I have done some checking after some of you had expressed your dismay along with those of us who live in this county, that these records, as a collection, should not bare the name of the man who took them and never returned them. 

The Probate Judge in Madison Co currently is Tommy Ragland. He would ultimately be in charge of all records including the newly returned records.  You can go to the webpage and send him an email and express your opinion. We encourage you to do this for those of us who live here. Especially for those who have searched for many years trying to put the pieces of their family history  together without records that belonged in the court system. 

The website is madisoncountyal.gov/probate/

You can easily find where you can send a comment.

The oldest records of our county have a new and wonderful home in the Huntsville Public Library. They are on the same floor as all of our genealogical research books [called the Heritage Room] so it is so easy to visit both on one trip. There is lots of room to work in both areas and we welcome anyone with ancestors who passed through or settled in our area, to come and visit and research. We have far more records than just northern Alabama. You will find records from across this state and even some before it became a state. We also have an excellent collection of other southern states. 

The room in which these primary records are housed is called the Madison County Record Center. The archivist is Donna Barlow. The address for the Record Center is 915 Monroe Street Huntsville, AL 35801.  This is the address of the library. The phone number is 256-532-2347.

We encourage you to please express how you feel with our Probate Judge and the Records center. If enough speak out, maybe they will consider another, much more appropriate name, like “Lost Records Collection”. 

Thank you for helping us. And again, thank you to the person this morning who posted what records were included.

Gale Fuller
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