Alabama Deaths and Burials, 1881-1952

About This Collection

Alabama Death and Burials, 1881-1952 is an index of  records that may have appeared in previously recorded International Genealogical Index or Vital Records Index collections. The records are not complete for any particular time period, place or region. It is strongly recommended that you verify any records you find with original documentation. See Legacy Collections. For more information on this record set, please see the collection’s Learn More page.

The information you may find in Alabama Death and Burials, 1881-1952 includes:

• Name of deceased person
• Name of the spouse – Sometimes the deceased was married more than once, and this spouse name is different than an earlier one.
• Age – Knowing the age can assist you with how far back on the US Census you are able to find him or her.
• Sex
• County of death – If the county of death is different that the county you have him or her documented then you have more than one place to document him or her.
• Date of death – Knowing the date of death can tell you when he or she should stop appearing on the US Census and when you can look for different death records.

Researching From This Collection

Next, you would want to find your ancestor on official historical documentation. To refer to original records find documentation for Alabama Death and Burials, 1881-1952 by going to these places:

• Alabama Deaths, 1908-1974
• Alabama Death Index, 1908-1959
• United States Social Security Death Index
• U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014 
• U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007
• Order death certificate from the county of death: From County of Death
• Order death certificate from the state: From Alabama Dept. of Health State office

There are many kinds of death records which would have been generated upon you ancestor’s death. You can check for some of the other type records that give death information:

• Cemetery
• Funeral home
• Newspaper
• Probate or will

Let’s check Alabama Death and Burials, 1881-1952 for Henry Jackson of Sumter County, Alabama who died about 1918:

Henry Jackson lived to 90 years old in Sumter County, Alabama. He died on 28 May 1918. I have many questions. Some of them can be answered by going to the suggested records, and by going through the Research Wiki page for Sumter County, Alabama Genealogy. Maybe there is an obituary in an historical newspaper, I wonder who was the informant on his death certificate, and where is he buried?

Related Resources

The FamilySearch Wiki page Alabama Record Finder will help you select records to search, based on what you are hoping to learn about an individual ancestor (birth date, death date, etc

The FamilySearch Wiki page African American Resources for Alabama provides more resources for African American genealogy research in Alabama.

To learn more about researching in Alabama, you can view BlackProGen LIVE Ep18: Alabama and Georgia Genealogy Research.

More FamilySearch Wiki Resources for African American Genealogy

Researching African American Genealogy provides step-by-step guidance for beginning your ancestor search, as well as links to online resources.

Quick Guide to African American Records contains information on beginning research tips, links to suggested guides for beginning your search for African American ancestors, overviews of major record sets, tips for finding the slaveholder, links to tutorials for African American genealogy in the FamilySearch Learning Center, and links to other online and offline resources.

Southern States Slavery and Bondage Collections will help you locate digitized searchable collections as well as digitized microfilms in the FamilySearch catalog related to slavery and bondage. The page is arranged by state. 

African American Genealogy provides links to Wiki pages for researching African Americans in each U.S. state.