Courthouse disasters
The Alabama Department of Archives and History lists the courthouse here as destroyed by fire in 1901. 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 Sumter 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 Judge1833–1969
- Records of Birth · Probate Judge1909–1919
- Records of Death · Probate Judge1909–1914
Deeds and land
- Deed Records · Probate Judge1833–1901
- Tract Books · Probate Judge1833–1834
- Sixteenth Section Land Books · Probate Judge1840–1851
Wills and estates
- Inventory Records · Probate Judge1811–1927
- Will Records · Probate Judge1828–1938
- Estate Case Files · Probate Judge1832–1953
- Guardian Records · Probate Judge1864–1941
- Administrator Records · Probate Judge1871–1935
- Records of Final Settlement · Probate Judge1871–1953
- Records of Partial Settlement · Probate Judge1871
Military and pensions
- Records of Honorable Discharge from Military Service · Probate Judge1854–1920
- Confederate Pension Records · Probate Judge1915–1937
Tax records
- Poll Tax Records · Probate Judge1901–1927
Elections and voters
- Lists of Registered Voters · Board of Registrars1902–1940
Court records
- Minutes · Orphan's Court1833–1946
Other records
- Records · Orphan's Court1833–1884
- Miscellaneous Records · Probate Judge1839–1937
- Oaths of Allegiance · Probate Judge1865
- US Census · Probate Judge1880
- Records · Probate Judge1884–1937
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 Sumter 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 "Sumter" as the county to see every reel of Sumter 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, Sumter" 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: Land not yet in any county
Later formed partly from Sumter County: Choctaw 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.