Mysty: How early did they keep marriage records in Arkansas? I need to see if I can find the marriage record of my Grandfather and Grandmother Roberts. I have never dealt with the Department of Vital Statitics (I need one of those kids from the spelling bee to help me spell) and after the bad experiences that I have had with the state of Oklahoma and California I am not sure I want to travel that route again. I have been waiting since Feb on a death certificate from California and they have cashed my check and tell me they are processing my request, but 4 months? Mysty if you can tell me how early, I can do the rest myself. Thanks a lot. Colleen

Marriage records have been maintained by each county in AR about forever, Colleen. They are not maintained on the state level. Of course, since existing counties were cut up to create new counties for so many years, it's pretty important to know the history/parentage/offspring of counties to know where to go for records. The other problem is that so many courthouses burned so often and so many county records were lost in these fires that actual marriage records may no longer exist. For example, the Marion Co courthouse burned twice during the Civil War and again in Aug 1887. That fire took every single county record with it <groan>. Makes research around here a *real* challenge <gulp> I have the marriage records for MCAR between 1887 and 1917 so maybe I can help here. And there are tons of marriages listed on the Marion Co page http://www.rootsweb.com/~armarion. Mysty shakerag@mtnhome.com ************************************************ ----- Original Message ----- From: <Vansrib@aol.com> To: <ARMARION-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2001 12:04 PM Subject: Re: Howard of Marion Co. > Mysty: > > How early did they keep marriage records in Arkansas? I need to see if I can > find the marriage record of my Grandfather and Grandmother Roberts. I have > never dealt with the Department of Vital Statitics (I need one of those kids > from the spelling bee to help me spell) and after the bad experiences that I > have had with the state of Oklahoma and California I am not sure I want to > travel that route again. I have been waiting since Feb on a death > certificate from California and they have cashed my check and tell me they > are processing my request, but 4 months? > > Mysty if you can tell me how early, I can do the rest myself. Thanks a lot. > > Colleen