Settlers of Lovely and Miller County, Arkansas Territory
- SKU: 2043
- ISBN: 0897254805
- Our Price:
$36.95
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Description:
SETTLERS OF LOVELY AND MILLER COUNTY, ARKANSAS TERRITORY. By Melinda Blanchard Crawford and Don L. Crawford. 320pp. 1,806 entry Every Name Index. Hard cover. 2002.
Lovely County, Arkansas existed for only a very short time, from 1827-1828, having been abolished when the lands it was comprised of were ceded by Treaty to the Choctaw Indians. After the lands were ceded back to the Indians, the white settlers were required to abandon their homes and move. In exchange, certain persons in Lovely County and Miller County were given “Donation Lands” from the US government, provided they could prove they were entitled to them. Each settler had to appear before the Land Board and give a deposition as to his or her reasons or proof of entitlement. These affidavits have been microfilmed and hold a tremendous amount of genealogical information. For example, some state exactly when the settler arrived in either Lovely or Miller County; some tell the names of wives and the number of children; some give names of relatives and nearest neighbors. Friends, neighbors and relatives often appeared as corroborative or character witnesses.
The first section of the book provides a historical perspective of the counties while the second section of the book is comprised of the transcriptions of the deposition records. Approximately 650 certificates were issued based on these depositions.
While the certificates which were issued can be searched over the BLM website showing the description of the land selected by the settler, these personal depositions have not been reproduced elsewhere. The value of these depositions cannot be understated, giving this book great significance, both historically and genealogically, to researchers of Arkansas families.
