On today’s Friday Focus I am going to talk about the contiguous counties that surround Tuscaloosa. Tuscaloosa is directly surrounded by a total of 7 counties: Jefferson, Bibb, Walker, Fayette, Pickens, Greene and Hale. Of those 7 I am going to focus more on Fayette, Walker, Pickens, Greene and Hale as those counties are considered West Alabama, whether as Jefferson and Bibb are considered Central Alabama. In addition Jefferson County is also served by the very large Birmingham Public Library including their fabulous Southern History Collection.
For our contiguous counties we have approximately 60 books on either Jefferson County or Birmingham, 31 books and 21 rolls of microfilm on Bibb County, 24 books and 16 rolls of microfilm on Walker County, 27 books and 20 rolls of microfilm on Fayette County, 22 books, 11 rolls of microfilm and 5 maps on Pickens County, 31 books and 67 rolls of microfilm on Greene County and 14 books and 12 rolls of microfilm on Hale County.
One thing that somewhat limits research in all the counties except for Hale and Bibb Counties, is that all of the other counties are considered “burned counties”. Walker County has actually 4 courthouse fires, the most recent being in 1932. Pickens suffered its’ fire in 1876, Greene in 1868, and Fayette in 1866.
Going in a counterclockwise rotation I am going to start with a few things on Walker County, my most used book is actually a series titled “Here they rest : cemetery records of Walker County, Alabama compiled by the Walker County Genealogical Society. We have volumes 1-4 and 6-7.
West of Walker County is Fayette County. 2 of the most popular books on Fayette County come from the same authors: Herbert M. and Jeanie P. Newell are to thank for both Fayette County, Alabama, cemetery records, 1958-1959 and History of Fayette County, Alabama. Both of these books should not be missed when you are working on Fayette County Research.
A third book from Fayette County that gets a lot of use is Looking back : Fayette County, Alabama 1824-1974, published by the Fayette County Historical Society with the cooperation of the Fayette County Broadcaster. The Broadcaster was a local newspaper that was published from 1962-1982.
Moving South and West from Fayette County we arrive at Pickens County where two books stand out as having more use than some others. The first book is Early settlers of Pickens County, Alabama by James Dolphus Johnson Jr. The second book is Pickens County, Alabama : history and families. Both of these books are large books that I seem to shelve more than others in that section.
Moving South and just a little East we get to Greene County. My most popular resource from the Greene County books is: A goodly heritage : memories of Greene County / produced by Greene County Historical Society ; Mary Morgan Glass, editor. This book was published in 1977 so it is an older publication, but still good for research in Greene County.
Moving East we finally get to Hale County which is directly South of Tuscaloosa County. Hale even shares a city with Tuscaloosa, as part of Moundville is in each county. Hale County, Alabama : an inventory of significant and historic resources : a report compiled for the Cahaba Trace Commission / by Jeff Mansell is my most used book on Hale County.
I hope this gives just a taste of what is available for the counties that surround Tuscaloosa, I always recommend if your ancestors lived in Tuscaloosa close to the border of any of these counties that you check out what records are available just over the county line.
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