‘Pioneer Families of Sumter County, Alabama’

By: Nelle Morris Jenkins, Pub. 1961, Reprinted 2018, 276 pages, Index, ISBN #0-89308-944-3.

Sumter County was created in 1832 from lands ceded from the Choctaw Nation. Its early settlers were French exploers who came up from Mobile. This book begins with a historical background of the county and then moves into the genealogical records found in old Church records. One chapter is devoted to death notices in early newspapers, another chapter is devoted to Tract Book records, showing who entered the land and information about the family. But the main part is devoted to tombstone inscriptions. Almost every inscription is followed with details about the person's family. In most cases the author was able to trace the families back to the Carolinas or Virginia.