This work provides genealogical data on about 1000 families who lived in the hill country of west central Alabama prior to the Civil War. Most were squatters who came primarily from Virginia and the Carolinas, often after having stopped in Tennessee or Georgia long enough to renew food supplies, rest livestock, await the birth of a child or the death of an elderly parent. Ethnically most of the pioneers were of Celtic stock, descendants of early Virginia colonists who had originally come from the British Isles. The family records in this collection have been assembled from cemetery inscriptions, newspaper abstracts, contributions from descendants, military and pension files, and census records.--From publisher description.