Cherokee County, Alabama Genealogical Records Information

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Cherokee County History and Information

Cherokee County Facts

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Cherokee County was created by the Alabama legislature on Jan. 9, 1836 and was formed from the Creek Cession of 1835. It was named for the Cherokee Indians, who ceded the land that now comprises the county to the Federal government by the treaty of New Echota, 1835 Dec. 29. Cherokee County is located in the northeastern portion of the state, in the Appalachian Mountains. Cherokee County encompasses 553 square miles. It is bordered on the north by DeKalb County, on the west by Etowah County, on the south by Calhoun and Cleburne, and the east by Chattooga and Floyd Counties, GA. There was record loss due to a couthouse fire in 1882 and 1895

For the first ten years, the residents of Cherokee County quarrelled over the location of a county seat. In 1837, the AL legislature authorized the seat of county government to be established at Cedar Bluff. In 1844 an election was held and the county seat was moved to the town of Centre. Other towns and communities include Jamestown, Gaylesville, Forney, and Rock Run.

Cherokee County, Alabama History Books at Amazon.com. The Official County Website is located at http://www.cherokee-chamber.org/

There are free downloadable and printable forms to help with your research. These include U.S. Census Extraction Forms, U.K. Census Extraction Forms, Research Calendar, Ancestral Chart, Research Extract, Correspondence Record , Family Group Sheet , Source Summary Form.

Cherokee County Court Records

PLEASE READ!! Please call the clerk's department to confirm hours, mailing address, fees and other specifics before visiting or requesting information because of sometimes changing contact information.

Cherokee County Clerk of Circuit Court has Court Records from 1882 and is located at Main Street, Centre, AL 35960, Phone (256) 927-3363, (256) 927-3378 .

Cherokee County Clerk of Probate Court has Marriage Records from 1882 , Probate Records from 1882 and Land Records from 1882 and is located at Main Street, Centre, AL 35960, Phone (256) 927-3363, (256) 927-3378. The office of the probate judge is the county office where the most significant genealogical records are created and maintained in Alabama. A variety of records are housed in this office

There are a few online marriage databases which include: Alabama Marriages 1809-1920 (Selected Counties; Alabama Marriages to 1825; and Alabama Marriages 1807-1902. You may also search the BLM Land Records which covers the State of Alabama. May pioneers and settelers bought land from the government instead of individuals.

Click Here to Search Alabama Court, Land, Wills & Financial Records! - Researchers often overlook the importance of court records, probate records, and land records as a source of family history information.

Below is a list of online resources for Cherokee County Court Records. Email us with websites containing Cherokee County Court Records by clicking the link below:

Cherokee County, Alabama Court Books at Amazon.com
Alabama Immigration & Emigration Records - Immigration records help the family historian to understand the movements of their ancestry as they relocated to different parts of the world.
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Cherokee County Vital Records

See Also Research In Tax Records

County tax records are housed in the office of the tax assessor. These records are usually arranged by legal description and are not indexed. There are few counties with tax records before 1860. The National Archives has a microfilm publication titled Internal Revenue Assessment Lists for Alabama, 1865-1866 (NARA M754, 6 reels).

Below is a list of online resources for Cherokee County Tax Records. Email us with websites containing Cherokee County Tax Records by clicking the link below:

Cherokee County Genealogical Addresses

See Also Other Alabama Genealogical Addresses

The Repositories in this section are Archives, Libraries, Museums, Genealogical and Historical Societies. Many County Historical and Genealogical Societies publish magazines and/or news letters on a monthly, quarterly, bi-annual or annual basis. Contacting the local societies should not be over looked. State Archives and Societies are usually much larger and better organized with much larger archived materials than their smaller county cousins but they can be more generalized and over look the smaller details that local societies tend to have. Libraries can also be a good place to look for local information. Some libraries have a genealogy section and may have some resources that are not located at archives or societies. Also, take a special look at any museums in the area. They sometimes have photos and items from years gone by as well as information of a genealogical interest. All these places are vitally important to the family genealogist and must not be passed over.

