CRAIGHEAD COUNTY HISTORY

Arkansas Genealogy Trails

LOCATION

JUDGES

SHERIFFS

CLERKS

TREASURERS

LOCATION

Craighead County, situated in Northeastern Arkansas, is bounded on the north by Lawrence and Greene Counties, Ark., and Dunklin County, Mo.; east by Mississippi County, south by Poinsett and west by Jackson County, Ark.  Its length east and west is forty-two miles, and the width at different places is twelve, eighteen and twenty-one miles, including lakes, riverbeds and sloughs.  Its entire area is 710 square miles, or 454,400 acres, of which 405,430 are under taxation, and of the whole area less than one-tenth is improved.

Crowley's Ridge, from its continuation in Greene County, crosses the west central portion of Craighead in a southerly direction, being twelve miles or more in width at the northern boundary, and first widening and then narrowing down to a width of only about three miles near the southern line.  The lands on the ridge are gently rolling, and gradually slope down to the level or bottom lands on either side.

Source:  Excerpts from The Goodspeed Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northeast Arkansas, c1889, Chicago, p. 309.


FIRST JUDGES OF THE COUNTY

Some of the first judges in the county were:

Isham Fuller, 1859-60
Sam P. Trice, 1860-62
A. C. Huston, 1862-64
J. S. Anderson, 1864-66
J. M. Curnutt, 1866-67
James Carson, 1867-72
J. H. West, 1874-76
W. S. Stephens, 1876-80
J. M. Raines, 1880-82
L. W. Loftis, 1882-86
J. H. Edwards, 1886-1889

Source: The Goodspeed Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northeast Arkansas, 1889, The Goodspeed Publishing Company, Chicago, p313.

FIRST SHERIFFS OF THE COUNTY

William T. Armstrong, 1859-60
W. T. E. Armstrong, 1860-62
William Puryear, 1862-65
W. T. E. Armstrong, Jan. 1865-1866
J. G. Wood, 1866-67
W. H. Nesbitt, 1867-72
Samuel Nash, 1872-74
D. H. Thorn, 1874-80
William T. Lane, 1880-1889

Source: The Goodspeed Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northeast Arkansas, 1889, The Goodspeed Publishing Company, Chicago, p313.

FIRST CLERKS OF THE COUNTY

L. H. Sutfin, 1859-64
F. M. Davis,  January 1864
A. Lynch, 1864-66
L. H. Sutfin, 1866-Oct 1867
R. H. McKay, Oct 1867-1872
J. C. Knight, 1872-76
Jacob Sharp, 1876-86
J. H. Mangrum, 1886-

Source: The Goodspeed Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northeast Arkansas, 1889, The Goodspeed Publishing Company, Chicago, p313.

FIRST TREASURERS OF THE COUNTY

Thomas Nelson, 1859-60
S. W. Chisenhall, 1860-64
C. Sharp, 1864-65
L. W. Loftis, 1865-68
T. S. Ray, 1868-74
E. Watkins, 1874-78
A. S. Nash, 1878-80
J. M. Minton, 1880-82
W. F. Little, 1882-86
J. D. C. Cobb, 1886-88
G. W. Cook, 1888-

Source: The Goodspeed Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northeast Arkansas, 1889, The Goodspeed Publishing Company, Chicago, p313.


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