State of Alabama Records Guide

The Alabama Territory was organized on March 3, 1817. The State of Alabama was created as the 22nd state on December 14, 1819. States bordering Alabama are Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and Tennessee. The capital is Montgomery and the official state website is http://www.alabama.gov/.

The State of Alabama contains 67 Counties. Alabama Counties were first created under the Mississippi Territory, and after that the Alabama Territory.

Alabama County Records

Map of Alabama with counties and county seats.

County & Local Records are found mostly with county clerks, you may want to consider historical societies, small local libraries, local genealogical societies, and school or college libraries that will provide you with access to small troves of vitally important information for Alabama genealogy.

The county circuit courts holds county court records. However, not all county court records have been surveyed.

Researchers should also note that probate and land records vary greatly from one county to the next. These are things that are usually offline and view-able by appointment or special arrangement.

The FHL and the Alabama Department of Archives and History each have microfilmed copies of county records on file.

The Samford University Library, University of Alabama Library and Alabama Department of Archives and History collections contain a few of those records.

Scattered records are now preserved by the Alabama Department of Archives and History, the University of Alabama Library, and also the Alabama Genealogical Society at the Samford University Library. See also a list of links to county and county seat government run websites.

Missing Records

Alabama County records can vary widely from county to county both in quality and also quantity.

Some happen to have been very carefully preserved while some have been much misused and uncared for. A number of county records have purely vanished.

For genealogists doing research in Alabama there is no valuable replace for an on-site research of county courthouse records.

There are local county archives that contain useful information in the following counties: Blount, Cullman, Lawrence, Madison, Morgan, St. Clair.

Destroyed Records

Many records for Alabama counties have also been lost in fires. Ten counties were hit particularly hard by fire damage. Although, some records still exist.

Records by County

Select a Alabama county to view information & records pertaining to each County

Autauga • Baldwin • Barbour • Bibb • Blount • Bullock • Butler • Calhoun • Chambers • Cherokee • Chilton • Choctaw • Clarke • Clay • Cleburne • Coffee • Colbert • Conecuh • Coosa • Covington • Crenshaw • Cullman • Dale • Dallas • DeKalb • Elmore • Escambia • Etowah • Fayette • Franklin • Geneva • Greene • Hale • Henry • Houston • Jackson • Jefferson • Lamar • Lauderdale • Lawrence • Lee • Limestone • Lowndes • Macon • Madison • Marengo • Marion • Marshall • Mobile • Monroe • Montgomery • Morgan • Perry • Pickens • Pike • Randolph • Russell • Shelby • St. Clair • Sumter • Talladega • Tallapoosa • Tuscaloosa • Walker • Washington • Wilcox • Winston

Vital Records

these are documents recording births, marriages, divorces and deaths and are available your county, state, and national archives. You will also find cemetery or obituary information, census records, newspaper items, military records, immigration and naturalization details, passenger lists and records, and more. These are available as online and offline resources for Alabama genealogy. See Also How to Order Alabama Birth , Marriage, Divorce and Death Records

State Records

these may have everything from probate information to birth certificates, death records, estate information, marriage details, military or veterans information, land records, state census information, surname lists, genealogical folders, maps, deeds, private manuscripts, newspapers, cemetery information, and so much more. These are available as online and offline resources for Alabama genealogy.