The following is a list of judicial circuits as they appeared in 1861. This will assist you in determining which judicial circuit your ancestors records may be found in Alabama at the time prior to the Civil War.
1st Circuit, Autauga, Bibb, Perry, Dallas.
2nd Circuit, Lowndes, Montgomery, Coosa.
3rd Circuit, Tuscaloosa, Fayette, Walker, Jefferson, Shelby, Winston.
4th Circuit, Lauderdale, Limestone, Lawrence, Franklin, Morgan, Marion.
5th Circuit, Madison, Jackson, Marshall, DeKalb, Blount, Cherokee.
6th Circuit, Mobile, Washington, Baldwin.
7th Circuit, Greene, Marengo, Sumter, Choctaw, Pickens.
8th Circuit, Pike, Coffee, Dale, Henry, Barbour.
9th Circuit, Chambers, Tallapoosa, Russell, Macon.
10th Circuit, Calhoun, St. Clair, Randolph, Talladega.
11th Circuit, Butler, Monroe, Wilcox, Clarke, Conecuh, Covington.
Source: Catalogue of the Officers and Students of the University of Alabama, 1860-61, printed at the Southern Methodist Publishing House, Nashville, Tennessee, 1861.