Georgia Records Details and Resources

RECORD HIGHLIGHTS

Statewide birth and death records date from 1919. Check major cities and the state archives for earlier records. Most counties kept marriage records from the county’s inception; statewide records date from 1952. For more information, see the Division of Public Health website http://health.state.ga.us/programs/vitalrecords.

Georgia had a unique system of distributing newly opened state land by lottery. Eligible state citizens registered in their home counties, and drawings in the state capital matched winners with newly surveyed lots. Winners paid a registration fee to claim the land, but many sold their claims. Lotteries were held in 1805, 1807, 1820, 1821, 1827 and 1832 (two drawings). Qualifications and land locations are on the Georgia archives website, http://sos.georgia.gov/archives/what_do_we_have/land_lottery/default.htm. Most lottery results have been published; indexes to the state’s lottery records are available through the Family History Library (FHL).

Although the 1790 to 1810 federal censuses for Georgia are lost (except for Oglethorpe County in 1800), partial substitutes have been compiled from land, tax and other records. Because citizens eligible for the 1805 lottery had to have lived in Georgia before mid-1802, those lottery records act as a substitute for the 1800 census. From 1798 to about 1879, Georgia took septennial censuses of heads of household. Surviving records vary by year and county; some are published.

Special African-American resources include slave narratives, records of antebellum plantations and industries, and records of Georgia’s three branches of the Freedman’s Savings and Trust Co. (see FHL microfilm 928576-80).

Georgia was originally divided into districts and towns, then into parishes as a royal colony. In 1777, the parishes became the seven original counties. Before 1777 and during British occupation in the American Revolution, the districts and parishes were not governmental entities and did not create books of record. Deed, estate and other books of record were kept centrally in Savannah. Surviving colonial records have been microfilmed; some abstracts have been published.

Of Georgia’s 159 counties, more than a third have suffered varying degrees of record losses due to fires and storms. Nevertheless, check for surviving county records along with family, colonial, local, state, federal, parent county and neighboring county sources.

CENSUS RECORDS

• 1864 Census for Re-Organizing the Georgia Militia abstracted and compiled by Nancy J. Cornell (Genealogical Publishing Co., 2000)
• The Reconstructed 1790 Census of Georgia compiled by Marie De Lamar and Elisabeth Rothstein (Genealogical Publishing Co., 1985)

IMMIGRATION RECORDS

• The Bench and Bar of Georgia: Memoirs and Sketches by Stephen Franks Miller (J.B. Lippincott & Co., 1858)
• Federal Naturalization Oaths, Savannah, Georgia, 1790-1860 compiled by Marion R. Hemperley (Georgia Historical Society Quarterly, Vol. 51, no. 4: 1967)

LAND RECORDS

• 1805 Georgia Land Lottery transcribed and indexed by Virginia S. Woof and Ralph V. Wood (Greenwood Press, 1964)
• 1832 Cherokee Land Lottery: Index to Revolutionary Soldiers, Their Widows, and Orphans Who were Fortunate Drawers compiled by Marian M. Richardson and Jessie J. Mize (Heritage Papers, 1969)
• The 1832 Gold Lottery of Georgia: Containing a List of the Fortunate Drawers in Said Lottery compiled by Silas Emmett Lucas Jr. (Southern Historical Press 1988)
• Abstracts of Georgia Land Plat Books A and B, 1779-1785 by Nathan and Kaydee Mathews (N. and K. Mathews, 1995)
• Authentic List of all Land Lottery Grants Made to Veterans of the Revolutionary War by the State of Georgia, 2nd edition, compiled by Alex M. Hitz (Secretary of State of Georgia, 1966)
• The Cherokee Land Lottery by James F. Smith (Southern Historical Press, Inc., 1991)
• Colonial Plats and Warrants, 1755-1775, (Georgia Surveyor General Department: 1755-1775)
• Entry of Claims for Georgia Landholders, 1733-1755 compiled by Pat Bryant (State Printing Office, 1975)
• The First One Hundred Years of Town Planning in Georgia by Joan Niles Sears (Cherokee Publishing Co., 1979)
• The Fourth or 1821 Land Lottery of Georgia compiled by Silas Emmett Lucas Jr. (Southern Historical Press 1986)
• The Georgia Land Lottery Papers, 1805-1914 compiled by Robert S. Davis Jr. and Silas Emmett Lucas Jr. (Southern Historical Press, 1979)
• Georgia Land Surveying History and Law by Farris W. Cadle (University of Georgia Press, 1991)
• The Georgia Surveyor General Department: a History and Inventory of Georgia’s Land Office by Marion R. Hemperley (State Printing Office, 1982)
• Index to the Headright and Bounty Grants of Georgia, 1756-1909 (Georgia Genealogical Reprints, 1970)
• Reprint of Official Register of Land Lottery of Georgia, 1827 (Walton-Forbes Co. 1929)
• Revolutionary Soldiers’ Receipts for Georgia Bounty Grants by the Georgia State Department of Archives and History (Foote and Davis Co., 1928)
• The Second or 1807 Land Lottery of Georgia compiled by Silas Emmett Lucas, Jr. (Southern Historical Press, 1986)
• The Third or 1820 Land Lottery of Georgia compiled by Silas Emmett Lucas, Jr. (Southern Historical Press, 1986)

