Randolph County Genealogy Records
Randolph County genealogy records begin in 1836, when this northeast Arkansas county was formed from Lawrence County. The county seat is Pocahontas, and the courthouse holds marriage registers, probate files, and land records for family history research along the Current River in this part of the Ozarks border country.
Randolph County at a Glance
Randolph County Courthouse Genealogy Records
The Randolph County Clerk's office mailing address is PO Box 328, Pocahontas, AR 72455, phone (870) 892-5832. The Clerk holds marriage records from 1836 and probate records from 1836. Randolph County was created on October 29, 1835, from Lawrence County, with courthouse records beginning in 1836. 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.
Randolph County sits along the Current River on the northeast edge of the Ozark Plateau, near the Missouri state line. Pocahontas was an early settlement on the Current River and became the county seat when the county was organized in 1835. The county's position near the Missouri border and the Current River made it part of a natural migration corridor, and many families who settled here came down from Missouri or across from Kentucky and Tennessee during the 1830s and 1840s.
Because Lawrence County is the parent county, researchers tracing Randolph County families before 1835 go to the Lawrence County courthouse in Walnut Ridge. Lawrence County records date to 1815, the oldest in Arkansas, and its records cover the Randolph County area during the entire pre-formation period. For families who were in northeast Arkansas before 1835, Lawrence County is the starting point for county-level research.
Note: Randolph County was formed in 1835 from Lawrence County. Pre-1835 family records for the Randolph County area are held in the Lawrence County courthouse at Walnut Ridge, which has records dating to 1815.
Randolph County Genealogy on FamilySearch
The FamilySearch Randolph County wiki lists available records and links to digitized collections. Marriage records from 1836 are in the statewide Arkansas marriage index on FamilySearch. Probate records are indexed for the county, and census records run from 1840 through 1940.
The 1840 census is the first federal enumeration for Randolph County and captures households from five years after the county was formed. The 1850 census, which names every household member, is the key antebellum document. For Randolph County, the 1850 birthplace entries commonly show Missouri, Tennessee, and Kentucky as origins, reflecting the county's position near the Missouri line and its Ozarks character.
FamilySearch has indexed Civil War records relevant to Randolph County. Like other northeast Arkansas Ozarks counties, Randolph County had significant Unionist sentiment given the absence of plantation agriculture in the area. Both Confederate and Union pension files are relevant, and the Union pension applications for this area are particularly detailed because many men served in Missouri-based Union units given the county's proximity to the Missouri border. NEARA, the Northeast Arkansas Regional Archives, is also a key supplemental source for Randolph County research.
ARGenWeb Randolph County Resources
The ARGenWeb Randolph County page provides free genealogical resources compiled by volunteers. Cemetery surveys, family history submissions, and historical documents for this northeast Arkansas county are available on the site.
Randolph County cemeteries include burial sites along the Current River valley dating back to the 1830s. The ARGenWeb transcriptions document both the Pocahontas community cemeteries and the scattered rural family plots in the county's townships near the Missouri border.
The ARGenWeb Randolph County page provides cemetery records, family history submissions, and genealogical resources for researchers tracing northeast Arkansas families in the Pocahontas area.
Family histories on the ARGenWeb site for Randolph County trace families through the Lawrence County connection and across the Missouri border. Some compiled genealogies document family lines spanning both sides of the Arkansas-Missouri state line, which is useful given that many families in this corner of Arkansas had relatives in neighboring Missouri counties.
Northeast Arkansas Regional Archives
The Northeast Arkansas Regional Archives (NEARA) is located at the Lawrence County Courthouse in Powhatan, phone (870) 869-2064. NEARA serves counties in northeast and north-central Arkansas including Randolph County. Its collections include county records, newspaper archives, and local history materials from this region. Because Lawrence County is the parent county for Randolph County, NEARA's collections at Powhatan are directly relevant to Randolph County genealogy for the pre-1835 period.
The Arkansas State Archives in Little Rock holds Confederate and Union pension files, military records, and microfilmed county materials for Randolph 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
Randolph County borders Lawrence County, Clay County, Sharp County, and Greene County. The northern border meets Missouri. Lawrence County is the parent county and holds pre-1835 records for Randolph County families, with records going back to 1815.