Alabama

The Probate Office and County courthouse for Jefferson county, Alabama is located in downtown Birmingham, next door to the Birmingham Public Library. The library has an extensive genealogy collection in the Southern History Department. If you leave the courthouse on the Lynn Park side, then enter the library from Lynn Park, you will be in the Southern History Department.

There is a satellite courthouse in Bessemer, Alabama, which opened in 1960. All records prior to 1960 are located in the Birmingham office.

Certified death certificates can be ordered from the Health Department for about $13 each, however, if you spell the name wrong, you will receive a nice letter saying they couldn't find your name, along with the bill. If a certified copy isn't necessary and you're ok with an uncertified photocopy, check with the LDS Family History Center near Colonnade and the Summit (down Hwy 280, south of downtown Birmingham, near where 280 crosses I-459). They have most of the Alabama death certificates and the index on microfilm, and copies are only 25 cents. The Birmingham Public Library has the death index on microfilm, but no actual death certificates. Wallace State Community College in Hanceville (Cullman County) has an extensive genealogy research section, and a complete set of the death certificates. The LDS Family History Center is my recommendation. If you can't go in person, check this Alabama Death Record site.