Below is a list of online resources for Cherokee County Genealogical Addresses. Email us with websites containing Cherokee County Genealogical Addresses by clicking the link below:

Coosa River Valley Historical and Genealogical Society, PO Box 295, Centre, AL 35960
Cherokee County Genealogical Society, Box 90, Spring Garden, AL 36275,Newsletter approx every 3 months
Centre Library, Phone 256-927-5838
Northeast Alabama Genealogical Society, PO Box 8268, Gadsden, AL 35902
Publication: Northeast Alabama Settlers
Local Alabama Researchers, Find a local researcher or become a local researcher.
Alabama Department of Archives & History
624 Washington Avenue, Montgomery, Alabama 36130-0100; Phone: (334) 242-4435
Alabama Genealogical Society, Inc. (Depository and Headquarters)
Samford University Library, 800 Lakeshore Drive, P.O. Box 2296, Birmingham, AL 35229-0001 EMAIL
Alabama Newspapers & Periodicals Records - Newspapers and periodicals are the diaries of local communities. They are excellent sources of family history details - often recorded nowhere else. Look for obituaries, marriages, legal notices, and more found in our Historical Newspaper Archives.
Family History Library - The largest collection of free family history, family tree and genealogy records in the world.

Cherokee County Church & Cemeteries

Click Here to Search Alabama Obituary Records! - This database is a compilation of obituaries published in U.S. newspapers, collected from various online sources. Obituaries can vary in the amount of information they contain, but many of them are genealogical goldmines, including information such as names, dates, places of birth and death, marriage information, and family relationships.

There are many churches and cemeteries in Cherokee County. Some transcriptions are online. A great site is the Cherokee County Tombstone Transcription Project. The Alabama Department of Transportation has county maps the show the locations of churches and cemeteries free for viewing or download here.

Below is a list of online resources for Cherokee County Cemetery & Church Records. Email us with websites containing Cherokee County Cemetery & Church Records by clicking the link below:

Family Trees & Genealogy Tidbits

Click Here to Search Alabama Family Tree Records! - The use of published genealogies, electronic files containing genealogical lineage, and other compiled sources can be of tremendous value to a researcher.

When view family trees online or not, be sure to only take the info at face value and always follow up with your own sources or verify the ones they provide. Below is a list of online resources for Cherokee County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information . Email us with websites containing Cherokee County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information by clicking the link below:

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Alabama Family & Local History Records - The Family & Local Histories Collection lets you read journals, memoirs, and other first-hand historical narratives right on your computer. Gathered from some of the world's finest libraries, these materials may provide hard-to-find town, county, and state information; tax records and wills; military, church, and court records; as well as photographs, stories, and maps.
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Cherokee County, Alabama Family Books at Amazon.com
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Sites on USGenweb: [ Cherokee County ] [ Alabama ] [ Main Page ]
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Genealogy Encyclopedia: General Abbreviations, Early Illnesses, Nickname Meanings, Worldwide Epidemics, Early Occupations, Common Terms, Censuses Explained, Free Genealogical Forms
Nichols and Related Families of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virgina.
Meet your ancestors. Learn their stories. Start your FREE family tree.
Alabama Family & Local History Records - The Family & Local Histories Collection lets you read journals, memoirs, and other first-hand historical narratives right on your computer. Gathered from some of the world's finest libraries, these materials may provide hard-to-find town, county, and state information; tax records and wills; military, church, and court records; as well as photographs, stories, and maps.
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Extended History

The Cherokee Indians inhabited an area which included what is now north Alabama, north Georgia, a large part of Tennessee and eastern North Carolina. In Cherokee County, Alabama, at a city on the Coosa River (near the present day city of Cedar Bluff), DeSoto first met with the Cherokees in 1540. He camped at McCoy's Island for 30 days, and fought a skirmish with indians at Seven Springs. Many believe a site in Cherokee County was the site of the legendary Cherokee Indian town of Coosa.

In 1816, in Turkey Town, Andrew Jackson met with representatives of the Cherokee, Creek and Chickasaw nations to settle the peace ratify a treaty to establish territorial boundaries.

Among early Cherokee visitors to this area were Major Ridge, John Ridge, Elias Boudinot, John Ross, Double Head, Tarkagee, and Pathkiller. Pathkiller operated a ferry on the Coosa River near present day Centre, Alabama.

The Cherokees had, in the first three decades of the 19th century, become a strong agrarian society, cultivating land, raising grain and livestock. They had built homes and schools. They fought with Andrew Jackson at Horseshoe Bend against the Creeks in 1814, and had established themselves as valuable allies to the white settlers. Sequoyah (George Guess or Gist) had developed the Cherokee Alphabet and Elias Boudinot had published the first bi-lingual newspaper, The Cherokee Phoenix.

