Cullman County
Alabama Genealogy & History Network

Welcome to Cullman County ALGHN

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

To share your Cullman 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 Cullman County, Alabama...

Cullman County was created by an act of the Alabama State Legislature on January 24, 1877, from portions of Blount, Walker, Morgan, and Winston counties. The county is named for its founder, Johann G. Cullman, who came to Alabama in 1873 to establish a colony for German immigrants. Prior to its creation, present-day Cullman County was occupied by poor farmers and squatters. The mountainous land was too difficult to farm, and the area was one of the most isolated and desolate in north Alabama.

During the Civil War, the area was a haven for Unionists and deserters. In the spring of 1863, Union colonel Abel Streight and Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest fought a running skirmish across northern Alabama that included a number of named battles, including at Day's Creek, Crooked Creek, and Hog Mountain in present-day Cullman County. After the war, Johann Cullman saw different promise in the area. Born in Bavaria, Cullman traveled to America in the late 1860s to escape the revolutions sweeping Europe during the mid-nineteenth century. When he arrived in Alabama in 1870, he met former governor Robert Patton, who suggested that he settle in north Alabama. In 1871, he purchased around 350,000 acres on either side of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad and began recruiting settlers in 1873 through a letter-writing campaign and advertisements in his German-language newspaper, Der Nord Alabama Colonist. Cullman sold 20,000 acres of land in the area to poor immigrants by offering the land at drastically reduced rates.

This angered squatters and poor farmers who already lived in the area, and in the early 1870s, Cullmann survived an assassination attempt when an outraged farmer attacked him with a bowie knife. Soon, however, the town of Cullman contained 125 new immigrant families. By 1880 the town had a population of 1,200, a train depot, three public schools, a telegraph office, courthouse, and several successful businesses. Although Johann Cullman succeeded in attracting European immigrants and was even asked to devise a "plan of immigration" for the Alabama Department of Immigration, his town outlawed blacks from settling in the area. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Cullman was known as a sundown town, so named for its alleged display of a sign warning blacks not to be in town after sundown.

On April 27, 2011, a massive storm, causing numerous powerful tornadoes, struck the southeastern United States. More than 250 people were killed in Alabama, including two people in Cullman County, one in the city of Cullman and another in the Johnson's Crossing community.

The county has a total area of 755 square miles, of which 735 square miles is land and 20 square miles (2.7%) is water. The population recorded in the 1880 Federal Census was 6,355. The 2020 census recorded 87,866 residents in the county.

Neighboring counties are Morgan County (north), Marshall County (northeast), Blount County (east), Walker County (southwest), Winston County (west), and Lawrence County (northwest). Communities in the county include Cullman, Hanceville, Arab (partly in Marshall County), Baileyton, Colony, Dodge City, Fairview, Garden City (partly in Blount County), Good Hope, Holly Pond, South Vinemont, West Point, Arkadelphia Battleground, Berlin, Black Bottom, Bremen, Brooklyn, Bug Tussle, Corinth, Crane Hill, Damascus, Logan, Spring Hill, Trimble, Vinemont, Welti, Wilburn, East Point, and Joppa.

Cullman County, Alabama Records

Alabama Genealogy & History Network has helpful information on our county websites - cemetery listings, community information, 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.