I would like to inform anyone researching or requesting a copy of a record at the Cherokee County, AL Courthouse that some of the original records (marriage, court, etc.) that should be at the courthouse are at the Cherokee County Museum. The museum is charging $25 to look at records that should be free of charge if they were in the courthouse where they belong.

I was surprised when I found my great grandparents marriage record (original)at the museum in the mid 1990's.
The records have been kept in terrible conditions and are deteriorating. When I was there in the 1990's the museum didn't have a copier; but the courthouse does.

There is an Alabama law that says that the public should have access to these records free of charge. It is the courthouse's responsibility to protect the records from mutilation, loss, or destruction. see http://examiners.alabama.gov/BoardTrain/GovRecordsAccessLaws...