Courthouse disasters
The Alabama Department of Archives and History lists the courthouse here as destroyed by fire in 1870. A disaster doesn't always mean the records were lost: compare the years below for gaps, and ask the probate judge's office or ADAH what survives.
If records are missing, try the parent county, state records such as tax lists and land grants, church records and newspapers. See Burned Counties.
Records that survive
These are the record series from Jefferson 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 Judge1818–1950
Deeds and land
- Deed Records · Probate Judge1820–1911
- Mortgage Records · Probate Judge1878–1902
- Indices to Real Estate Conveyances · Probate Judge1887–1902
Wills and estates
- Will Records · Probate Judge1818–1929
- Estate Case Files · Probate Judge1826–1936
- Administrator Records · Probate Judge1870–1928
- Guardian Records · Probate Judge1870–1931
- Records of Partial Settlement · Probate Judge1870–1886
- Inventory Records · Probate Judge1871–1928
- Dower Records · Probate Judge1872–1891
- Records of Final Settlement · Probate Judge1876–1942
- Administrator Recors · Probate Judge1880
- Apprenticeship Records · Probate Judge1885–1915
Elections and voters
- Lists of Registered Voters · Board of Registrars1914–1932
Court records
- Minutes · Probate Judge1851–1930
- Final Record · Probate Judge1880–1930
Town and city records
- Bids · Hueytown City Council1960–1990
- Correspondence · Hueytown City Council1960–1992
- History of Hueytown · Hueytown City Council1960
- Minutes · Hueytown City Council1960–1994
- Sewer Projects · Hueytown City Council1964–1992
- Sewer Assessments · Hueytown City Council1965–1975
- Ledgers · Hueytown City Council1967–1982
- Records · Hueytown City Council1967–1994
- Attorney Correspondence · Hueytown City Council1968–1991
- Proclamations · Hueytown City Council1968–1995
- FEMA · Hueytown City Council1969–1989
- General Ledgers · Hueytown City Council1974–1984
- Contracts and Agreements · Hueytown City Council1988–1990
- Industrial Board Records · Hueytown City Council1990
- and 3 more series in the full listing
Other records
- Records · Orphan's Court1823–1855
- Records · Probate Judge1850–1866
- Miscellaneous Record · Circuit Court1889–1911
- Miscellaneous Record · Probate Judge1889–1911
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 Jefferson 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 "Jefferson" as the county to see every reel of Jefferson 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, Jefferson" 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: Blount County
Check the parent county for earlier records: Blount County
Later formed partly from Jefferson County: Walker County
Records stay with the county that created them. If your ancestor lived here before 1819, 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.