Alabama, Montgomery County Court Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States Alabama Mongomery County

What is in the Collection?
The records consists of digital images of circuit and city court case files including primarily divorces and disputed estates. They also include chancery court case files. Chancery courts are courts of equity, so they hear primarily property disputes, often including disputed estates and sales of slaves. The collection covers the years 1870 to 1950.

Collection Content
Wills usually mention the names of heirs and frequently specify how those heirs are related. Wills may also list names of children and married names of daughters. Probate records may not give an exact death date, but the death most often occurred within a few months of the date of probate.

Probate records of Alabama have been kept by the probate court since the counties were created. These courts have records of estate, guardianship, and juvenile cases. The Gandrud and Jones Alabama Records Collection includes some of these records.

These records were created with the intent to determine lawful ownership of family possessions and estates in the event of death or divorce.

The death date, residence, and other facts that were current at the time are quite reliable, though there is still a chance of misinformation. The records may omit the names of deceased family members and those who have previously received an inheritance, or the spouse mentioned may not be the parent of the children mentioned.

What Can this Collection Tell Me?
The records usually contain the following information:


 * Names of interested individuals
 * Court date
 * Name of court
 * Location of court
 * Details of the dispute or case
 * Monies assessed or exchanged
 * Names of witnesses

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search it is helpful to know:
 * The name of your ancestor
 * The ancestor's place of residence
 * The court date
 * The names of interested individuals

View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page: To search the collection you will need to follow this series of links: ⇒Select the "Browse" link in the initial search page ⇒Select the county ⇒Select the "Record Type, Date Range and Volume" which takes you to the images

Many of these volumes have indexes at the beginning or end. You should search these first. If your ancestor is in the index download a copy or write down the page numbers listed for your ancestor. You can then quickly turn to those pages.

If you do not find your ancestor in the index, look at each image comparing the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine if the image relates to them. You may need to look at several images and compare the information about the individuals listed in those images to your ancestors to make this determination. Keep in mind:


 * There may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * You may not be sure of your own ancestor’s name.
 * Your ancestor may have used different names or variations of their name throughout their life.

What Do I Do Next?
When you have located your ancestor’s record, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details that can lead you to other records about your ancestors. Add this new information to your records of each family.

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?

 * Use the information to search for census, church, and land records.
 * Compile the entries for every person who has the same surname as the deceased, this is especially helpful in rural areas or if the surname is unusual.
 * Continue to search the records to identify children, siblings, parents, and other relatives who may have been in the same county or nearby. This can help you identify other generations of your family or even the second marriage of a parent. Repeat this process for each new generation you identify.
 * When looking for a person who had a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which is correct.
 * Earlier records may not contain as much information as the records created after 1900.
 * There is also some variation in the information given from one record to another record.
 * Witnesses in court cases may be close relatives.

I Can't Find Who I'm Looking for, What Now?

 * Check for variant spellings of the surnames.
 * Check for an index. There are often indexes at the beginning of each volume. Local historical and genealogical groups also compile indexes to local records.
 * Search the indexes and records of nearby counties.

Citing this Collection
Citing your sources makes it easy for others to find and evaluate the records you used. When you copy information from a record, list where you found that information. Here you can find citations already created for the entire collection and for each individual record or image.

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