Clark County Probate Court Records

Clark County was established in 1818, and therefore became one of the five counties in existence at the time the area became known as Arkansas Territory in 1819. Court was held in various places in those early days, such as the home of pioneer settler Jacob Barkman, west of the Caddo River, near what is now Caddo Valley. Later, a county seat was established at Greenville, which was located to the southwest along the Military Road (also known as the Southwest Trail). In 1842 Arkadelphia (previously known as Blakelytown) became the permanent location of the county seat. The county has not suffered a court house fire and possesses government records created since 1819. Various court records were moved in several phases to the Riley-Hickingbotham Library as a part of the Clark County Records Preservation Project, which began in 1990. The project, a joint undertaking between OBU and the Clark County Historical Association, includes the arrangement, description, and preservation of records once located in the Clark County Court House. The goal of the project is to preserve and make accessible this part of Clark County history. These numbered files contain loose papers related to probate cases, from the county\u27s earliest days through the mid-twentieth century. The Clark County Historical Association has produced a print index which includes names of not only those in the title of the case, but also witnesses, jurors, attorneys, etc