Marriage records from 1843 are in the statewide Arkansas marriage index on FamilySearch. Probate records are indexed for the county, and census records run from 1850 through 1940.
The 1850 census is the first complete federal census for Ouachita County, taken seven years after the county was formed. It names every household member with ages, birthplaces, and occupations, and the 1850 Slave Schedule for Ouachita County lists enslaved people under the names of their enslavers. Both documents together give the fullest picture of who was in the county at mid-century. The birthplace data in the population schedule commonly shows Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia for the white planter families who came to farm along the Ouachita River.
FamilySearch has indexed Freedmen's Bureau records for south Arkansas, which cover the Ouachita County area from 1865 to 1869. For African American genealogy in Ouachita County, these records — labor contracts, marriage registers, ration records — are the primary documentary bridge between the slavery period and the 1870 census. Camden was a significant Freedmen's Bureau station point, and the records from this area are among the more comprehensive for south Arkansas.
ARGenWeb Ouachita County Resources
The ARGenWeb Ouachita County page provides free genealogical resources compiled by volunteers. Cemetery surveys, family history submissions, and historical documents for this south-central Arkansas county are available on the site.
Ouachita County cemeteries include both the plantation-era family burial grounds of antebellum cotton families and community cemeteries that document African American families from the post-Civil War period. The ARGenWeb transcriptions cover a range of these sites across the county.
The ARGenWeb Ouachita County page provides cemetery records, family history submissions, and genealogical resources for researchers tracing south-central Arkansas families in the Camden area.
Family histories on the ARGenWeb site for Ouachita County trace families from their antebellum origins through multiple generations. Some submitted genealogies document connections across Ouachita County and Union County, reflecting the parent-county relationship and the fact that many families in this region had roots in both jurisdictions.
Vital Records and State Archives
The Arkansas Department of Health holds birth and death records for Ouachita County from 1914. The state marriage index starts in January 1917. For events before those dates, the county courthouse in Camden 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 Ouachita County. Freedmen's Bureau records for south Arkansas are at the National Archives at Fort Worth, 501 W Felix Street, Fort Worth, TX 76115, phone (817) 831-5620.
Nearby Counties
Ouachita County borders Union County, Calhoun County, Dallas County, Clark County, Nevada County, and Columbia County. Union County is the parent county and holds pre-1842 records for Ouachita County families. Nevada County, formed from Ouachita County in 1871, means some post-1871 family records shifted to that newer county.