County Resources, Ouachita County

What are land patents? All of what is now Arkansas was once owned by the federal government--it is a public domain land state. People who purchased land from the federal government received documents called land patents. Land was obtained through purchase, military warrants, homesteads, scrip acts and other laws that allowed the land to be transferred out of federal hands. The paperwork generated in those sales can be very helpful to genealogists. Copies of the land patents make interesting additions to published family histories but the land entry case files are most apt to have helpful details about families or clues that help piece together information from other sources.

What information is included? The county volumes of land patents list patentee's name, volume and page of the patent book, land office, document and miscellaneous document numbers, type of transaction, precise legal description, and number of acres. Introductory information describes in great detail how to get copies of the patents and land entry case files, how to use other land record sources, how to integrate the information with other sources, what is found in a typical homestead case file, where and when the Arkansas land offices operated, and a selected bibliography. County maps are also included. The time period covered by this information is earliest settlement through 30 June 1908. Information from 156,784 patent documents is included. These county volumes are based on current-day county boundaries.

This book is an index to Confederate veterans who applied for pensions from the State of Arkansas. Information includes: veteran's name, widow or mother's name, company, unit, year(s) of enrollment, county from which applied and death dates of the veteran and his widow. Also included is a list of pensioners granted awards through legislative acts and a list of residents of the Confederate Home. Pensioners in this book are cross-referenced to the 1911 Arkansas Confederate Veteran census. A detailed summary of pension legislation and suggestions for further research are included. Pensions were based on the state of residence at the time of eligibility.

See our detailed explanation about donation and swamp lands under our "Land Records" category. (Then click your "back" browser button to return to this page.)

Ouachita County was created: 29 November 1842.
Parent County: Union.
Progeny Counties: Calhoun 1850, Columbia 1852, Nevada 1871.
County Boundary Changes: Line with Union changed 6 January 1853.
County Records: In 1906, J.W. Livingston reported all records destroyed by a fire, Dec. 19, 1875; but complete since that time.

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