Newspapers can provide useful information. They publish notices of marriages, divorces, deaths, and funerals. Notices include names of the persons involved, the date of the event, and may contain maiden names, names of parents, and names of other living relatives.

Newspapers also publish articles of local interest including religious and social events in the community with the names of those involved. Some newspapers serve several communities and devote columns to the everyday happenings in the area. Newspapers also include legal notices, estate sales, and advertising for local businesses.

Newspapers are an important source of family history information for Alabama. Look for marriage and death notices, news of visiting relatives, local events, stories about the elderly , and histories (continuing in several issues). The Tombigbee-Mobile area had the earliest newspapers, including the Mobile Sentinel, Fort Stoddert, 1811; Mobile Gazette, Mobile, 1812; Halcyon, St. Stephens, 1815; and Blackall Sun and Alabama Advertiser, Blackall, 1819. The probate judge of the county was required to maintain copies of all newspapers carrying legal notices. The judges did not always comply.

The Family History Library collects indexes and abstracts of newspapers, but has not acquired original newspapers for Alabama. The Gandrud and Jones Alabama Records Collection (see the “Genealogy” section) includes many extracts of newspaper and obituary records. Most of the newspaper records from that collection have been abstracted and published in: