History of Lawrence County
For those with pre-1845 roots in the Lawrence County area :
Goodspeed's 1888 History included Newton, McDonald, and Barry counties, too. Because the area that became Lawrence County in 1845 was part of Barry County when Barry was organized in 1835, many of the early residents of the area also appear in Barry County records and in the Barry County section of this book. There is an online index to the Barry County section available through the Barry County Web Site. You might wish to check there, too, for those who were in "Lawrence County" when it was still part of Barry County.
There is also a published index to the Newton and McDonald County section which I can provide a citation to later unless someone else has it handy. It also has some references to families that were in Lawrence County.
Also, the northern part of what is now Lawrence County was part of Dade county from 1841-1845, and you can find records on people here in Dade county records. Specifically, that part of Lawrence county north of the line dividing sections 13-18 from sections 19-24 of Township 28 North was part of Dade during this time. This is about two miles north of Mount Vernon.
And before 1835, it was part of Greene and before 1833 it was part of Crawford or Wayne, depending on what source you read.
And, yes, before that it was part of the "Old Lawrence County" that was in Missouri Territory [from which Wayne was taken] from 1815 until it was abolished when Arkansas Territory was organized to prepare for Missouri statehood. So references to the 1818 Lawrence County, Missouri [Territory] tax list, etc., are to this "Old Lawrence County" which included the southernmost part of Missouri from "old" New Madrid County to the western border of Missouri and the northernmost part of Arkansas.
Ross Cameron
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