Polk County Genealogy Records
Polk County genealogy records begin in 1845, when this west Arkansas Ouachita Mountains county was formed from Sevier County. The county seat is Mena, and the courthouse holds marriage registers, probate files, and land records for family history research in this mountain county near the Oklahoma border.
Polk County at a Glance
Polk County Courthouse Genealogy Records
The Polk County Clerk's office is at 507 Church Avenue, Mena, AR 71953, phone (870) 394-2100. The Clerk holds marriage records from 1845 and probate records from 1845. Polk County was created on November 30, 1844, from Sevier County, with courthouse records beginning in 1845. 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.
Polk County sits in the Ouachita Mountains in west Arkansas along the Oklahoma border. Mena developed as a railroad town in the late 19th century, but the county itself was organized decades before the railroad arrived, and its early settlers were mountain farmers who came from the Appalachian tradition. The founding families of Polk County in the 1840s and 1850s are documented in the courthouse records from that period and in the 1850 and 1860 censuses.
Like other mountain counties in Arkansas, Polk County had significant Unionist sentiment during the Civil War. The rugged terrain and the absence of large plantation operations meant that many men from the county resisted Confederate service. Pension files from both Union and Confederate veterans are relevant to Polk County research. For pre-1844 research, Sevier County records at De Queen go back to 1828 and cover the Polk County area before the county was formed.
Note: Polk County was formed in 1844 from Sevier County. Pre-1844 family records for the Polk County area are held in the Sevier County courthouse at De Queen.
Polk County Genealogy on FamilySearch
The FamilySearch Polk County wiki lists available records and links to digitized collections. Marriage records from 1845 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 Polk County, naming every household member with ages, birthplaces, and occupations. It was taken six years after the county was organized and captures the founding generation of settlers in Mena and the surrounding mountain townships. Birthplace data in the 1850 census commonly shows Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi as the origins of Polk County's early families.
FamilySearch has indexed both Confederate and Union pension files relevant to Polk County. The pension applications contain detailed family history statements that often supplement courthouse records from the Civil War period. For African American genealogy, Sevier County Slave Schedules from before 1844 and the Polk County Slave Schedules from 1850 and 1860 are the key antebellum documents. The Freedmen's Bureau records for southwest Arkansas are held at the National Archives at Fort Worth.
ARGenWeb Polk County Resources
The ARGenWeb Polk County page provides free genealogical resources compiled by volunteers. Cemetery surveys, family history submissions, and historical documents for this west Arkansas mountain county are available on the site.
Polk County cemeteries are scattered across the Ouachita Mountains and include both community burial grounds in Mena and small family plots throughout the county's rugged terrain. The ARGenWeb volunteers have transcribed a range of these sites, preserving stone readings that document families from the county's founding period through the 20th century.
The ARGenWeb Polk County page provides cemetery records, family history submissions, and genealogical resources for researchers tracing west Arkansas mountain families in the Mena area.
Family histories on the ARGenWeb site for Polk County trace families from their Sevier County and older southern state origins through their settlement in this mountain county. Some submitted genealogies document connections across Polk County and the neighboring counties of Scott, Montgomery, and Howard, which share the same general Ouachita Mountain settlement population.
Vital Records and State Archives
The Arkansas Department of Health holds birth and death records for Polk County from 1914. The state marriage index starts in January 1917. For events before those dates, the county courthouse in Mena 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 and Union pension files, military records, and microfilmed county materials for Polk County. Federal records are at the National Archives at Fort Worth, 501 W Felix Street, Fort Worth, TX 76115, phone (817) 831-5620.
Nearby Counties
Polk County borders Sevier County, Howard County, Montgomery County, Scott County, and Logan County. The western border meets Oklahoma. Sevier County is the parent county and holds pre-1844 records for Polk County families. The Sevier County courthouse at De Queen is the first stop for research in this area before 1844.