Patsy, I have been to the Macon County courthouse to look up records before. I don't believe a member of the public can do look-ups on death records. It's sort of a little money-making operation run by the state. Until 1996, you could only obtain death records from the Bureau of Vital Statistics in Montgomery. As of '96, they put some sort of computerized system on line where a clerk in any county office can access the state system, but unless you are lucky and find an accommodating person whose supervisor isn't around, they will charge you $12 - whether they find the record or not - and give you a death certificate. On one occasion I lucked out and went into the county clerk's office in another county (not Macon). The one lady who was there at the time did several look-ups for me for one fee, which was a good thing, because out of four or five things I was looking for, she could only find one. I am open to correction on this, because I've never tried to get a death record in Macon County, but in the other counties in Alabama, they won't just let you go look at the books, because it's all computerized. I know Macon does not have computers available to the public at the clerk's office, but they are very accommodating about letting you go into the back room to look at probate records, old marriage records, etc. You will probably just have to send the $12 to the Bureau of Vital Statistics in Montgomery. All they need to find the record is the name, the county in which the person died, and the date (or as close to it as you can come).