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County Resources, Johnson County

Evans, Oark, Patterson Springs, and Yale Cemeteries: Johnson County, Arkansas
By Doris Evans Dewberry and Jimmie Dewberry, ISBN 1-56546-322-6, 489 pages, $49.50
Click here to view the index to this book

Doris Evans Dewberry and Jimmie Dewberry are the World's Living Experts on the genealogy of Northwest Johnson County (and the surrounding area). They've compiled books of census data, marriage records, and newspaper abstracts. If you're interested in this neck of the woods, you're probably kin to them, or kin to someone who's kin to them. This book contains inventories of four primary cemeteries: Evans, in a remote section of northern Johnson County near Spoke Plant; Oark, formerly called Melson, in northwest Johnson County; Patterson Springs, located five miles north of Oark; and Yale, formerly known as Hills Chapel, five miles west of Oark. In addition, the book contains information about several abandoned cemeteries in this area. The inventories are well-supplemented with annotations from newspaper articles and obituaries, memories of relatives, correspondence, marriage records, and other personal information. The index to the book contains the names of the people buried in the cemeteries. Burial records are current through March 15, 2002. If your folks are here, you definitely want this invaluable resource.

Community News: Northwest Johnson County, Arkansas, 1924-1949
By Doris Evans Dewberry, ISBN 1-56546-323-4, 215 pages, $29.00
Click here to view the index to this book

The original Community News book was very well received and Doris Evans Dewberry compiled a second volume, covering 1924-1949. The lives of residents of Mulberry, Hill, and Dickerson townships in northwest Johnson County unfold through these newspaper columns. In addition, the 1930 federal census population schedules for these three townships are included in the book. Check the index now!

Community News: Northwest Johnson County, Arkansas, 1912-1923
By Jimmie Dewberry and Doris Evans Dewberry, ISBN 1-56546-203-3, 116 pages, $20.00
Click here to view the index to this book

Do you have folks who lived "over the mountain" in northwest Johnson County? If so, you'll be delighted to learn that the Dewberrys have combed extant copies of the Clarksville newspapers for those wonderful community news columns for this area. The newspaper abstracts cover Hill Township, Yale, Oark, Catalpa, Friley, Little Mulberry, and Panther Branch. Click on the link above to load the text file and see if your relatives are listed. Then order this book to learn about the everyday lives of these hardy Ozark Mountains residents.

Johnson County, Arkansas, Marriages, 1890-1908, Books R, S, & T
By Imogene McConnell and Bobbie Jones McLane, ISBN 978-0-929604-65-7, 93 pages, $14.00

This book was first published in 1990, and contains an alphabetical list by grooms' names, giving the marriage date and citation. There's an index to bride's names.

Johnson County, Arkansas, Marriage Records, 1908-1924
By Jimmie Dewberry and Doris Evans Dewberry, ISBN 1-56546-121-5, 132 pages, $21.00

Marriage records are invaluable for the genealogist! These were transcribed by two experts who are very familiar with the county's names.

Arkansas Land Patents: Johnson County
ISBN 1-56546-029-4, 70 pages, $14.00

What are land patents? All of what is now Arkansas was once owned by the federal government--it is a public domain land state. People who purchased land from the federal government received documents called land patents. Land was obtained through purchase, military warrants, homesteads, scrip acts and other laws that allowed the land to be transferred out of federal hands. The paperwork generated in those sales can be very helpful to genealogists. Copies of the land patents make interesting additions to published family histories but the land entry case files are most apt to have helpful details about families or clues that help piece together information from other sources.

What information is included? The county volumes of land patents list patentee's name, volume and page of the patent book, land office, document and miscellaneous document numbers, type of transaction, precise legal description, and number of acres. Introductory information describes in great detail how to get copies of the patents and land entry case files, how to use other land record sources, how to integrate the information with other sources, what is found in a typical homestead case file, where and when the Arkansas land offices operated, and a selected bibliography. County maps are also included. The time period covered by this information is earliest settlement through 30 June 1908. Information from 156,784 patent documents is included. These county volumes are based on current-day county boundaries.

Arkansas Confederate Pension Applications from Johnson, Logan, Perry, Pope, Scott and Yell Counties
ISBN 0-941765-61-X, 46 pp, 1,916 veterans, $10.00

This book is an index to Confederate veterans who applied for pensions from the State of Arkansas. Information includes: veteran's name, widow or mother's name, company, unit, year(s) of enrollment, county from which applied and death dates of the veteran and his widow. Also included is a list of pensioners granted awards through legislative acts and a list of residents of the Confederate Home. Pensioners in this book are cross-referenced to the 1911 Arkansas Confederate Veteran census. A detailed summary of pension legislation and suggestions for further research are included. Pensions were based on the state of residence at the time of eligibility.

Arkansas State Donation and Swamp Lands: Crawford, Franklin, Johnson, Logan, Pope, Scott, Sebastian, and Yell Counties
Compiled by Desmond Walls Allen, ISBN 1-56546-279-3, 145 pages, $24.00
Click here to view the names listed in this book

See our detailed explanation about donation and swamp lands under our "Land Records" category. (Then click your "back" browser button to return to this page.)

Or buy this book in .pdf with electronic delivery (no shipping), ISBN 978-1-56546-544-2, $8.95

Index to Arkansas' World War I Soldiers from Franklin, Johnson, and Pope Counties
ISBN 1-56546-250-5, 64 pages, $15.00

Click here to view a list of Johnson County World War I Soldiers

Click here to learn more about these records on our World War I page

FREE Johnson County Death Record Indexes

The following links lead you to death record indexes for specified time periods. The information in these indexes is taken straight from Arkansas Health Department records. Click here to visit the Health Department's website for more information about ordering a death certificate. We've been selling this information in book form for some time, but have decided to make it available free to all our cousins researching our Arkansas ancestors. Click here to see details about the books.

Remember, just like in horseshoes and nuclear war, "close" counts when it comes to spelling.

Johnson County Death Record Index 1914-1923

Johnson County Death Record Index 1924-1933

Johnson County Death Record Index 1934-1940

Johnson County Death Record Index 1941-1948

Johnson County was created: 16 November 1833.
Parent County: Pope.
Progeny County: Logan 1871.
County Boundary Changes: Line with Franklin defined 14 December 1833, S boundary defined 2 November 1835, E boundary defined 5 October 1836. Line with Pope defined 19 February 1859, 25 March 1871, 16 March 1875, and 9 March 1877.
County Records: In 1906, J.W. Sallis reported the records extant from 1838 and in good condition.

Click here to load a .pdf map of Johnson County

County Resources, Johnson County

FREE Johnson County Death Record Indexes

Contact us: Arkansas Research, Inc., PO Box 303, Conway, AR 72033 Voice: 646/470-1120 E-mail: desmondwallsallen(at)gmail.com

Contact us: Arkansas Research, Inc., PO Box 303, Conway, AR 72033
Voice: 646/470-1120
E-mail: desmondwallsallen(at)gmail.com