Alabama’s Extinct Counties

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Alabama’s Extinct Counties

Alabama had counties that are no longer in existence:

Baine County Alabama

Baine County was created 7 December 1866 from Blount, Calhoun, Cherokee, DeKalb, Marshall and St. Clair Counties. It was abolished 3 December 1867 and established as Etowah County 1 December 1868.

Baker County Alabama

Baker County was formed 30 December 1868 from Autauga, Bibb, Perry and Shelby counties.

Renamed Chilton County 17 December 1874.

Benton County Alabama

 Formed 1832 from former Creek Indian territory and named for Colonel Thomas Hart Benton. Renamed Calhoun County in 1858, honor of John C. Calhoun of South Carolina.

Benton County was established on December 18, 1832, named for Thomas Hart Benton, a member of the United States Senate from Missouri, with its county seat at Jacksonville. Benton, a slaveowner, was a political ally of John C. Calhoun, another slaveholder and a U.S. senator from South Carolina. Through the 1820s-1840s, however, Benton’s and Calhoun’s political interests diverged, with Calhoun increasingly using secession as a weapon to maintain and expand slavery throughout the United States. Benton, on the other hand, was slowly coming to the conclusion that slavery was wrong and that preservation of the union was paramount. On January 29, 1858, Alabama supporters of slavery, objecting to Benton’s change of heart, renamed Benton County as Calhoun County. The county seat was moved to Anniston after years of controversy and a State Supreme Court ruling in June 1900.

Cahawba County Alabama

Formed 12 February 1818 from Monroe and Montgomery counties. (also spelled Cahaba)
 Renamed Bibb County on 4 December 1820.

Cotaco County Alabama

1818–1821, renamed Morgan County

Decatur County Alabama

1821–1825, land redistributed between Madison and Jackson counties.

Hancock County Alabama

Hancock County was formed 12 February 1850 from part of Walker County.
 Renamed Winston County in 1858.

Jones County, Alabama

 Formed 4 February 1867 from parts of Jackson, and Blount counties, and the Cherokee Cession. Abolished 3 November 1867 and returned to parent counties (Jackson and Blount).
Renamed Sanford County. Was organized from the territory originally assigned to Jones County on 8 October 1868.
Renamed Lamar County in 1877.

Sanford County Alabama

 Formed in 1867 from parts of Jackson, and Blount counties, and the Cherokee Cession.
Abolished 3 November 1867 and returned to parent counties (Jackson and Blount).
Sanford County was organized from the territory originally assigned to Jones County on 8 October 1868. Sanford County renamed 1877 to Lamar County.