Lowndes County
Alabama Genealogy & History Network

Welcome to Lowndes County ALGHN

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

To share your Lowndes 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 Lowndes County, Alabama...

Lowndes County was established by an act of the Alabama General Assembly on January 20, 1830. The county was formed from parts of Montgomery, Dallas, and Butler counties. The section taken from Butler County was later added to Crenshaw County, giving Lowndes County its final dimensions.

Lowndes County was named in honor of William Lowndes, a U.S. congressman from South Carolina. The earliest settlers came to the county from Georgia and Tennessee.

Lowndes County's first and only county seat was established at Hayneville in 1830. The original brick courthouse was constructed in 1832. In 1856, the courthouse was deemed unsafe by the county commission and a second Greek Revival courthouse was built. Still in use today, the courthouse had two-story wings added in 1905 to create more office space. In 1981, an annex was added to the rear of the building. The courthouse has also undergone some minor restoration as well.

During the civil rights era of the 1960s, Lowndes County was at the forefront of efforts to reform voting rights and other areas of racial injustice in the South. The Lowndes County Freedom Organization, founded by local activists and former members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, was the earliest incarnation of what would become the Black Panther Party. Civil rights activist and seminarian Jonathan Myrick Daniels was murdered by a white store owner in Hayneville on August 13, 1965, after being released from jail there. Daniels and approximately 30 others had been arrested for participating in civil rights demonstrations in Fort Deposit.

Like so much of Alabama, farming was the prevailing occupation of Lowndes County until well into the twentieth century. As part of the Black Belt, cotton was Lowndes County's main agricultural product in the nineteenth century. By the early to mid-twentieth century, farmers had diversified into corn, potatoes, and livestock. Although Lowndes County has attempted to move toward a more industrialized economy, it has done so slowly and with limited success. The county remains largely rural and agricultural.

The county has a total area of 725 square miles, of which 716 square miles is land and 9 square mile (1.3%) is water. The population recorded in the 1830 Federal Census was 9,410. The 2020 census recorded 10,311 residents in the county.

Neighboring counties are Autauga County (north), Montgomery County (east), Crenshaw County (southeast), Butler County (south), Wilcox County (southwest), and Dallas County (west).

Communities in the county include Benton, Fort Deposit, Gordonville, Hayneville, Lowndesboro, Mosses, White Hall, Burkville, Letohatchee, Mount Willing, Sandy Ridge, and Trickem.

Lowndes 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.