The Arkansas Legislature passed a bill a few short years ago which opened the first 50 years of Arkansas Death Certificates to the public. Indices for 1914 - 1949 are now available statewide.

These listings for Prairie County, Arkansas, as shown here, were abstracted by Marilyn Hambrick Sickel of DeValls Bluff, Arkansas, considered by many to be Prairie County's Historian. Marilyn, who has been researching Prairie and surrounding counties for almost 20 years.

Many years ago, when Arkansas decided to index the death certificates, prison labor was used. Please keep in mind that much of the data you are reading on this index was keyed in by Department of Corrections inmates who may or may not have cared whether their fingers hit the right keys on the typewriter. Therefore, as with any list or index, always check research data to confirm its validity.

There were just so many spaces for given names and middle names. Many names were too long to fit into the format the State of Arkansas used for this index. The given names and middle names shown here are taken directly from the actual index - EXACTLY as they are listed on the original.

When requesting an Arkansas Death Certificate, ALWAYS order under the name in the very first column on the left herein titled Certificate Name because that is how it is officially listed at the Arkansas Bureau of Vital Statistics. Even if it is herein spelled incorrectly, if you order under any other name, you may not receive any record at all.

PLEASE NOTE: Not everyone who died in Arkansas between 1914-1949 has a death certificate; many individuals do not have one.

Also, please keep in mind that if the person you are searching for died in a Searcy, Little Rock, Brinkley or Stuttgart hospital, they WILL NOT have a Prairie County, Arkansas, death certificate even though they might have been a lifelong resident of Prairie County.

To obtain a copy of an Arkansas Death Certificate, click on the link near the bottom of this page to go to Arkansas' Vital Records web site. This site provides detailed information to secure birth, death, and marriage records - AND - you can print the official application form of your choice directly through your computer.