Montgomery County Arkansas Genealogy and History

County Seat: Mount Ida

Search Free Montgomery County Arkansas Genealogy and Family History Records Online including census, cemetery, vital, military and other genealogical and historical records that can be used for your family history research.

Montgomery County, Arkansas genealogy and family history page is a place where you can come in and research your genealogy and family history. We also do our best to provide a history of the area, to provide you with an overview of the time in which your ancestors lived.

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History

Stone spear and dart points found in the area verify that people from the Dalton tradition were present in Montgomery County around 8500 BC. Early signs of houses and American Indian cemeteries are present in and around Caddo Gap, Arkansas, indicating the definite presence of the Caddo Indians having settled in the area in the 13th century and 14th century. In 1541, the explorer Hernando de Soto fought the Tula Indians at Caddo Gap, and he was injured during that battle.

The first white settlers arrived in 1812, when Martin and Mary Collier settled what is now Caddo Gap. They befriended the local tribes, and seemingly had no problems from them whatsoever. Granville Whittington arrived in 1835, and built a road that led from Hot Springs, Arkansas to his farm about a mile north of the settlement of Montgomery. By 1836 when Arkansas received statehood, most of the native Indians were gone. Some of the native Indian women had intermingled and intermarried with local white settlers. Whittington opened a general store that drew customers from the surrounding area, and in 1842 he opened the Mount Ida Post Office in Mount Ida. West of the Ouachita River, settlers from a wagon train wintered in what is now Oden, and decided to stay when the weather cleared. Montgomery County was named after General Richard Montgomery, an American general who died during the American Revolution.

Originally part of the Louisiana Purchase, it was first claimed by Spain, then France, and in 1813 was part of Arkansas County, then in 1818 was part of Clark County. On December 9, 1842, Montgomery County became its own county, with Montgomery as its county seat. In 1850 Salem became the county seat, but later that same year the county seat changed again, to Mount Ida, where Whittington's Post Office was located. Mount Ida incorporated in 1854.

Communities

Cities: Mount Ida (county seat).
Towns: Black Springs, Norman, Oden.
Census-designated places: Caddo Gap, Pencil Bluff.
Townships: Alamo, Black Springs (Black Springs), Caddo Gap, Caney (small parts of Glenwood), Center, Fannie, Hopper, Mount Ida (Mount Ida), Norman (Norman), Oden (Oden), Pencil Bluff, Sims, Washita.

Townships in Arkansas are the divisions of a county. Each township includes unincorporated areas; some may have incorporated cities or towns within part of their boundaries. Arkansas townships have limited purposes in modern times. However, the United States census does list Arkansas population based on townships (sometimes referred to as "county subdivisions" or "minor civil divisions"). Townships are also of value for historical purposes in terms of genealogical research. Each town or city is within one or more townships in an Arkansas county based on census maps and publications. The townships of Montgomery County are listed below; listed in parentheses are the cities, towns, and/or census-designated places that are fully or partially inside the township.

Montgomery County Genealogy Records

Biographies	Birth Records	Cemetery Records	Census Records
Church Records	Cities & Towns	County Records	Death Records
Family Bibles	History Topics	Marriage Records	Military Records
Miscellaneous Data	Newspaper Data	Obituaries	School Records
Wills/Probate Records

Genealogical Research in Montgomery County, Arkansas

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Adjacent Counties

Yell County (north)
Garland County (east)
Hot Spring County (southeast)
Clark County (southeast)
Pike County (south)
Howard County (southwest)
Polk County (west)
Scott County (northwest)