In 1826, the Cherokee had formed a democratic government with a written constitution with two representative assemblies, regular elections and a sophisticated court system. Many in the Cherokee Nation had become Christian, and missions and schools had been established. They had been successful in emulating the white man's culture.

By 1835, the white man had signed more than 30 treaties with the Cherokees, and had broken all of them. As early as 1802, President Jefferson had sealed the fate of the Cherokees. In order to get Georgia to sell the territories of Alabama and Mississippi, Jefferson had agreed to remove the Cherokees to the west. John Ross and others tried in vain to prove the Cherokees had a longer and more legitimate claim to their lands than did the U. S. government.

In 1835, J. F. Schermerhorn, a missionary and agent of the U. S. Government, entered into an agreement with a group of Cherokees, not legally empowered to act, to draw up an treaty ceding all Cherokee lands east of the Mississippi River, and to migrate to the Oklahoma Territory. In a vote at Red Clay (Tennessee), this treaty was rejected by ninety-five percent of the voting Cherokees, but was ratified anyway by the United States Senate.

With the help of Samuel Worchester, a missionary in the Cherokee Nation, Chief John Ross fought this treaty - even carrying it to the U. S. Supreme Court, in the case of The Cherokee Indians vs. the State of Georgia. John Marshall, first Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, ruled in favor of the Cherokees in practically all their contentions, ruling that the Indians who entered into the treaty were not legally empowered to do so.

Ironically, this treaty was forced on the Cherokee by their old ally, President Andrew Jackson, who made this statement concerning the Supreme Court ruling, "John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it!" With no policing powers, the Supreme Court could not do so and the illegal treaty prevailed. In 1838, just two brief years after the Alabama County bearing their name was created, the U. S. Army forcibly removed the Cherokees from their homes and put them into fenced collection camps, then marched them west on the infamous "Trail of Tears." Thousands of these Cherokees, mostly the sick, the old, the women and the children died along the way. And a great heritage was lost to Alabama.

EARLY SETTLEMENT

In 1835, few white people lived in what is now Cherokee County. A few settlers had come from Georgia and South Carolina. Times were hard for these early settlers. They had to clear land for farming, as well as construct dwelling houses and other farm buildings by hand and ax. Corn had to be sent back to Georgia to the grist mill to make cornmeal, or pounded out (with a pestle) in a hollow log (a mortar).

More serious, however, was the lack of law and any system of government. Roving bands of lawless men called "slicks" terrorized the area. The first court of Cherokee County was established soon after the County was established in January 1836. Threats to the courthouse caused the good citizens of the county to join together to protect it, and organized government came into being.

In an area the indians called "Costa," the present town of Cedar Bluff was established. Cedar Bluff, established in 1836 as Jefferson, was the original county seat. Since there was another town in Alabama called Jefferson, the name was changed to Cedar Bluff in 1842.

Centre was established as the county seat of Cherokee County in 1884 after two referendums were held to change the location to a more centrally located area. The name was chosen, and carries the old English spelling, because of this central location. In 1886 Gaylesville was established and is the oldest incorporated town in the county. Two stories exist about the naming of the town. One says that it was named for John Gayle, an early settler. The second version is that it was named for the Indian Chief Gayle, a hunter and trapper, who settled with his tribe near the present Chattooga River (Cobia) Bridge.

WAR BETWEEN THE STATES

Alabama withdrew from the Union on January 11, 1861. The Alabama secession convention invited the other Southern States to send delegates to Montgomery for the purpose of "securing concerted and harmonious action in whatever measures may be deemed most desirable for the common peace and security." On February 8, this convention brought the Confederacy into official existence, and Montgomery was the first capital of the Confederacy.

Cherokee County provided 15 companies of infantry and two of cavalry to the Confederate Army. G. Jeff Edgens was a member of the battery that fired on Ft. Sumter. Six hundred fifty Cherokee County men joined the Confederate Army. Of them, only 79 returned at the end of the war. The 19th Cavalry was composed almost entirely of Cherokee volunteers under the leadership of General Joseph Wheeler. They fought at Corinth, Shiloh, Chicamauga and Missionary Ridge, Franklin and Atlanta. They surrendered at Salisbury, North Carolina.

