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JoAnn - I have photo copied all of the early Lawrence County records these two men have abstracted and printed in the 80's and 90's. I found them in my larger libraries and at the Arkansas Historical Commission in Little Rock.
Perhaps I should know (1) where you are, and (2) just how far into your search you are?
If you google Lawrence County, Arkansas you will find a lot of information. Jeri Helms Fultz has put a lot of information on the internet. There is also information posted for a Lamew line.
The Walter McLeod information is a must, I believe, for anyone searching Lawrence County. Also search Randolph County, Arkansas. The actual settlements were in what is now Randolph County.
Lawrence Dalton published an excellent book in 1946 titled History of Randolph County. He researched and did so while all of the original Lawrence County records were intact. When a new courthouse was built at Walnut Ridge, Arkansas to replace the old Powhattan courthouse, MOST of the "old" (1815-1930's) records were tossed on the floor and abandoned . . .appears they didn't want those "old" records in their new building. What a terrible loss!!!
Anyway, they laid there, with the mice and bugs eating their share, the pigeons "pooping" all over them, broken windows allowing rain and snow to ruin some of them, and the mold and mildew taking their share, etc. Finally, in the 1970's, a local woman and her teenage daughters gathered up what was still good, and they began to sort them into files, etc. It was from these "saved" files that Marion Stark Craig and James Logan Morgan abstracted the early historical information.
This is why Lawrence Dalton's book is important. I have found information in it, that was contained in records that were lost to the mice, rain and mold, and didn't survive even the "salvage" operation.
These remaining records are currently being stored at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, Arkansas until a suitable building can be built near that old Powhattan courthouse to house them for researchers. I have been blessed to get permission to go through them.
Funding to build such a building, maintain it, and to provide for appropriate employees must come from the state. As you can imagine, genealogy research buildings are not high up on the priority list. . .it was originally planned to be open in early 2008, but not so.
All of the families who could benefit from having those "public" records truly made public again, need to keep the pressure on the Arkansas legislature to get on with it! This area of northeast Arkansas was truly the "seed bed" of the southwest.
I know that James Logan Morgan is still alive. . .I have talked with him just this year. He lives in Newport, Arkansas. Dr. Craig lived in Little Rock, but I do not know if he is still alive. Whether one can still buy any of these books is unknown to me.
Maggie Robinson
Houston, Texas
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