Little River County Obituary Search
Little River County obituary records can be found through the county clerk and circuit clerk offices in Ashdown, as well as through several genealogy organizations and free online databases. Whether you need a death notice from the early 1900s or a recent record from the Ashdown area, this page covers where those records live and how to request them. The county has an active genealogy society and a historical society, both of which can assist researchers who need more than the standard public records.
County Clerk Records in Little River County
The Little River County Clerk is Deanna Sivley. The office is at 351 N. Second Street, Ashdown, AR 71822. Phone is (870) 898-7210 and fax is (870) 898-2860. The clerk handles marriage licenses, elections, voter registration, and estate probate. Marriage license fee is $60 and must be paid in cash. Licenses are valid for 60 days and must be returned within 100 days.
Probate records held by the clerk are especially useful for obituary research. When a Little River County resident died with property or dependents, an estate case was opened and a file created. Those files name the deceased, note the date of death, list all heirs by name and relationship, and often include details that never appeared in any published obituary. For researchers working on deaths from before the 1914 start of statewide death registration, probate records are often the most detailed source available.
The county website at lrcounty.org has contact information and some general guidance on the records and services the clerk provides.
Circuit Clerk and Court Access
The Little River County Circuit Clerk is Lauren Abney. The office is at 351 N. Second Street, Suite 5, Ashdown, AR 71822. Phone is (870) 898-7212 and fax is (870) 898-5783. The circuit clerk handles felony criminal cases, family and divorce court, child support, jury duty, and deed records. These case types all connect to obituary research in various ways.
Divorce records can help confirm a person's identity and family situation at a particular point in time. Estate disputes sometimes generate circuit court filings that include more detail about a death than the probate record alone. Deed records can track an ancestor's land holdings over the years, helping you confirm they were in the county when a death occurred.
Online court records for Little River County are available through Arkansas CourtConnect. This free portal lets you search by name and get case summaries for many court filings. Land record searches are also available online through the Laredo Land Records Document Search Engine, which covers deed and land transaction records in the county.
Note: Under Arkansas Code Section 25-19-105, most court and probate records in Little River County are accessible to the public once applicable restriction periods have passed.
ARGenWeb and Genealogy Trails Resources
The screenshot below is from the ARGenWeb Little River County page, which hosts transcribed records, cemetery lists, and genealogy research guides compiled by volunteers over many years.
The ARGenWeb page for Little River County links to free transcribed records, death notices, and other county-specific genealogy materials contributed by local volunteers.
GenealogyTrails also hosts transcribed obituary and death notice records for Little River County. These free collections cover various decades and are searchable by name. Both resources are good starting points before you submit a formal request to the courthouse or archives, since a confirmed name and approximate year can save you time when working through official record systems.
FamilySearch holds Arkansas Probate Records from 1817 to 1979 and Arkansas Wills and Probate Records from 1783 to 1998. Little River County is included in these statewide collections. Both sets are free to browse without a subscription. Searching by name in the Arkansas collections can turn up estate records that include the date and place of death.
Little River County Genealogy Society
The Little River County Genealogy Society is at P.O. Box 288, Ashdown, AR 71822. The president is Jenny Lee Stone and the website is lrcgs.org. This society is a direct resource for researchers who need help beyond what the public record provides. Members often know which local collections exist, which cemeteries have been surveyed, and which newspaper runs are held on microfilm locally.
Genealogy societies at the county level are particularly useful when you are working on rural families or on time periods where the public records are thin. A society member who has spent decades researching Little River County families may be able to point you to a published family history, a church register, or a local compilation that solves a problem no database will resolve on its own.
Membership in the society also gives you access to their library and publications, which may include obituary indexes, cemetery surveys, and transcribed records not available anywhere online. The cost is typically modest and the benefit can be significant for serious researchers.
Little River County Historical Society
The Little River County Historical Society is at P.O. Box 1134, 5 E. Main Street, Ashdown, AR 71822. Their Facebook presence is at Two Rivers Museum. The historical society and museum maintain local collections that complement what the county clerk and archives hold. Historical photographs, local newspapers, family histories, and unpublished manuscript collections are often held by organizations like this.
If your ancestor lived in Little River County for a significant period, there is a chance their name appears in local publications, society newsletters, or donated family histories held at the museum. Contacting the organization directly is the best way to find out what they have for a specific surname or time period.
Note: The Encyclopedia of Arkansas has a Little River County entry that provides useful background for placing your research in local context.
Arkansas Death Certificates and Vital Records
Official death certificates for Little River County residents are filed with the state, not at the county courthouse. The Arkansas Department of Health Vital Records office processes all requests. Certificates go back to 1914. Older records may be incomplete or absent.
Under Arkansas law, death certificates are restricted for 50 years. After that period, they are available to the general public. Close family members can request records for recent deaths with proper identification and payment of applicable fees. The vital records office accepts requests by mail, and some certificate types can be requested online.
For deaths before 1914, county-level sources are the primary option. The Little River County Library at 101 E. Main Street, Ashdown, AR 71822, phone (870) 898-3238, may hold local newspaper microfilm with obituary columns. The Arkansas Digital Archives has digitized some historical Arkansas papers and is worth checking for early 1900s death notices. The Arkansas State Archives holds historical county records and can assist with research requests.
Cemetery Records in Little River County
Cemetery records are often the quickest way to confirm a death when an obituary cannot be found. Find A Grave and BillionGraves both maintain volunteer-contributed listings for Little River County cemeteries. These databases are free and searchable by name. Listings typically include the full name, birth year, death year, and sometimes a photograph of the grave marker. The headstone itself may give details not found in any other record.
For cemeteries not covered online, the Little River County Genealogy Society may have locally compiled surveys. Many rural cemeteries in Arkansas were never formally indexed by any state agency, but local genealogy volunteers have often walked and recorded them. Those hand-compiled lists are sometimes available through society newsletters or their library collection.
Cities in Little River County
Ashdown is the county seat and the largest community in Little River County. Other towns in the county include Ogden, Foreman, and Wilton. None of these cities reach the population threshold for a dedicated city page on this site. All county records are handled through the clerk offices in Ashdown regardless of which town your ancestor lived in.
Nearby Counties
Little River County sits in the far southwestern corner of Arkansas. Families here often had ties across county lines and state lines into Texas and Oklahoma. If you cannot find what you need in Little River County, check these neighboring counties:
Records from across the state line in Texas and Oklahoma may also be relevant depending on where your ancestor's family was based. The Texarkana area in particular had strong cross-state ties for generations.