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County Resources, Van Buren County

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Arkansas Land Patents: Van Buren County
ISBN 1-56546-054-5, 81 pages, $14.00

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.


Arkansas Confederate Pension Applications from Cleburne, Conway, Faulkner, Stone, and Van Buren Counties
ISBN 0-941765-62-8, 36 pp, 1,291 veterans, $10.00

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.


Arkansas State Donation and Swamp Lands: Cleburne, Independence, Jackson, Van Buren, White, and Woodruff Counties
Compiled by Desmond Walls Allen, ISBN 1-56546-281-5, 276 pages, $33.00
Click here to view the names listed in this book

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.)


Index to Arkansas' World War I Soldiers from Baxter, Fulton, Izard, Marion, Searcy, Stone, and Van Buren Counties
ISBN 1-56546-236-X, 69 pages, $15.00

Click here to view a list of Van Buren County World War I Soldiers

Click here to learn more about these records on our World War I page


Van Buren County was created: 11 November 1833.
Parent Counties: Conway, Izard, Independence.
Progeny Counties: Cleburne 1883, Stone 1873.
County Boundary Changes: Boundaries defined 14 November 1836, part annexed to Pope on 12 January 1853, lines with Searcy and Marion defined 20 January 1855, line with Pope defined 17 February 1859.
County Records: In 1906, Garner Fraser reported "Nearly all county records were destroyed by fire in 1863. A few of the old books were hidden by the clerk in a cliff and were thus saved. Records are complete since 1863 and are in a fair state of preservation. There are no fire-proof vaults for protection." And no life boats, either -- Clinton, the county seat, floodsw.

Click here to load a .pdf map of Van Buren County


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