Search billions of records on Ancestry.com

Greene County

Arkansas Trails To The Past Logo

November 5 1833

Trails To The Past Logo

Help Wanted

Join Trails To The Past Logo

Arkansas Trails has several counties and projects up for adoption. If you would be interested in adopting a county or project look at the Arkansas Trails County Page. If you find one that you would like to adopt e-mail the State Administrator State Administrator.


[ Being a County or State Administrator is fun and rewarding. If you have an interest in the history of Arkansas and the genealogy of it's residents please consider it. If you think "there is no way I can do this" there are many people ready, willing and able to help you. It's not near as difficult as you might think. ]

History
    The first settler to the area was Benjamin Crowley of Kentucky who arrived in 1821 and established a home about 12 miles west of Paragould.
    Greene County was formed on 5 November 1833 out of portions of Lawrence County and contained portions of present Clay and Craighead counties. The county was named after Revolutionary War hero Nathanael Greene. In 1815, Benjamin Crowley moved his family from Kentucky to Lawrence County in Arkansas. He settled on the Spring River and farmed in an area regional historians called "the second Garden of Eden." In December 1821, Crowley crossed the Black and Cache rivers to explore the ridge area. Armed with a War of 1812 land grant, "Old Ben' selected a vacated Delaware Indian site that had developed around a large spring on a ridge. No one knows when the ridge became known as Crowley. The original county seat was in Benjamin Crowley's home. By 1836, when Arkansas became a state, the county seat was located at a settlement called "Paris" (not to be confused with present-day Paris, Arkansas).
    In 1848 a national highway was put through and the county seat was moved to the community of Gainesville, Arkansas which had a reputation as a relatively lawless town. The county seat remained there until 1883 when it was moved to the new town of Paragould. The residents of Gainesville opposed the move and it is reported that shots were fired and tempers were high. A new courthouse was built in 1888 and the building still survives in downtown Paragould.

Links

Free Records Search at Familysearch Org

Greene county Cemetery Listings on Arkansas Gravestone Project

Greene County Cemetery Listings on Interment Net

Green County Cemetery Listing at Find A Grave

Arkansas Dept of Health

Arkansas Dept of Health
Division of Vital Records, Slot 44
4815 West Markham Street
Little Rock, AR 72205
(501) 661-2174
Fax: (501) 663-2832
  • Vital Records is responsible for the collection and issuance of birth and death certificates and marriage and divorce coupons.
  • Birth and death certificates serve two purposes. They are the definitive legal documents of identity and they collect important medical information about the two most important events – birth and death.
  • Marriage and divorce coupons are so called because they are removed from the bottom of marriage and divorce certificates, the original of which is retained in the offices of the county clerk of courts; these coupons contain limited information.

Arkansas State Archives

Arkansas History Commission
One Capitol Mall
Little Rock, AR 72201
501.682.6900
state.archives@arkansas.gov		 The History Commission, the official state archives, is a facility in which those interested in Arkansas history may engage in research. The staff does not undertake research requests from the public. The Research Room is open from 8:00 A.M. to 4:30 P.M., Monday through Saturday. It is closed on state holidays. If you are traveling long distances, please call to confirm hours/days of operation at 501.682.6900.

Arkansas Genealogical Society
  • The purpose of the society is to promote family history research, to educate persons in genealogical research methods and the use of historical records, to publish articles pertaining to Arkansas ancestors, and to preserve and make accessible historical, genealogical, and biographical sources pertaining to Arkansas.
  • AGS has contributed to the genealogical collection of books and other materials at the Arkansas History Commission and State Archives, the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, and at other libraries and archives with genealogical collections. Books sent to AGS to be reviewed in The Arkansas Family Historian are always donated to a library that does not possess a copy. AGS sometimes purchases and donates special resources, such as the films of the Draper Manuscripts at the Arkansas History Commission.
Circuit Clerk
320 West Court St.
, Paragould, AR 72450
Phone (870)239-6330		County Clerk
320 West Court St.
Paragould, AR 72450
Phone (870)239-6330		Greene County Historical & Genealogical Society
P.O. Box 121
Paragould, AR 72451-0121
870-240-8944

E-Mail Lists and Message Boards

Arkansas Mail List on Rootsweb

Greene County Mailing List on Rootsweb

Greene County Message Board on Rootsweb

Greene County Message Board on Genforum

Adjacent Counties

Clay County | Craighead County | Lawrence County | Randolph County
Dunklin County, Missouri

Last Updated, Thursday, 28-Mar-2013 09:08:57 MDT
This site may be freely linked, but not duplicated without consent.
All rights reserved. Commercial use of material within this site is prohibited.
The copyright (s) on this page must appear on all copied and/or printed material.
© Saturday, 18-May-2013 00:59:52 MDT by Greene County Administrator