Faulkner County Obituary Search

Faulkner County obituary records date from 1873 when the county was formed, and the records collection has grown considerably with the development of Conway into one of Arkansas's larger cities. Searching for death notices and burial records in Faulkner County means checking the county clerk in Conway, the Faulkner County Museum's funeral home archives, the ARGenWeb database, and the Log Cabin Democrat newspaper. This page walks through each of those sources and explains how to access them.

Search Public Records

Faulkner County Clerk Records

The Faulkner County Clerk's office in Conway is the primary keeper of marriage and probate records for the county. Records go back to 1873, the year the county was formed. Marriage records, probate filings, estate inventories, and court documents from this period form the core of the county's genealogy record. The courthouse is in Conway, the county seat and largest city in Faulkner County.

Probate records from the Faulkner County Clerk are important for obituary research. When a person died with property in the county, an estate case was opened. The probate petition names the deceased, gives a date of death, identifies surviving heirs, and sometimes includes sworn statements about the burial. These filings are public record once the restriction period ends and can be accessed in person at the courthouse or through the CourtConnect portal for more recent cases.

Faulkner County also has Administrations and Estates records from 1880 to 1904 available through online databases. These are some of the most detailed early records for the county and are worth checking if you are researching a death from the late 1800s or early 1900s.

Faulkner County Circuit Clerk Portal

The Faulkner County Circuit Clerk handles civil, criminal, and probate court filings. For court records tied to deaths and estates, this office is an important resource. The screenshot below shows the Faulkner County Circuit Clerk website, which provides information on how to access court and land records for the county.

Faulkner County circuit clerk obituary records portal

From the circuit clerk's portal, researchers can access information on case searches, record requests, and court filings related to estates and probate matters. Online case search through CourtConnect covers more recent filings and can be searched by party name.

ARGenWeb Faulkner County Resources

The ARGenWeb project at http://www.argenweb.net/faulkner/ maintains a free Faulkner County page with transcribed records, cemetery indexes, and contributed genealogy materials. Volunteers with local knowledge have contributed obituary data, family histories, and cemetery transcriptions over many years.

The screenshot below shows the ARGenWeb Faulkner County page, a free genealogy database for the county maintained by volunteer researchers.

Faulkner County Arkansas obituary records ARGenWeb page

The ARGenWeb page links to cemetery listings, indexed obituaries, and family data contributed by researchers. Records here often go back further than digitized newspaper archives, making it a key starting point for historical research in Faulkner County.

GenealogyTrails also maintains a Faulkner County section with contributed obituaries, biographies, and genealogy data. The two sites complement each other and together cover a wide range of sources for Faulkner County death records.

Faulkner County Museum Funeral Home Records

The Faulkner County Museum in Conway holds an exceptional collection of local genealogy materials. The museum is located in the historic jail built in 1896 on the grounds of the historic Faulkner County Courthouse in downtown Conway. Mailing address is P.O. Box 2442, Conway, AR 72033-2422; phone is 501-329-5918; email is fcm@conwaycorp.net. Hours are Monday through Thursday from 9 AM to 4 PM.

The museum maintains Doolin Funeral Home records and Roller-McNutt Funeral Home records. These are primary sources for Faulkner County obituary research. Funeral home logs include the name of the deceased, date of death, age, cause of death, next of kin, and burial location. These details can fill in gaps when published obituaries are missing or incomplete.

In addition to funeral home records, the museum holds city directories going back to the early 1900s, telephone books from the 1920s, local school yearbooks, photograph collections, and obituary files. Family history publications and surname subject files are also part of the collection. For researchers working on Faulkner County families, this is one of the most important local archives in the county.

Note: The museum does not have a searchable online database, so in-person visits or written requests are the primary ways to access the collection.

Log Cabin Democrat Newspaper Archives

The Log Cabin Democrat is the primary newspaper for Faulkner County and Conway. It has published obituary columns for decades, and back issues are a key source for death notices in the county. Historical issues may be available on microfilm at the Arkansas State Archives in Little Rock, which holds approximately 3,000 newspaper titles published across the state.

More recent Log Cabin Democrat obituaries may be searchable through the newspaper's website or through Newspapers.com and GenealogyBank for subscribers. The CALS Butler Center for Arkansas Studies in Little Rock provides access to Ancestry and Newspapers.com on-site during library hours. The Butler Center also has county records on microfilm for all Arkansas counties.

The Arkansas Digital Archives has digitized a number of historical Arkansas publications. Checking there for any digitized Log Cabin Democrat issues is worth doing before planning a microfilm visit to Little Rock.

FamilySearch and Death Index Resources

FamilySearch holds specific collections for Faulkner County. The Faulkner County Administrations and Estates 1880-1904 collection is available free at FamilySearch.org. This covers a critical period of county growth when many families settled in the area. The collection includes administration bonds, letters of administration, and guardian records that name the deceased and heirs.

The statewide Arkansas Death Index 1914-1950 on FamilySearch covers about 594,000 deaths and is searchable by county. Searching for Faulkner County deaths in this index will return name, date, county, age, gender, race, and certificate number. You can then use the certificate number to request the full death certificate from the Arkansas Department of Health.

Arkansas Deaths and Burials 1882-1929 and 1945-1963 is another FamilySearch collection worth checking. It contains 10,447 records from name indexes to death and burial records, with microfilm copies available at the Family History Library.

Conway Arkansas FamilySearch Center

The Conway Arkansas FamilySearch Center is a local affiliate library that provides access to FamilySearch resources. This is a useful resource for Faulkner County researchers who want in-person help navigating genealogy databases or accessing microfilm collections not available at home. Staff and volunteers at FamilySearch centers are trained to assist with research and can help you get started if the process feels overwhelming.

The center provides access to the full FamilySearch catalog, including microfilm loans from the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. Many older Arkansas county records that have not been digitized are still available on microfilm through this loan program. For Faulkner County records from the late 1800s, microfilm may be the only way to access materials that predate the digital era.

Arkansas Death Certificates

Official death certificates for Faulkner County are held by the Arkansas Department of Health Vital Records office. Records begin February 1, 1914. Under Arkansas Code Title 20, Chapter 18, death certificates are restricted for 50 years. After that period they become public records. The fee is $10.00 for the first certified copy and $8.00 for each additional copy ordered at the same time.

Cities in Faulkner County

Conway is the county seat and by far the largest city in Faulkner County. It is one of the qualifying cities on this site. Other communities in the county include Greenbrier, Vilonia, Mayflower, and Wooster. Records for all Faulkner County communities are maintained at the Conway courthouse.

For Conway-specific obituary and records resources, visit the Conway city page on this site.

Nearby Counties

If your research leads beyond Faulkner County, these neighboring counties each have their own records collections:

Families in central Arkansas often had ties across county lines. Checking neighboring counties is especially useful when Faulkner County records are incomplete or when an ancestor moved between communities.