Marion County Alabama Genealogy

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Search Free Marion County Alabama Genealogy and Family History Records Online including census, cemetery, vital, military and other genealogical and historical records that can be used for your family history research.

Marion County, Alabama genealogy and family history page is a place where you can come in and research your genealogy and family history. We also do our best to provide a history of the area, to provide you with an overview of the time in which your ancestors lived.

We regret that we are unable to do personal research for you. All genealogical and family history records we come across are being added to this website. Please keep checking back.

History

The county was created by the Alabama Territorial General Assembly on February 13, 1818, preceding Alabama's statehood by almost two years. It was created from land acquired from the Chickasaw Indians by the Treaty of 1816. Marion County included all of its current territory and parts of what are now Winston, Walker, Fayette, and Lamar counties in Alabama as well as portions of present-day Lowndes, Monroe, and Itawamba counties in Mississippi. The county was named in honor of General Francis Marion (1732–1795), an American Revolutionary War hero from South Carolina who was known as "The Swamp Fox." Many early settlers of Marion County came from Kentucky and Tennessee after General Andrew Jackson established the Military Road. The first towns in the area were Pikeville, Hamilton (formerly named Toll Gate), Winfield, and Guin.

The county's first seat was settled in 1818 at Cotton Gin Port, near present-day Amory, Mississippi. It was moved in 1819 to the home of Henry Greer along the Buttahatchee River, in 1820, the first permanent county seat was established at Pikeville, now a ghost town, located between present day Hamilton and Guin, along U.S. Highway 43. Pikeville served as the county seat of Marion County until 1882. Although the town is now abandoned, the home of Judge John Dabney Terrell Sr., which served as the third county courthouse, still stands. In 1882, Hamilton became the county seat. The first courthouse in Hamilton was destroyed by fire on March 30, 1887, and the second courthouse, constructed in the same place, also burned. A new courthouse, constructed of local sandstone opened in 1901. In 1959, the building was significantly remodeled to give the structure its current 1950s "international style" design theme.

Communities

Cities: Guin, Haleyville (mostly in Winston County), Hamilton (county seat), Winfield (partly in Fayette County).

Towns: Bear Creek, Brilliant, Glen Allen (partly in Fayette County), Gu-Win (partly in Fayette County), Hackleburg, Twin.

Unincorporated communities: Barnesville, Bexar, Byrd, Pigeye, Pull Tight, Shottsville, South Haleyville, Texas.

Ghost town: Pikeville.

Marion County Genealogy Records

Adjacent counties

• Franklin County - north
• Winston County - east
• Walker County - southeast
• Fayette County - south
• Lamar County - southwest
• Monroe County, Mississippi - southwest
• Itawamba County, Mississippi - west

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