This is a great book for anyone searching family genealogy in Bibb County or close by. It is “out of print” but can be found in many libraries, etc.
News clipping from The Tuscaloosa Alabama News December 22, 1978 (Front Page)
Decade of work in book on Bibb County Baptists
by David Simpson, Jr.
News Staff Writer, 1978
When the presses of a Birmingham publishing company begin to turn out copies of “The Baptists of Bibb County” next month, its 90-year-old author will finally see the result of more than a decade of effort.
Centreville’s Howard (F) McCord has been recording information stored on the headstones in Bibb County cemeteries since “my own church in Centreville was celebrating their 75th anniversary in 1965.”
McCord was asked to write a church history, which he later began to expand into a broader account of Baptists throughout the county.
Several years later, he agreed to compile the first official history of the Bibb County Baptist Association.
He said he had soon embarked on an effort that would require “actually reading from the stones of 186 cemeteries – one by one.”
And while some cemeteries contained only one grave, one held 4,000. McCord estimates he recorded information from about 10,000 headstones.
“We put everything in the record from the stone except the Scripture, he said. That information will be an appendix to the official history which will be almost as lengthy as the text itself. The full publication will contain about 600 pages.
The appendix, McCord said “would come in quite handy” for genealogical researchers.
The listing will not be confined to Baptists, he said, but will include information drawn from every Bibb County cemetery as well as several in Chilton County.
Chilton County’s creation in 1898 cut into Bibb County and moved several churches out of the county Baptist association, McCord said.
The appendix lists stones through 1868 in Chilton County cemeteries and through 1974 in Bibb County graveyards. Some listings through 1978 are also included.
McCord’s research produced the discovery of the graves of five soldiers who served in the Revolutionary War, “one or two” and several from the Spanish-American War.
The author was raised in Birmingham, he said, “but my grass roots are here.” He said he has been a Bibb County resident for 54 years.
After spending 13 years on the history project, McCord said he has already decided to embark on another “small” one – a history of the county’s Primitive Baptists. He said the size of the first volume prohibited including them.
He plans to circulate his next history only among the area churches and Samford University.
“That’s just something for my own satisfaction, he said.
ALABAMA FOOTPRINTS – Volume I – IV: Four Volumes in One Paperback
The first four Alabama Footprints books – Volumes 1-IV have been combined into one book
ALABAMA FOOTPRINTS Exploration
ALABAMA FOOTPRINTS Settlement
ALABAMA FOOTPRINTS Pioneers
ALABAMA FOOTPRINTS Confrontation
From the time of the discovery of America restless, resolute, brave, and adventurous men and women crossed oceans and the wilderness in pursuit of their destiny. Many traveled to what would become the State of Alabama. They followed the Native American trails and their entrance into this area eventually pushed out the Native Americans. Over the years, many of their stories have been lost and/or forgotten. This book (four-books-in-one) reveals the stories published in volumes I-IV of the Alabama Footprints series.
