Welcome to the Alabama - Reference Books

First Alabama Cavalry, USA: Homage to Patriotism - Glenda McWhirter Todd. Many of the men in the First Cavalry lived in Northwest Alabama and did not approve of the secession and had to travel long distances to avoid being captured by Confederate soldiers and branded as traitors. The text includes: reports from the field; a chapter on General William Tecumseh Sherman; some National Cemeteries and places of death of the First Alabama Cavalry Union Soldiers; the combat diary of Sgt. Maj. Francis Wayland Dunn; and a roster of soldiers in the regiment. A bibliography and a fullname index are also included. 1999, 408 pp., illus., bibl., fullname index, paper, $34.00
#ZT511

Miscellaneous Alabama Newspaper Abstracts, Vol. 1 - Michael Kelsey, Nancy Graff Floyd, Ginny Guinn Parsons. This book contains abstracts from central Alabama newspapers published from 1823 through 1869 in the counties of Dallas, Green, and Talladega. However, the information is not limited to central Alabama and includes the counties of Perry, Autauga, Wilcox, Bibb, Sumter, Montgomery, Shelby, and Tuscaloosa. The abstracts consist of marriage, death, legal and slave notices, advertisements, and a great number of names in lists of letters left unclaimed in the local post offices. The lists of letters are of particular importance to the researcher as many of the names found in the lists do not appear on census indexes. 1995, 256 pp., index, paper $24.00 #ZK147

Miscellaneous Alabama Newspaper Abstracts, Volume 2 - Michael Kelsey, Nancy Graff Floyd, Ginny Guinn Parsons. This book contains abstracts from central Alabama newspapers published between 1821 and 1877. The newspapers abstracted are Cahawba Press and Alabama State Intelligencer, Alabama Journal, South Western Baptist, Our Mountain Home and The Southern Plantation. They supply a variety of information from a wide geographic area, and information is typically more personal in nature than that found in the court house, providing an interesting view of life at the time.
Abstracted information includes marriage notices (usually including residence/parent names); divorce or separation notices (name/residence); death notices and tributes of respect (usually include biographical data, residence, age); rosters of runaway slaves (personal description of slave, owner's name/residence); advertisements; notices of appointments; lists of letters at the post office; business advertisements (business/owner name); sale of land (seller's name, land location/description); renewal of lost land certificates; granting of executors; insolvent estates; estate sale notices; sheriff sale notices; crime reports; will notices; queries on whereabouts of family members; names of doctors in Alabama, by county, in 1825; etc. The lists of letters left unclaimed mention the post offices of towns such as Selma, Centreville, Old Town, Marion (Perry County), Cahawba, Perry Court House, Portland, Sparta (Conecuh County), and Canton. These are of particular importance to the researcher as many of the names found in these lists do not appear on census indexes, making them an excellent addition to census and tax records. There is a surname index containing about 2,800 names, and a separate slave name index.
This book is ideal for the researcher seeking information not found in other sources, or for the history buff looking for fascinating, insightful details on life in mid-19th-century Alabama. 1996, 352 pp., index, paper, $33.50 #ZK151

Pioneers and Residents of West Central Alabama - Madge Pettit. Genealogical data on about 1000 families who lived in the hill country of west central Alabama prior to the Civil War. Most came from Virginia and the Carolinas. Assembled from cemetery records, newspaper files, submissions by descendants, military & pension files, and census records. 1988, 400 pp., index, paper, $32.50 #ZP212

Sumter County, Alabama: Index to Wills and Estate Administrations, 1834-1884; Register of Deaths, 1881-1892: and Cemetery Records - Joseph F. Stegall and Jud K. Arrington. Sumter County, Alabama, was established in 1832, two years after a treaty removed the Choctaw Indian Nation to west of the Mississippi River. Sumter became one of the most populous and prosperous counties in the state by 1840. This book presents early county records in a format most helpful to genealogists. The book contains three parts. The first section is an index of wills and estate administrations from the Orphan's Court for the first 50 years of the county court records. The primary purpose of this court was to protect the inheritance rights of minor heirs. This index contains the names of all deceased persons in Sumter County between 1834 and 1884 whose estates were administered by the Orphan's Court. The alphabetically arranged index lists the person's name, will book volume and page number, and orphan's court volume and page number. When the court records were difficult to interpret, the author has clarified the information by researching deeds and other documents. The second section of the book is a register of deaths from 1881 to 1892, as reported in accordance with a new law that required a record of births and deaths in Sumter County. This registry is the only one of these old records that still exists, and is now the sole record of the existence of many Sumter County residents from this time period. The records include former slaves, who, since they were the county's majority, also make up the majority of deaths. Information provides the name of the deceased, cause of death, race, birth place, date of death and age. The final section contains countywide cemetery records of Sumter County residents born before 1865. Since the 1960s and 1970s, when most of these records were compiled, some of the cemeteries have been destroyed, so this transcription will prove a valuable resource. In addition, many of Sumter County's early settlers have no grave markers, due to lack of money. The records are organized by specific cemeteries, with street directions to each. The person's gravestone inscription is listed after each name. 1997, 450 pp., everyname index, paper, $33.50 #ZS712

Genealogical Abstracts from The Banner, 1893, in clanton, Chilton County, Alabama - Charlene Vinson. 1999 356 pp, original fullname index, paper, $31.00 #V357.