Houston County, Alabama Genealogy

Guide to Houston County, Alabama ancestry, family history, and genealogy birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

County Courthouse
Health Department has birth, death and burial records Probate Office has marriage, probate and land records from 1903 Clerk Circuit Court has court records from 1903 Registrar in Chancery has divorce records from 1903

Description
The County was named after George Smith Houston, a Governor of Alabama. The County has Dothan as its seat and the County was created February 9, 1903. The County is located in the southeast area of the state.

Parent County
1903--Houston County was created 9 February 1903 from Dale, Geneva and Henry Counties. County seat: Dothan

Boundary Changes
For animated maps illustrating Alabama county boundary changes, "Rotating Formation Alabama County Boundary Maps" (1799-1980) may be viewed for free at the MapofUS.org website.

Record Loss
There is no known history of courthouse disasters in this county.

Populated Places
For a complete list of populated places, including small neighborhoods and suburbs, visit Hometown Locator. The following are the most historically and genealogically relevant populated places in this county:

Neighboring Counties

 * Dale
 * Early County, Georgia
 * Geneva
 * Henry
 * Holmes County, Florida
 * Jackson County, Florida
 * Seminole County, Georgia

Cemeteries
The following web site has additional information on Houston county cemeteries.


 * Interment.net Alabama cemetery records by county.

Census
State Census


 * 1866 - at FamilySearch — index

Directories
Houston County, Alabama Online Historical Directories - identifies historical city, county, business and other directories available online on both free and pay-to-access websites.

Maps

 * Maps of Alabama (1799-1980)

Civil War
Online Records
 * 1861-1865 - at FamilySearch — index
 * 1861-1865 - at FamilySearch — index
 * 1861-1865 - U.S., Confederate Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865 at Ancestry — index (free)
 * 1861-1865 - U.S., Union Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865 at Ancestry — index (free)
 * 1907, 1921, 1927 - at FamilySearch — images

Newspapers

 * 1908-15, 1926, 1928-36, 1943-51 - The Dothan Eagle (Dothan, Ala.) at Ancestry ($).

Probate Records
Online Probate Records
 * 1753 – 1999 Alabama Wills and Probate Records 1753-1999 at Ancestry.com — index and images $
 * 1809 – 1985 at FamilySearch — images

Vital Records
See also How to order Alabama Vital Records


 * Houston County Vital Records at ALGenWeb - free

Birth

 * 1881 – 1930 at FamilySearch.org — index

Marriage

 * 1733-2013 - Alabama, United States Marriages at FindMyPast — index $


 * To 1825 Index to Marriages at Ancestry – ($); Index. contains over 12,000 names. Each entry includes groom, bride, marriage date, county, and state. Every name is indexed so you can search for one name, or two names that are linked.


 * 1903-1931 - Houston County Marriage Books 1-8 Index 1903-1931 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch - free.


 * 1936–1969 Alabama, Marriage Collection, 1800–1969 at Ancestry – ($); Index. This collection is comprised of indexes created by several agencies - the Alabama Center for Health Statistics, Jordan Dodd of Liahona Research, and Hunting For Bears.


 * 1809 – 1950 at FamilySearch.org — index/images


 * 1816 – 1957 at FamilySearch.org — index


 * 1800 – 1969 Alabama, Marriage Collection, 1800-1969 at Ancestry.com — index $


 * 1809 – 1920 Alabama Marriages


 * 1809-1920 (Selected Counties)] at Ancestry.com — index $

Death

 * 1881–1974 Index to Deaths and Burials at Ancestry – ($); Index. Volunteers extracted the details in this index from microfilmed copies of &lt;g class="gr_ gr_172 gr-alert gr_gramm Grammar only-ins doubleReplace replaceWithoutSep" id="172" data-gr-id="172"&gt;church&lt;/g&gt;, civil, family, and other records of Alabama deaths and burials. details vary depending on the original record. Note that the number of available records can vary widely by &lt;g class="gr_ gr_171 gr-alert gr_gramm Punctuation only-del replaceWithoutSep" id="171" data-gr-id="171"&gt;&lt;g class="gr_ gr_169 gr-alert gr_spell ContextualSpelling ins-del" id="169" data-gr-id="169"&gt;county&lt;/g&gt;,&lt;/g&gt; and this database does not necessarily represent a comprehensive set of death records for the state during this time.


 * 1908–1959 Index to Deaths recorded by the state of Alabama at Ancestry – ($); Index. The index includes &lt;g class="gr_ gr_175 gr-alert gr_gramm Grammar only-ins doubleReplace replaceWithoutSep" id="175" data-gr-id="175"&gt;name&lt;/g&gt; of the deceased, county of death, date of death, and the state certificate number (volume and page).


 * 1908-1974 - at FamilySearch Historical Records Collection - free


 * 1881 – 1952 at FamilySearch.org — index


 * 1908 – 1974 at FamilySearch.org — index


 * 1881 – 1974 Alabama, Deaths and Burials Index, 1881-1974 at Ancestry.com — index $


 * 1908 – 1959 Alabama Deaths


 * 1908-59 at Ancestry.com — index $

Societies and Libraries
Southeast Alabama Genealogical and Historical Society P. O. Box 246 Dothan, AL 36302-0246 334-794-8378 Publications: Wiregrass Roots SEAGHS Magazine

Troy University-Dothan Campus P. O. Box 8368 Dothan, AL 36304 334-983-6556 ext. 327

Houston Houston-Love Memorial Library 334-793-9767 Houston Love Memorial Library Website


 * List of Alabama Archives, Libraries, Publications, Historical &amp; Genealogical Societies


 * Houston County, Alabama


 * Houston Co. AL


 * United States Resources: Alabama


 * Al Gen Web

Libraries
Houston-Love Memorial Library 212 W Burdeshaw St. P.O. Box 1369 Dothan, Alabama 36303 Telephone: 334-793-9767

Family History Center
Dothan Alabama 3199 Ross Clark Cir NW Dothan, Houston, Alabama, United States Phone: 334-793-7425 Familysearch

Enterprise Alabama 110 Shell Field Rd Enterprise, Houston, Alabama, United States Phone: 334-347-3631

Family History Centre Locator

Houston County Alabama Genealogy Websites

 * Houston County, AL History, Records, Facts and Genealogy
 * USGenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the state, then the county.
 * USGenWeb Archives Project ~ contains record transcriptions from Bibles, obituaries, court records and more.
 * Houston County ALGenWeb ~ record transcriptions and information pertinent to the county.
 * Houston County, Alabama Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)
 * Houston County, Alabama Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)