Coosa County
Alabama Genealogy & History Network

Welcome to Coosa County ALGHN

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

To share your Coosa 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 Coosa County, Alabama...

Located in east-central Alabama, Coosa County is home to several recreational water resources, including Lakes Lay, Martin, and Mitchell. During the late twentieth century, the county was a center of the textile industry. The county is governed by an elected five-member commission and includes three incorporated communities.

Coosa County was created by an act of the Alabama State Legislature on December 18, 1832. The county was one of 14 counties organized from lands ceded by the Creek Indians in the 1832 Treaty of Cusseta. A site on Hatchet Creek was chosen as the county seat and given the name Lexington. In 1835 the name was changed to Rockford. The first railroad, the Central Railway of Georgia, was completed in 1888 at the town of Goodwater.

The Coosa River has long played an important part in the history of the county. In 1914, the Alabama Power Company constructed Lay Dam on the Coosa River, creating Lay Lake in the northwestern corner of the county. In 1920, Alabama Power built Mitchell Dam on the Coosa, creating Mitchell Lake. In 1926, Alabama Power Company constructed the Thomas W. Martin Dam on the Tallapoosa River, resulting in the formation of Lake Martin, a portion of which lies in the southeastern corner of the county.

During the antebellum period, cotton was the major agricultural product in Coosa County. Farmers were forced to diversify in the post-Civil War years and turned to raising livestock as well as corn, wheat, and oats as supplemental crops. Given the county's many waterways, gristmills were a popular entrepreneurial endeavor. In 1874 the Central Railway of Georgia ran a spur to Goodwater, and the town became the commercial center of Coosa County. A line from Goodwater to Birmingham was completed in 1888, linking the town to the industrial and commercial hub of Alabama.

In 1966 textile manufacturer Avondale Mills opened a plant in Coosa County, providing the county with several hundred jobs in its spinning facilities. In 1999, the plant employed 350 workers and was producing 350,000 pounds of yarn per year. In May 2006, Avondale Mills announced plans to close its Coosa County plant. One month later it was announced that the plant had been sold to Parkman Mills, Inc. of North Carolina. Madix Inc., a manufacturer of office and store fixtures, partitions, and shelving, constructed a plant in Goodwater in the 1990s. Other business include Sterling Lumber Company, a sawmill and planing company, and Wingfield Engineering, a custom controls manufacturer and fabricator company.

The county has a total area of 666 square miles, of which 651 square miles is land and 15 square miles (2.6%) is water. The population recorded in the 1840 Federal Census was 6,995. The 2010 census recorded 11,539 residents in the county.

Neighboring counties are Talladega County (north), Clay County (northeast), Tallapoosa County (east), Elmore County (south), Chilton County (west), and Shelby County (northwest). Communities in the county include Goodwater, Kellyton, Rockford, Hissop, Mount Olive, Ray, Stewartville, Weogufka, Dollar, Equality (partly in Elmore & Tallapoosa Counties), Fishpond, Hatchet, Marble Valley, and Nixburg.

Coosa 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.