ObituariesHelp.org
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Alabama has, since its beginning, been a seat of cultural diversity; as such it is rich in genealogical materials. The earliest settlers were of course Native Americans, while the first Europeans arrived in the state in the mid-16th century. There are and abundance of genealogical records available for Alabama, especially from the 18th and 19th centuries due to the rush of settlers who flocked there during the “Alabama Fever” period in the early 1800’s. This page is dedicated to those records and helping you to understand:
These valuable resources can be found both online and off, so we’ll introduce you to some online databases and indexes, as well as the many brick-and-mortar repositories, societies and organizations that will help with your genealogical research in Alabama. In order to give you a more comprehensive understanding of these records, a brief history of the “Yellowhammer State” is provided in order to help you understand what kind of records may have been generated in a particular area during a particular time period. That information will further help you to pinpoint times and locations on which to focus your research.
The earliest inhabitants of Alabama were Native Americans, mainly of the Tawasa and Pawokti tribes. The Spaniards arrived in 1540 under the charge of Hernando De Soto. The Spaniards left fairly quickly after finding no gold there, but they left behind diseases which rapidly reduced the Native American population. The next Europeans to arrive were the French, who established the first major settlement in the late 17th century.
The French were not popular with the Native Americans who favored the superior quality products of the British traders, and subsequently a series of wars were fought between the French and British for control of the region. The British finally gained control of the area after the culmination of the French Indian War (1754-1763), which saw the British soundly defeating the French. The British controlled the area until after the Revolutionary war, after which Alabama was ceded to the United States of America.
Boundary Changes: A major issue in researching Alabama ancestors are historical boundary changes. It is common to be searching for an ancestor’s record in one county when in fact it is stored in a different one due to county boundaries being changed. The Atlas of Historical County Boundaries can help you to overcome that problem. It provides a chronological listing of every boundary change that has occurred in the history of Alabama.
Name Changes: Surname changes, variations, and misspellings can complicate genealogical research. It is important to check all spelling variations. Soundex, a program that indexes names by sound, is a useful first step, but you can't rely on it completely as some name variations result in different Soundex codes. The surnames could be different, but the first name may be different too. You can also find records filed under initials, middle names, and nicknames as well, so you will need to get creative with surname variations and spellings in order to cover all the possibilities. For help with surname variations read our instructional article on How to Use Soundex.
Genealogical resources include not only records, but the organizations that house them, or can direct you to them. These institutions include: Archives, Libraries, Genealogical Societies, Family History Centers, Universities, Churches, and Museums.
Following are links to their websites, their physical addresses, and a summary of the records you can find there.
Genealogical and historical societies have access to extensive catalogues of genealogical data, and offer expert guidance for genealogical research. Many members are professional genealogists who are most willing to share their expertise in finding ancestors.
The Family History Centers run by the LDS Church offer free access to billions of genealogical records for free to the general public. They also provide classes on genealogy and one-on-one assistance to inexperienced family historians. Here you will find a Complete Listing of Alabama Family History Centers.
With that information in mind, the following websites have databases that can be searched online.
Obituaries can reveal a wealth about our ancestor and other relatives. You can search our Alabama Newspaper Obituaries Listings from hundreds of Alabama newspapers online for free.
The documents found in a probate packet may include a complete inventory of a person’s estate, newspaper entries, witness testimony, a copy of a will, list of debtors and creditors, names of executors or trustees, names of heirs. They can not only tell you about the ancestor you’re currently researching, but lead to other ancestors. Most of these records must be accessed at a county court or clerk’s office, but some can be found online as well. The Alabama Department of Revenue provides the address and contact information of every county probate office in the state.
The Family History Library possesses microfilmed copies of probate records from the majority of counties in Alabama, usually from the date a county was created to the 1920s.
