Go to Alabama Land Surveyor’s Field Notes
These are the original notes made by the Alabama land surveyors while they were laying out the boundaries of each township and section. Some notes are rather plain, but others describe the trees along the boundary, the quality of the soil, Indian fields etc. These field notes will not fill in any gaps on your family tree, but they could tell you quite a bit about the land your ancestors settled on and, therefore, a glimpse into their lives.
The volumes are not indexed and must be selected by volume and page number, so first check the surveyor’s plat for the township and range you wish to see the notes for. The plat will give the volume and page number for the field notes (usually along the top edge of the map).
The 77 volumes of hand written field notes made by the land surveyors are available in PDF format, so make sure you have the free Acrobat Reader installed before you start.