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Notes on Henry County Circuit Court Records
(1821 to early 1825)

Henry County, Alabama circuit court cases from 1821 through 1824 plus a few cases in early 1825 are available on LDS Family History Library (FHL) microfilm US/CAN #2319981, Item 2. The cases appear in the FHL index as “Circuit Court records (Henry County, Alabama), 1821-1824.” The quality of the microfilm images is poor, especially the last 15 pages. Reliable sources report that the Henry County Court has sealed the original circuit court book because of its fragile condition, and it is no longer available to researchers.

The cases in the old Circuit Court Book are not in precise chronological order which suggests the cases were transcribed from original loose-leaf documents. This probably occurred in 1828 after Act 62 of the ninth annual session of the General Assembly of the State of Alabama was enacted, “to provide compensation for a person to transcribe and arrange the records of the clerk’s office, of the county courts, for the counties of Dallas and Henry”. (http://www.legislature.state.al.us/misc/history/acts_and_journals/1827/acts/Acts_43-64.html).

The old Circuit Court Book contains several numbering errors, a few blank pages, and a few missing pages to wit:

  • The book’s front cover is missing from the microfilm and, presumably, from the original Circuit Court Book.
  • The Index for A’s and B’s is missing from the microfilm and, presumably, from the original Circuit Court Book.
  • The original Circuit Court Book skips page 7.
  • Pages 165 and 183 are blank in the original Circuit Court Book.
  • There is an unnumbered X’d out page between pages 203 & 204 that is designated “203X” in the transcription.
  • There are two sets of different pages that are numbered 46 through 55.
  • There are two different pages that are numbered 95.
  • There are two different sets of pages that are numbered 105 through 114.
  • There are two different pages that are numbered 200.
  • There are two different pages that are numbered 284.

During the summer and fall of 2007, Jim Chumney extracted all the names, dates, vocations, and other genealogical information from a FHC microfilm copy of the 1821-1824 Henry County, Alabama Circuit Court Book for use by the general genealogical community. It is Jim’s compilation that is the source of the names in the list of Pre-1830 Henry County inhabitants that identify the old Circuit Court Book as their original source. Where there are two different pages that are numbered the same in the original Circuit Court Book, the compilation adds the suffix -2 to the second page. Hence, a researcher who wants to find information in the original Circuit Court book that the compilation indicates is on page 46-2 must advance to the second page in the original book that is labeled 46 which, in fact, follows page 55 in the original book. As with any transcription from a handwritten original, there is lots of room for error, but fortunately, there is a lot of redundancy of names in the old Circuit Court Book which helps, but on the other hand, the names are sometimes spelled slightly differently within a case. If there was significant doubt, an alternate spelling is included in the compilation.

With respect to old Court Case Book’s use in the “Census of Pre-1830 Henry County Pioneers:”


  1. The court cases are very good at noting when individuals were residents of other counties or states, but there’s still a possibility that a small number of non-Henry-County residents may have slipped through.

  1. Many of the cases reference promissory notes that were exchanged months to years before the related trial in Henry County. There’s a danger that the notes were exchanged while the participants were residents of other counties or states, and so, unless the court case explicitly states a promissory note was signed in Henry County, the date of a promissory note is not used as the earliest date the participants were inhabitants of Henry County. Nevertheless, the date of a promissory note is of significant genealogical value and is still included in the expanded description of a pioneer’s web page.


JimChumney
JimChumney
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