The naturalization process generated many types of records, including petitions, declarations of intention, and oaths of allegiance. Different records provide different details about the individual, such as age, ethnic background, country of birth, previous residences, current address, name of the ship sailed on, and date and port of arrival. Nationalization records are normally held at county level, but federal and state records were also generated. The best place to request naturalization records for Alabama is at the National Archives Southeast Region (Atlanta).
National Archives Southeast Region (Atlanta)
5780 Jonesboro Road
Morrow, Georgia 30260
Tel: 770-968-2100
Fax: 770-968-2547
EMail: atlanta.archives@nara.gov
One of the biggest challenges facing family historians is locating information about immigrant ancestors. Discovering the name of your ancestor’s original town, city, county, parish, or country of origin is an important goal. During the early 1700s, some Spanish and French families immigrated to Alabama’s southern coastal area, but most settlers who arrived pre-statehood emigrated from the older southern states, especially Georgia and Carolina.
FamilySearch.org maintains an online index of Passenger Arrivals, Atlantic and Gulf Ports, 1820-1874, while the National Genealogical Society has a database of Anglos and Anglo-Americans in Early Alabama. The US National Archives has Ships Passenger Lists for immigrants arriving in the United States from overseas between the years 1820 and 1982.
City directories are similar to telephone directories in that they list the residents of a particular area. The difference though is what is important to genealogists, and that is they pre-date telephone directories. You can find an ancestor’s information such as their street address, place of employment, occupation, or the name of their spouse. An excellent starting point for finding city directories is the City Directories of the United States website, where you can search alphabetical listing of directories for the entire state.
Below you will find a list of links to websites containing information on famous battles fought in Alabama. They can provide regimental and other historical data that can help you to locate military records for ancestors.
Looking for female ancestors requires an adjustment of how we view traditional records sources. A woman’s identity was often under that of her husband, and often individual records for them can be difficult to locate. The following resources are effective in locating female ancestors where traditional records may not reveal them.
Women’s Army Corps Museum
Building 1077
Fort McClellan, Al. 36205-5000
W.S. Hoole Special Collections Library
University of Alabama
Po Box S
Tuscaloosa, AL. 35487
The following surnames are among the most common in Alabama. The list is by no means exhaustive. If your surname doesn’t appear in the list it doesn’t mean that you have no Alabama connections, only that your surname may be less common.
Arner, Adams, Adamson, Aldridge, Allen, Amos, Arrington, Babcock, Bailey, Baker, Ballard, Barber, Barrow, Bassett, Beard, Bell, Black, Blackmon, Boswell, Boyd, Bright, Brown, Brumbelow, Bryan, Bryant, Burdett, Burson, Bush, Canady, Cannon, Carson, Carter, Chisholm, Clifton, Clinton, Cohen, Coker, Cole, Conoway, Cotton, Crabtree, Crosby, Crumby, Cullars, Davis, Denham, Dozier, Duke, Elkins, Emory, Eters, Evans, Factor, Farris, Farrow, Faust, Flanigan, Flannegan, Flowers, Fortune, Freeman, Fuller, Garner, Gibson, Graves, Greer, Green, Griffith, Griggs, Hadaway, Hall, Hardy, Harris, Haynie, Holley, Horne, Hughey, Hurston, Hussey, Johnson, Jones, Jordan, Kelly, King, Kirk, Kittley, Knight, Knowles, Lambert, Lancaster, Lashley, Lecroy, Levey, Lewis, Lucas, Mackey, Martin, Mason, Mayo, Mcinish, Miller, Mitchell, Moncrief, Morris, Nail, Northcut, Pate, Pearson, Philips, Pike, Pope, Powell, Prather, Rabun, Ray, Reese, Rice, Robertson, Robinson, Rockwell, Rogers, Royster, Rushing, Shearer, Sims, Smith, Strickland, Sullivan, Taylor, Thaxton, Thomas, Thrower, Tucker, Vestal, Waldrop, Walker, Watkins, Whitehead, Whittington, Williams, Williamson, Willingham, Wilson, Wimberley, Wisener, Worthy, Wright, Yates,