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April 5, 1873 | ||
Help Wanted | ||
Arkansas Trails has several counties and projects up for adoption. If you would be interested in adopting a county or project look at the Arkansas Trails County Page. If you find one that you would like to adopt e-mail the State Administrator State Administrator.[ Being a County or State Administrator is fun and rewarding. If you have an interest in the history of Arkansas and the genealogy of it's residents please consider it. If you think "there is no way I can do this" there are many people ready, willing and able to help you. It's not near as difficult as you might think. ] | History |
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Garland County is Arkansas's 68th county, formed on April 5, 1873, and named for Augustus Garland, eleventh governor of Arkansas. Jefferson had heard of the hot springs from a friend in Natchez, Mississippi, William Dunbar, a planter and amateur scientist. He asked Dunbar to lead an expedition into the Ouachita Mountains and report on the Indian tribes, minerals, and springs. Joined by his friend George Hunter, a chemist, and about a dozen soldiers, Dunbar arrived in Hot Springs in December 1804 and found "an open log cabin and a few huts of split boards for summer encampment erected by persons resorting to the springs for the recovery of their health." They studied the area for a little more than a month, then returned to report to Jefferson what they had found. In 1807, Jean Pierre Emanuel Prudhomme, the ailing owner of a Red River plantation, heard about the healing hot waters from the Natchitoches Indians. He built the first real settlement at the springs and lived there for two years. Isaac Cates and John Percival, two trappers from Alabama, joined him there. Cates was mainly a trapper, but Percival envisioned a great future for the area and built log cabins to rent to the growing number of visitors to the springs. On April 20, 1832, four years before Arkansas gained statehood, President Andrew Jackson signed a bill making Hot Springs the first land reserved by the federal government for future recreational use by U.S. citizens. The ownership of the valuable land around the hot springs was fought over in the courts for almost twenty-five years between original claimants John C. Hale, Ludovicus Belding, John Percifull, and Henry M. Rector. When the U.S. Supreme Court settled the dispute in 1877, the U.S. government owned the land as a national reservation. | Links |
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Free Records Search at Familysearch Org | ||
Garland County Cemetery Listings on Arkansas Gravestone Project | ||
Garland County Cemetery Listings on Interment Net | ||
Garland County Cemetery Listing at Find A Grave | ||
Arkansas Dept of Health | ||
Arkansas Dept of Health Division of Vital Records, Slot 44 4815 West Markham Street Little Rock, AR 72205 (501) 661-2174 Fax: (501) 663-2832 |
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Arkansas State Archives | ||
Arkansas History Commission One Capitol Mall Little Rock, AR 72201 501.682.6900 [email protected] |
The History Commission, the official state archives, is a facility in which those interested in Arkansas history may engage in research. The staff does not undertake research requests from the public. The Research Room is open from 8:00 A.M. to 4:30 P.M., Monday through Saturday. It is closed on state holidays. If you are traveling long distances, please call to confirm hours/days of operation at 501.682.6900. | |
Arkansas Genealogical Society
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Circuit Clerk 501 Ouachita Ave. Hot Springs, AR 71901 Phone (501)622-3630 | County Clerk 501 Ouachita Ave. Hot Spring, AR. 71901 Phone: 501-622-3610 | Garland County Historical Society P.O. Box 21335 Hot Springs, AR 71903-1335 501/321-2159 |
Melting Pot Genealogical Society P.O. Box 936 649-B Ouachita Ave. Hot Springs, AR 71902-0936 501-624-0229 | Village Genealogical Society 34 Badajoz Way Hot Springs Village, AR 71909 501-922-0734 | E-Mail Lists and Message Boards |
Arkansas Mail List on Rootsweb | ||
Garland County Mailing List on Rootsweb | ||
Garland County Message Board on Rootsweb | ||
Garland County Message Board on Genforum | Adjacent Counties |
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Perry County | Saline County | Hot Spring County | Montgomery County | Yell County |