By Amber Dillon
The Daily Citizen
Tuesday, July 19, 2005 8:00 PM CDT

James McAllister, a member of the White County Historical Society, holds one of the oldest documents in the White County Courthouse Tuesday. The probate document dates back to 1836 and was found in the attic of the courthouse. (Greg Benenati/The Daily Citizen)

Soon local history buffs and genealogy seekers will have a new resource for tracking century-old lifestyle documents once buried in boxes in the White County Courthouse.

The documents were discovered by a local historical society member more than five years ago and have been meticulously refiled and catalogued for use in local historical research.

It is a project of the historical society they title "Treasures in the Attic." The project will be officially unveiled Monday, July 25, at 7 p.m. at the society's monthly meeting at Harding Place in Searcy.

James McAllister, now on the board of the historical society, conceived the idea for the project five years ago when he discovered the documents at the courthouse. McAllister said he was looking for a historic death record in the White County Courthouse attic and found boxes filled with unbound probate records inside.

Probate documents found included last will and testaments; letters of administration; tax receipts; personal property inventories; petitions for sales and paid-out vouchers.

Eddie Best of the White County Historical Society said that with the approval of both then-county clerk Doug Faith and current clerk Tanya Burleson, McAllister and other volunteers from the historical society began the work of sorting the records.

The group organized the documents into over 1,570 different file folders which were placed in acid-free folders and filed within three new filing cabinets located in a climate controlled location in the basement of the courthouse.

McAllister said a computer index by last name was also created and a photocopier was purchased to scan requested documents.

While sorting through the documents, McAllister found several records dated as far back as 150 years -- the oldest being an intestate document from 1835, around the time Arkansas was transitioning from territory to statehood. McAllister said some of the oldest documents discovered were from West Point.

McAllister said that in the 1800s, the probate court met quarterly. Today probate court meets on an as-needed basis.

The volunteers not only sorted the documents but flattened them as well. Many had been folded or curled up and stuck in 5 by 7 inch boxes, where they remained for over a hundred years. McAllister said the hardest part of the process, however, was interpreting the names on some of the documents.

The general public will not have access to the files, but they can fill out a personal genealogy request through the historical society for a small fee.

While many genealogy seekers look to census documents for answers, McAllister said probate documents could give them a historic record and a look at past lifestyles.

"You take probate records and census records and you can build a pretty good history of the family," McAllister said.

Information on the historic probate records can be found at www.whitecounty.us  or by contacting the White County Historical Society.