Debbie, I will post this to the list rather than to you personally. The 1870 Scott Co. census lists only one Hisaw family: Hickman Township, P.O. Waldron #139/139 Joel C. Hisaw 52 m GA Farmer ---/$200 Mahala 36 f GA Nathaniel 14 m GA Joel C. 13 m AL William 12 m AL Elenor 9 f AL Elizabeth 5 f MS Adaline 7mo f AR I don't know if this is the family you are searching for, but they are the only Hisaws on the 1870 Scott Co. census. Are you looking for a census index that includes the entire state of Arkansas for 1870? I, too, would like to know if that is available? Perhaps on CD? My experience with the CD indexes is that they are usually not all that accurate or complete, but certainly better than nothing. Neither births nor deaths were required to be recorded in Arkansas until 1914. My experience has been that more often than not, they were still not recorded even many years after that. My husband was born in 1938 and has only a "delayed birth certificate" filed years later, perhaps when he started to school? I've had the same experience in other Arkansas Counties, as well. My mother's birth in Searcy County in 1920 was not recorded; a great-great grandfather died in Van Buren Co. in 1934: no death certificate was filed. I suppose in the smaller, more rural areas such as Scott, Searcy, Van Buren Counties this problem may be more prevalent? Sometimes you just have to try to work around the lack of records. When I first began researching 25 years or so ago I was told the southern states are the most difficult to research. All of my families are from the south so I have no way of comparing, but I've found researching them to be not impossible. Sometimes we have to just do the best we can and gather as much information as possible and then go with only our best guesses when the documented proof is just not available. Delaine Edwards