Blount County
Alabama Genealogy & History Network

Welcome to Blount County ALGHN

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

To share your Blount 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 Blount County, Alabama...

Blount County was created by an act of the State territorial legislature on February 7, 1818, almost two years before Alabama became a state. Sections of Blount County later became part of Jefferson, Marshall, Walker, and Cullman counties. The county was named for Gov. Willie Blount of Tennessee who sent Andrew Jackson to Alabama to aid settlers during the Creek War of 1813-14. Many of Jackson's men became the first settlers of the county and established a trading post at present-day Blountsville. One of the earliest settlers of the area was George Powell, who became one of the first surveyors of Alabama and later authored the first historical account of Blount County.

During the antebellum period, Blount Springs became a well-known vacation resort for wealthy southerners attracted by the area's mineral springs. The county gained notoriety during the Civil War when in May 1863 Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest attacked Union Colonel Abel Streight's forces as they attempted to cross the Locust Fork. During the raid, two local sisters, Celia and Winnie Mae Murphree, allegedly captured three Union soldiers at gunpoint while they slept and delivered them to Forrest. During the 1880s, Blount County became a major iron-producing area that helped fuel the steel industry in neighboring Birmingham. In 1937, J. Breck Musgrove made history when he opened Alabama's only underground "speakeasy" nightclub and casino at Bangor Cave in Blount County. Occupying the front of the cave, the illegal club attracted dancers, gamblers, and criminals before Gov. Bibb Graves ordered it closed.

During the nineteenth century, farming was the prevailing occupation in Blount County, with cotton, corn, and wheat being the major crops. After the Civil War, iron ore mined in Blount County helped feed the industrialization boom in Birmingham. In 1889, Henry DeBardeleben and James Sloss purchased Champion Mines and brought the Louisville and Nashville Railroad to the area. From 1925 to 1967, the mine supplied raw materials to the Woodward, TCI, and Sloss furnaces in Birmingham and the Republic Furnace in Gadsden. The decline of the steel industry in Birmingham during the 1970s affected Blount County as well, and thousands of residents lost jobs.

The county has a total area of 651 square miles, of which 645 square miles is land and 5.9 square miles (0.9%) is water. The population recorded in the 1820 Federal Census was 2,415. The 2010 census recorded 57,322 residents in the county.

Neighboring counties are Marshall County (northeast), Etowah County (east), St. Clair County (southeast), Walker County (southwest), Jefferson County (south), Cullman County (west & northwest).

Communities in the county include Oneonta, Warrior (partly in Jefferson County), Allgood, Altoona (partly in Etowah County), Blountsville, Cleveland, County Line (partly in Jefferson County), Garden City (partly in Cullman County), Hayden, Smoke Rise, Bangor, Bright Star, Brooksville, Hopewell, Little Warrior, Mount High, Remlap, Sky Ball, Straight Mountain, Summit.

Blount 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.