This fifth issue of 2025 features articles on Arkansas, “The Natural State”. This issue, like all issues in this continuing series, will feature the state’s history, including how to find great historical and genealogical records and more:

* Mining Genealogical Gold: Finding Historical Arkansas Records (and the stories behind them). Arkansas stands as a testament to the American story itself – a place where the grand currents of our national history converge with striking clarity. From the ancient peoples who first built societies along its rivers to the farmers who wrestled livelihoods from its soil, from Civil War battlefields to Civil Rights battlegrounds, Arkansas has been not merely a witness to American history but often its proving ground.

* Feuding & Fighting: A Bloody (Political) One in Arkansas. Arkansas has had its share of feuds, especially during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It’s part of the state’s storied history. According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, a feud is sometimes referred to as a vendetta or private war. Feuds tended to be a “long-running argument or period of animosity, especially between families or clans”. These feuds often began over some perceived injustice or insult, followed by a cycle of retaliatory violence which eventually became a “blood feud” once one or more relatives of one party are killed, resulting in shots fired in the other direction. Unless there was some sort of intervention, the feuding and killing continued until one or the other side was eliminated.

* A House Divided: The Civil War in Arkansas. Arkansas entered 1860 as a young state still developing its identity within the American union. Just twenty-four years after achieving statehood, it remained sparsely populated, with limited infrastructure and an economy heavily dependent on agriculture. Few could have predicted that this frontier state would soon face the greatest crisis in American history, becoming a significant battleground in a devastating civil war. The story of Arkansas during this tumultuous period reveals a state torn by conflicting loyalties, regional divisions, and the terrible reality of warfare on its soil.

* Ancestories: Signature Stories (and a family tragedy). As a genealogist I am always looking for creative ways to tell the stories of my client’s (and my own) ancestors. Some time back I added a new dimension to genealogical research by collecting ancestor signatures.  When the time comes to format a custom-designed pedigree chart, I have been incorporating these on the chart -- something unique to document history besides a bunch of dates and places.  Each one will tell a different story. This is the story of a few of my Arkansas ancestors’ signatures.

* The Dash: Measles Memorial Public Cemetery. This cemetery was apparently a family cemetery on a plot of land owned by John W. Measles of Lavaca, Sebastian County, Arkansas since the first person buried there was John’s son Emil who died in 1891 at the age of twenty-two. How long it remained a private cemetery is unclear since there are several other people buried there who may or may not be related to the Measles family. At the entrance is a sign which reads “Measles Memorial Public Cemetery.”