Bibb County
Alabama Genealogy & History Network

Welcome to Bibb County ALGHN

Welcome to the Bibb County Alabama Genealogy & History Network website providing free information to genealogical and historical researchers.

To share your Bibb County, Alabama genealogy or history information, send an email to alghn@outlook.com - we will be pleased to include it here. If you have information to share for other Alabama Counties, visit the Alabama Genealogy & History Network state website and choose the appropriate county.

About Bibb County, Alabama...

Bibb County was originally created as Cahawba County (named after the river that runs thru it) and was formed from Monroe County and Montgomery County by the Alabama Territorial Legislature on 1818 Feb. 7. Alterations were made to the boundaries in 1818, 1819, 1820, 1821 and 1868. The county name was changed to Bibb on 1820 Dec. 4, in honor of Alabama's first governor, William Wyatt Bibb.

Before settlers moved to the area, it was populated by the Creeks of the Upper Towns, who lived along the banks of the Cahaba and its tributaries. In 1815, non-Indian squatters began moving into the area, and Centreville was made the county seat of government.

The county is located near the center of the state and is drained by the Cahaba River. The terrain in the county is very hilly. There are significant mineral deposits in the northern part of the county. Bibb County was extremely rich in ore, coal, clay, and timber, and during the antebellum period, local entrepreneurs established several small iron forges in the north and northeastern areas of the county. Oxmoor Furnace in Blocton was the first to produce pig iron in the state. This made the region extremely valuable to the Confederacy during the Civil War.

In the late nineteenth century, the area experienced a boom in the lumber and coal mining industries, and a number of immigrant families from Belgium, Italy, Austria, Hungary, and Bulgaria moved to the area. Dangerous conditions in the mines drew workers'-rights advocates from the United Mine Workers, who led Bibb County miners in strikes in 1894, 1904, 1908, and 1920. The plight of the miners attracted the attention of national labor leader Eugene V. Debs, who spoke to crowds in Blocton in 1896. The area received an economic boost in 1898 when a branch of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad was completed in the southeastern part of the county.

The county has a total area of 626 square miles, of which 623 square miles is land and 3.6 square miles (0.6%) is water. The population recorded in the 1820 Federal Census was 3,676. The 2010 census recorded 22,915 residents in the county.

Neighboring counties are Jefferson County (north), Shelby County (northeast), Chilton County (southeast), Perry County (southwest), Hale County (southwest), Tuscaloosa County (northwest). Communities in the county include Brent, Centreville, Vance (partly in Tuscaloosa County), West Blocton, Woodstock (partly in Tuscaloosa County), Active, Brierfield, Flat Top, Green Pond, Lawley, Maud, Randolph, Cadle, and Sixmile.

Bibb County, Alabama Records

Alabama Genealogy & History Network has much information on our county websites - cemetery listings, community data, etc. Please visit the county or counties of interest to you.

Birth Records - The Alabama Department of Public Health maintains records of births from 1908 to present. This was the year Alabama began keeping official birth records. You can obtain official copies of birth certificates by visiting the birth record page on their website and following the instructions. Since there are no official birth records before 1908 for births prior to that date you will need to determine birth information from census records, bible records, baptismal records, cemetery tombstones, etc.

Death Records - The Alabama Department of Public Health maintains death records after 1908 on file. This was the year Alabama began keeping official death records. You can obtain official copies of death certificates by visiting the death record page on their website and following the instructions. Since there are no official death records before 1908 for deaths prior to that date you will need to determine death information from census records, bible records, funeral home records, cemetery tombstones, etc.

Marriage Records - The Alabama Department of Public Health can provide you with information for marriages that took place from 1936 to present by by visiting the marriage record page on their website and following the instructions.

All existing county marriage records for any date not listed above (and for the dates listed above for that matter) may be obtained from the county's Probate Office in which the marriage was held.

Divorce Records - The Alabama Department of Public Health maintains divorce records from 1950 to present. You can obtain official copies of devorce records by visiting the divorce record page on their website and following the instructions. Records for divorces occuring before 1950 may be obtained from the Circuit Clerk in the county where the divorce took place.