Ouachita County Obituaries and Death Notices
Ouachita County obituary records in Camden go back to December 19, 1875, the date after which all courthouse records are intact following an earlier fire that destroyed everything before that point. If you are searching for a death notice, probate record, or court filing tied to a Ouachita County death, this page covers the County Clerk, Circuit Clerk, ARGenWeb resources, CourtConnect online access, and state databases. Records since 1875 are complete and span marriage, probate, land, and court filings across this south-central Arkansas county.
Ouachita County Clerk
The County Clerk is Britt Williford, located at 145 Jefferson Street, Camden, AR 71701. The phone number is (870) 837-2220. The clerk maintains marriage records from 1875, probate records from 1875, birth and death certificates as the local registrar, voter registration, and assumed name certificates. All records prior to December 19, 1875 were destroyed in a courthouse fire. Since that date, the record set is complete.
The local registrar function is worth noting. While state death certificates are filed with the Arkansas Department of Health, the county clerk in Ouachita County has historically served as a local registrar for births and deaths. This means early registration records, if they exist, may be held at the county level in addition to the state archive. Ask specifically about local registrar records when you contact the office.
Probate records from 1875 are the primary county-level source for obituary research. Estate cases name the deceased, note the date of death, list heirs, and often include property inventories and sworn statements. These details frequently exceed what a newspaper notice from the same era contained.
Circuit Clerk and Court Records
The Ouachita County Circuit Clerk is located at 145 Jefferson Street SW, Camden, AR 71701. The phone is (870) 837-2310 and fax is (870) 837-2252. The circuit clerk maintains court records from 1876, land records from 1869 (predating the 1875 fire for land records), divorce records among equity records, and civil and criminal case files. The land records starting from 1869 are unusual in that they survived the courthouse fire that destroyed other pre-1875 documents.
Online access to Ouachita County court records is available through Arkansas CourtConnect. You can search by name or case number and review probate and civil case summaries without traveling to Camden. Once you find a relevant case number, contact the circuit clerk for document copies. This is the most efficient approach for out-of-area researchers who need to identify what exists before making a physical request.
Note: Divorce records are maintained as equity records in the circuit clerk files. When an estate was contested or a guardianship was established after a death, those equity filings often contain more detailed death information than the basic probate record.
ARGenWeb Ouachita County Resources
The ARGenWeb project maintains an Ouachita County page at ARGenWeb Ouachita County. Resources include cemetery listings, marriage records from 1875 onward, census records, transcribed obituaries, and family histories contributed by volunteer researchers. The ARGenWeb network is one of the most consistent free sources for Arkansas county-level genealogy and has been active for decades.
The cemetery listings on the ARGenWeb page can fill gaps when a newspaper did not publish an obituary or when a probate case was not opened. Burial records often include birth and death dates, family relationships, and cemetery location details that supplement other source types. Check the cemetery listings alongside the probate and newspaper sources for the most complete picture of a death.
The screenshot below shows the ARGenWeb Ouachita County page, which links to free genealogy and obituary resources for Camden and the surrounding area.
The ARGenWeb Ouachita County page is a practical starting point for free research alongside the courthouse and state archives resources covered on this page.
FamilySearch Resources
FamilySearch maintains an Ouachita County Genealogy wiki at FamilySearch Ouachita County Genealogy. The wiki documents available record types: marriage records 1875 to present, probate records 1875 to present, court records 1876 to present, and land records 1869 to present. It also notes which of those collections have been digitized and are searchable online at no cost.
FamilySearch holds the Arkansas Death Index 1914-1950, which covers approximately 594,000 deaths statewide. Searching by county will pull up Ouachita County entries from that period. The index includes name, date, county, gender, race, and age. Use it to confirm a death and get the certificate number before ordering from the state. The site is free and does not require a paid account for most Arkansas collections.
Arkansas Probate Records and wills collections on FamilySearch may also include Ouachita County estate files. Check the FamilySearch catalog under Ouachita County for the full list of digitized collections and their coverage dates.
Death Certificates for Ouachita County
Official death certificates for Ouachita County residents are filed with the Arkansas Department of Health Vital Records office in Little Rock. Records begin February 1, 1914. The fee is $10 for the first certified copy and $8 for each additional copy of the same record. Walk-in service runs Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Mail requests take four to six weeks. Phone orders can be placed at (866) 209-9482 using a credit card.
Death certificates from 1914 through 1969 are available as digitized images at the Arkansas State Archives reading room and through Ancestry.com. The Arkansas State Archives also maintains printed indexes covering 1914 through 1948 that allow you to confirm a death and get the certificate number before ordering. Death certificates are restricted for 50 years under Arkansas Code Title 20, Chapter 18, after which they become public record.
Local Libraries and Research Centers
The Camden Public Library and the Ouachita County Library System provide in-library access to genealogy databases at no charge. Those databases include Ancestry Library Edition and HeritageQuest, which are otherwise subscription-based. If you need extended research access, the library is the place to go.
The CALS Butler Center for Arkansas Studies in Little Rock holds newspaper microfilm and county records for all 75 Arkansas counties. If a Ouachita County paper from a specific period is not digitized online, the Butler Center likely has it on film. Their collection includes the Arkansas Gazette Obituaries Index from 1819 to 1879. The Arkansas Digital Archives has digitized newspapers and can be searched free online for Ouachita County area papers.
The Ouachita County Historical Society is located in the Camden area and maintains local historical collections. Contacting the society for family names you cannot find through the major databases is a practical next step when online searches stall.
- Arkansas CourtConnect: online probate and court case search by name
- FamilySearch: marriage, probate, and land records from 1875, free to search
- ARGenWeb Ouachita County: cemetery listings, transcribed obituaries, family histories
- Arkansas State Archives "In Remembrance" database: deaths 1819-1920
- Arkansas Digital Archives: digitized newspapers and indexes
- Arkansas Department of Health: death certificates from 1914
Cities in Ouachita County
The county seat of Ouachita County is Camden, where both the County Clerk and Circuit Clerk offices are located. Camden does not meet the population threshold for a dedicated city page on this site. Other communities in the county include Chidester, Stephens, and Bearden. All courthouse records for these communities are held at the Camden courthouse.
Nearby Counties
Ouachita County is in south-central Arkansas and borders several counties with their own courthouse records. If your research crosses county lines, these neighbors have accessible archives:
South-central Arkansas families often had property and family ties across county lines. If Ouachita County records are incomplete for a specific name, adjacent county courthouses are a logical next step.