DeKalb County, Alabama, was created in 1836 from a portion of the Cherokee Cession of 1835, which accounts for the fact that a number of its residents were of Native American descent. Part of southern DeKalb County was detached in 1868, along with parts of five other counties, to form Etowah County. Thanks to the efforts of Dorothy Duff, we now have the first comprehensive index to the marriage records of DeKalb County for the period 1836 to 1916.