Alabama On-Line Digital Collection

If you have ties to Alabama, check out the on-line collections at archives.alabama.gov. Collections particularly helpful in family history research include:

• 1867 Voter Registration
• Civil War Service Database
  
• Index to City Directories (1837-2006)
• Index to Church Records Collections
• Newspapers on Microfilm
• Confederate Officers Photograph Albums

Use the Alabama Department of Archives and History site to find out what newspapers have been microfilmed, then arrange to view the microfilms through the public library Interlibrary Loan program.

There may be a Confederate Civil War Pension file, and finding the soldier's regiment and company are key to finding the right pension file.

The search mechanism finds only those entries that have exactly that same string of characters. In the case of a last name, that string of characters can be the whole name, or just part of a name (e.g., searching for "Lay" will yield "Lay, Layden, Layet, Layton, etc.). Because names can be misspelled, try a variety of spellings when you search.

If you find someone you're interested in researching, make note of the Regiment and unit, then go back and search for that regiment and unit (no specific person's name). That way you can see the names of all the soldiers in that unit.