Womack Hill, Alabama

Womack Hill, Alabama is a mystery. Here is a map. This was a small town in southeast Choctaw Co, AL, now just a rural area known for oil fields.

Who was it named for? There are many who believe as I once did that Womack Hill was named for the family of Jesse Womack, but that does not seem to be the case.

I can find no records of Womacks living in the area of present-day Choctaw Co, AL before the 1900s, so who was Womack Hill named for?

Certainly, some of the Womacks of Washington Co, AL had US land grants in what later became Choctaw Co, but none near Womack Hill, and deed records of Washington Co, AL and Sumter Co, AL show all this land was sold shortly after it was granted. More info below.

The notion that descendants of Jesse Womack were born or died at Womack Hill appears incorrect. For example, some believe Jesse's son John Womack died at Womack Hill. However Choctaw County was formed 29 Dec 1847, and John Womack made his will 24 July 1848, in which he was designated of Washington County, Alabama, and his will was probated Sep 1848 in Washington Co, and recorded in Washington Co. Property records show he owned land in Township 7 North, Ranges 1 and 2 West of the St Stephens Meridian. This area was in Washington Co, AL both before and after the formation of Choctaw Co in 1847. John Womack's father, Jesse Womack, was granted land in Township 8 North Range 2 West, also still in Washington Co after Choctaw Co was formed.

Note that both Jesse Womack and John Womack had land claims that predated the Township-Range system established later.

According to the book, Place Names in Alabama, page 150, it was named for a Mr Womack who ran a tanyard. What was Mr Womack's first name, and when did he operate the tanyard? The book Alokoli : the Choctaw County bicentennial book (pages 20 and 182) has more information about the town, but the same information about the origin of the name. On Newspapers.com, the earliest reference I can find to Womack Hill is 1869, concerning a church there.

Choctaw County was formed 29 Dec 1847 from Washington and Sumter Counties in Alabama. Sumter Co, AL was created on 18 Dec 1832 from most of the Choctaw Nation reserve in Alabama, and on the same day, Washington Co, AL expanded north to take take the rest of the Choctaw Nation.

Here is a great map which you can enlarge of Alabama in 1915. It shows the Townships and Ranges used bu the US Government to sell land. Womack Hill is in southeast Choctaw County, in Township 10 North Range 2 West of the St Stephens Meridian. A little north of Womack Hill you can see the diagonal "Old Choctaw Boundary" which was the border between Washington Co, AL and the Choctaw Nation before 18 Dec 1832. On 18 Dec 1832, the Choctaw Nation in Alabama was eliminated, and the border of Washington Co moved to the line between the 13th and 14th Townships, about 3 miles north or present Butler, AL. From Township 14 northwards was Sumter Co, which took the rest of the Choctaw Nation.

More specifically, Womack Hill is in Section 9 of Township 10 North Range 2 West of the St Stephens Meridian. White settlers did not begin applying for land in this section until the 1830s. See this BLM search. Though the patent process could take a few years, a check of the corresponding Tract Book shows no purchases in this section until 1836. Additionally, the survey of the Township west of the Tombigbee River shows no existing claims to land. No white settlers were living here before the 1830s unless they were squatting.

Choctaw Co, AL apparently lost some records, because deed records only go back to 1871, not to the county's creation in 1847.