Monroe County Arkansas Genealogy and History

County Seat: Clarendon

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Search Free Monroe 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.

Monroe 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

Shortly after the United States had completed the Louisiana Purchase, officials began to survey the territory at a site near the intersection of Monroe, Phillips, and Lee counties. From forested wetlands in what would become southern Monroe County.

Settlement in Monroe County began when Dedrick Pike settled in 1816 where the Cache River enters the White River. The settlement was named Mouth of the Cache, and a post office by that name was opened years later. The community renamed itself Clarendon in 1824 in honor of the Earl of Clarendon. Monroe County was established under the Arkansas territorial legislature in 1829, and the county seat was established at Lawrenceville, where a jail and courthouse were erected. A ferry across the White River was founded in 1836.

In 1857 the county seat was moved to Clarendon, Arkansas. The new brick courthouse was nearly finished by the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861. The county sent five units into Confederate service. After Union troops captured Clarendon in 1863, they destroyed the small city. The Union had completely dismantled the brick courthouse and shipped the bricks to De Valls Bluff.

Communities

Cities: Brinkley, Clarendon (county seat), Holly Grove.

Towns: Fargo, Roe.

Census-designated places: Indian Bay, Monroe.

Townships: Brinkley (most of Brinkley), Brown, Cache (Clarendon), Cleburne, Cypress Ridge, Dixon (part of Brinkley), Duncan (Holly Grove), Greenfield (Fargo), Hindman, Jackson, Keevil, Montgomery-Smalley, Pine Ridge, Raymond, Richland (part of Brinkley), Roc Roe (Roe).

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