James L Broadhead Family Research in Alabama
If you are researching the James L Broadhead family in Bibb Co AL, you may be interested in this new area of research. The AL Secretary of State has scanned and posted on the internet all the original BLM grants that were made in Alabama. The site is not user friendly and is difficult to understand and use. One will find the post-1820 land grants in several sections. The pre-1820 land grants only appear in the Plat Books. The web site is www.sos.al.us/GovtRecords/Land.aspx.
There is an anomoly for Bibb County. There are no recorded land grants before 1825 and most are recorded from 1830 and afterwards. The records of Monroe Co MS territory, Monroe Co AL Territory, Cahawba County AL and Bibb Co AL clearly show that land was being bought and sold in Bibb Co AL before 1830. It is hard to believe that an entire county was settled by squatters.