Fifteen percent of the iron ore, used in the manufacturing of armaments produced for the Confederacy, came from Cherokee County furnaces (Cornwall, Rock Run and Round Mountain). Stroup Furnace at Round Mountain was destroyed during the war but was rebuilt in 1870 finally ceasing operations in 1905. Rock Run was destroyed by the Union Army and rebuilt in 1879. It ceased operation entirely in 1928. Cornwall Furnace, built by the Noble Brothers of Rome, Georgia in 1862, between Cedar Bluff and Gaylesville, was twice ordered destroyed by General Sherman.

Two stories survive. One is that, due to the surrounding mountainous terrain and undergrowth, it survived the war intact. The second story is that the Furnace was partially destroyed by Union Maj. General J. D. Cox in 1864, and rebuilt by the Confederate Army. In any case, the Furnace was in use until 1870, when it was damaged by an accidental explosion. It was shut down forever in 1875. Cornwall was the only furnace in the country whose blowing engine (blast) was furnished by water power.

In 1863, the war came to Cherokee County. General Abel D. Streight, 51st. Indiana Infantry Volunteers, Union Army, received orders at Tuscumbia, Alabama to destroy Cornwall Furnace in Cherokee County, Alabama, and the foundry and machine shops in Rome, Georgia which produced rifled cannon, smooth-bore howitzers, siege guns cannon carriage and caissons, shot and horseshoe iron. Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest fought a running gun battle with Streight's 2,000 man force all the way from Tuscumbia.

At Gaylesville, on May 3, 1863, General Forrest finally captured General Streight's entire army by tricking General Streight into believing he was surrounded by Confederate troops. The Confederates had stayed on Gen. Streight's heels until they reached the area just east of Cedar Bluff, where the Union army stopped to rest. They had just dismounted, when Forrest's troops were seen at a distance. In a few minutes a courier reach Gen. Streight under a flag of truce, bearing a note requesting immediate surrender. A conference was then held between the two leaders during which a courier rode up to Gen. Forrest and stated that Gen Van Dorn, with a division of troops, was stationed at a half-mile distance awaiting orders. Just as this courier was leaving another rode up with the statement that Gen. Roddey presented his compliments and was awaiting orders. Forrest replied to both that they were to instruct their commanders to await his signal gun, whereupon a charge was to be made.

Of course, there were no Generals Roddey or Van Dorn in the state, but the strategy so dismayed Gen. Streight that he readily agreed to the terms demanded by Forrest and surrendered his entire army.

On October 19 of 1864, General William T. Sherman camped at Gaylesville, and completed plans for his famous (or infamous) "March to the Sea." While here, the Union Army laid waste to upper Cherokee County. Schofield's Corps, the Army of the Ohio, also quartered in Cedar Bluff, using standing buildings and homes for lumber to erect their barracks.

RECONSTRUCTION

Times were very hard in the South following the Civil War. With the support of U. S. soldiers, the South was controlled by dishonest men from the north called "carpetbaggers." In 1874, conservative Alabama Democrats succeeded in electing all the state officials, and reform began. A new state constitution was adopted in 1875, and a new prosperity began.

The years following the Civil War was as traumatic in Cherokee County as in all other parts of the South, however the farmers gradually adjusted to changed conditions and made progress. Iron ore was heavily mined in Cherokee County, and several blast furnaces provided jobs and income. Ironically, General William Tecumseh Sherman bought land and established the Tecumseh furnace in the south east part of Cherokee County. Many of the workers were former Union soldiers who had served under Sherman.

Cherokee County's boom town, Bluffton, was established in the 1880's and had, at one time, 8,000 inhabitants. Bluffton had been laid out for a city of 50,000 and plans had been drawn for the "University of the Southland." It had the first electricity in Alabama, a water works system, side walks, a school, a post office, a church, a newspaper and a "grand" hotel, the Signal. The Signal hotel was three stories tall and had 45 rooms. (Note: the third floor was never completed.) (The hotel was torn down in 1950 to make way for the Pleasant Gap Tabernacle.)

The iron ore was mined out by the 1900's and the town could no longer support the businesses that had sprung up around the mining operations. People moved away and the town no longer exists. About 1950, a storm wiped out almost all that was left of the town.

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