Records that survive
These are the record series from Chambers County that the Alabama Department of Archives and History (ADAH) has on microfilm, with the office that kept each and the earliest and latest years filmed. A span can include gaps. Most of the original books are still in the county.
Marriages, births and deaths
- Marriage Records and Indices · Probate Judge1833–1964
Deeds and land
- Deed Records · Probate Judge1834–1899
- Indices to Real Estate Conveyances · Probate Judge1834–1903
Wills and estates
- Estate Case Files · Probate Judge1832–1915
- Estate Records · Circuit Court1832–1888
- Guardian Records · Probate Judge1832–1915
- Estate Records · Orphan's Court1833–1881
- Estate Records · Probate Judge1834–1846
- Inventory Records · Probate Judge1834–1924
- Orphan's Court Docket and Fee Books · Orphan's Court1838–1843
- Records of Final Settlement · Probate Judge1841–1926
- Guardian Records · Orphan's Court1846
- Administrator Records · Probate Judge1871–1927
- Appraisement Records · Probate Judge1871–1926
- Will Records · Probate Judge1895–1927
Military and pensions
- Confederate Pension Records · Probate Judge1876–1907
- Records of Honorable Discharge from Military Service · Probate Judge1918–1919
Elections and voters
- Lists of Registered Voters · Board of Registrars1912
Court records
- Case Files · Circuit Court1832–1888
- Minutes · Orphan's Court1833–1876
- Minutes · Probate Judge1850–1926
Other records
- Records · Probate Judge1819–1929
- Records · Orphan's Court1833–1882
- Index · Probate Judge1836–1885
- US Census · Probate Judge1880
Search ADAH's County Records on Microfilm database
Source: Alabama Department of Archives and History, County Records on Microfilm database. Enter the county's name to see every reel. Alabama's statewide registration of births and deaths began in 1908.
Where to find the records
- Find Chambers County's official website
We haven't checked this county's website yet, so this opens a web search. Look for an address ending in .gov, then find the probate judge and the circuit clerk.
- The probate judge
In Alabama the probate office keeps most of the records family historians want: deeds, wills, estates, guardianships and marriage licenses. Before 1850 the same work was done by the orphans' court and the county court.
- The circuit clerk
Civil and criminal court cases and divorces. Older divorces and equity suits may be in the records of the chancery court.
- The Alabama Department of Archives and History
In Montgomery: microfilm of county records from every county, Confederate service and pension records, and the surviving state censuses (1820, 1850, 1855 and 1866, with many counties missing).
- ADAH County Records on Microfilmfree
Enter "Chambers" as the county to see every reel of Chambers County records, with the office, record type and dates.
- ADAH: Alabama courthouses destroyed by fire (PDF)free
The counties ADAH lists as losing a courthouse to fire between 1823 and 1965, with the years.
- FamilySearch Catalogfree
Search by place for "Alabama, Chambers" to find filmed and digitized records, many viewable free online with a FamilySearch account.
Offices change their hours and access rules; call before you visit.
Boundaries and parent counties
Formed from: Montgomery County, Shelby County
Check the parent counties for earlier records: Montgomery County, Shelby County
Later formed partly from Chambers County: Lee County
Records stay with the county that created them. If your ancestor lived here before 1832, search the parent county. The Atlas of Historical County Boundaries shows each boundary change.
Research tip
Alabama's probate judges kept deeds as well as wills and estates, so one office holds most of a family's paper trail. For an ancestor who arrived before statehood in 1819, look in the records of the Mississippi Territory (to 1817) and the Alabama Territory (1817–1819) too.