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Alabama 1867 Voter Registration Records Database
Currently all entries for Wilcox, Winston, Walker, Tuscaloosa, Tallapoosa, Talladega, Sumter, St. Clair, Shelby, Russell, Pike, Pickens, Perry and Macon Counties are available The books for the following counties were severely damaged from mold: Dallas; Franklin; Lauderdale; Limestone; Lowndes; Monroe; Randolph; and Washington. Some information may be missing due to the extent of the mold damage.
About the Database
This database is being created by staff members, as time permits, from the entries in the 131 volumes of the 1867 Voter Registration Records maintained by the Alabama Department of Archives and History (ADAH). The volumes are significant genealogical records as this is one of the first statewide government documents that record African-American males living in Alabama. Because no index existed for individual volumes or for the records as a whole, and because of the deteriorating condition of the records, in 2004 ADAH staff began scanning the documents and keying the data from each entry into a computer database. When a successful search retrieves a name from the database, an image of the page where the entry resides will also be available for your use.
The department has structured this project so that each time staff complete a county’s volume(s), it will be placed on the website. In creating the database, staff members were instructed to copy the entries exactly as they are written in each volume, to the best of their ability in interpreting the handwriting. If a staff member was unable to determine the spelling of an entry, s/he placed brackets to indicate that the name/spelling is uncertain.
There are several points that users should understand about the 1867 Voter Registration Records before using the database. 1) Because the local military authorities responsible for registering individuals in 1867 may have interpreted the Act (see History) regarding the creation of the records differently, a number of otherwise eligible citizens living in the county may not be reflected in the volumes. 2) Each volume has columns for the following information: Name, Race, County of residence, Precinct, Length of residence (in state, in county, in precinct), Book and page where the individual’s Loyalty Oath is recorded, Native country or state, and other remarks. However, not every entry includes each piece of information. 3) Many entries have the first names abbreviated. The common abbreviations used are:
Chas = Charles
Geo = George
Danl = Daniel
Jas = James
Jno = John
Jos = Joseph
Robt = Robert
Thos = Thomas
Wash = Washington
Wm = William
History
The Alabama 1867 voter registration records were created as a direct result of a Reconstruction Act passed by the United States Congress on March 23, 1867. The act required the commanding officer in each military district to hold, before September 1, 1867, a registration of all male citizens, 21 years and older, in each county who were also qualified to vote and who had taken the loyalty oath. (See www.legislature.state.al.us/misc/history/constitutions/1868/1868enablinginst.html for full text of the act.)
Each registrant visited the local registration office, took the oath, and was listed in the Voter Registration record. The companion volumes to the voter registration records are the Loyalty Oaths (also available at the ADAH). Individuals ineligible to register included Confederate veterans and any person who had previously taken an oath as a member of Congress, as an officer of the United States, as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, and who later engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or gave aid or comfort to the enemies thereof, and whose "disability" had not been removed by a two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress.
Corrections to the Database:
There is a limited amount of staff time that can be devoted to this project, but because of the significance of the records we plan to proceed with data entry as time permits. Hopefully the department can enlist some volunteers to help with the project. Because of staffing constraints, ADAH will not be able to check and verify any corrections or additions to the database that you may submit and therefore will not add them to the database. However, staff members will do their best to make any corrections to obvious misspellings or errors in data entry.
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Updated: May 2, 2007
http://www.archives.alabama.gov/voterreg/index.cfm
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