Dekalb County, Alabama Probate Court Records, 1836-1930; by Dorothy Smith Duff; Published: 2012; Paperback; vi + 360 pp.; ISBN: 9780806356020; Item: CF8138D

The work at hand abstracts and indexes DeKalb County, Alabama, Probate Court records for the period 1836-1930. These records include sales of land for division, guardianships, homestead exemptions, widow and minor exemptions, World War I war risk insurance claims, right of way hearings, adoptions, and some wills and estate settlements. In addition, select entries are made for overseers of roads, overseers of the poor, and tax list adjustments. Researchers will find a far more complete list of wills and estates in the compiler’s two-volume Dekalb County, Alabama, Wills and Estates, 1836-1929, published in 2010, to which this is a valuable companion volume.

Dekalb County’s original probate records are stored in the courthouse in Fort Payne, Alabama. The Utah Genealogical Society filmed the probate records in 2003 and 2004. Mrs. Duff relied on both sources in the compilation of her new book. Each entry in the volume references the “name” of the record (usually that of the deceased), box number, file number, and the year. The abstracts then list all names (and often roles) of all persons found in the record. In addition to the original records on file, the collection incorporates the contents of three transcribed probate record books from an earlier period based upon records that have not survived. In all, this fine new publication identifies about 25,000 individuals named in DeKalb County probate records over the course of 100 years.