MAPS

• Atlas for Georgia History by James C. Bonner (Georgia Duplicating Department, 1969)
• The Atlas of Georgia by Thomas W. Hodler and Howard A. Schretter (University of Georgia, 1986)
• Cities, Towns, and Communities of Georgia Between 1847-1962: 8500 Places and the County in which Located compiled by Marion R. Hemperley (Southern Historical Press, 1980)
• Georgia: Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons Arranged in Cyclopedic Form, 4 vols.
• edited by Allen D. Candler and Clement A. Evans (State Historical Association, 1906)
• Georgia Counties, Their Changing Boundaries, 2nd edition, by Pat Bryant, revised by Ingrid Shields (State Printing Office, 1983)
• Georgia Place-names, 1st edition, by Kenneth K. Krakow (Winship Press, 1975)
• Hall’s Original County Map of Georgia compiled by Hall Brothers, Civil and Mining Engineers, 1895 (Department of Archives and History, ca. 1980)
• Nineteenth Century Maps in the Collection of the Georgia Surveyor General Department, 1800-1849 compiled by Margaret A. Johnsen (State Printing Office, 1981)
• Placenames of Georgia: Essays of John H. Goff edited by Francis Lee Utley and Marion R. Hemperley (University of Georgia Press, 1975)
• Pre-Nineteenth Century Maps in the Collection of the Georgia Surveyor General Department: a Catalog compiled by Janice Gayle Blake (State Printing Office, 1975)

MILITARY RECORDS

• Colonial Soldiers of the South, 1732-1774 by Murtie June Clark (Genealogical Publishing Co., 1983)
• Compendium of the Confederate Armies, 11 vols., by Stewart Sifakis (Facts on File ca. 1992-ca. 1995)
• The Confederate Records of the State of Georgia, 6 vols., compiled by Allen D. Candler (C.P. Byrd, state printer, 1909-1911)
• Georgia Citizens and Soldiers of the American Revolution by Robert S. Davis Jr. (Southern Historical Press, ca. 1979)
• Georgia Civil War Sites by Jim Miles (J & R Graphics, ca. 1987)
• Georgia Revolutionary War Soldiers’ Graves, 2 vols., compiled by H. Ross Arnald Jr. and H. Clifton Burnham (Iberian Publishing Co., ca. 1993)
• The Georgia State Memorial Book, Adopted as the Official Record by the Military Department, State of Georgia by Bert E. Boss (American Memorial Publishing Co.: 1921)
• Georgia’s Roster of the Revolution compiled by Lucian Lamar Knight (Genealogical Publishing Co., 1967)
• Index to War of 1812 Service Records for Volunteer Soldiers from Georgia abstracted by Judy Swaim Kratovil (J. S. Kratovil, 1986)
• Military Certificates of Georgia, 1776-1800, on File in the Surveyor General Department, semiquincentenary ed. compiled by Marion R. Hemperley (State Printing Office, 1983)
• Militiamen, Rangers, and Redcoats: the Military in Georgia, 1754-1776 by James M. Johnson (Mercer University Press, 1992)
• The Revolutionary Records of the State of Georgia compiled by Allen D. Candler (The Franklin-Turner Company, 1908)
• Revolutionary Soldiers’ Receipts for Georgia Bounty Grants issued by the Georgia State Department of Archives and History (Foote and Davies Co., 1928)
• Roster of the Confederate Soldiers of Georgia, 1861-1865, 4 vols., by Georgia State Division of Confederate Pensions and Records (Longino & Porter, 1959-)
• Roster of the Confederate Soldiers of Georgia, 1861-1865, 6 vols., compiled by Lillian Henderson (Longina and Porter, 1959-)
• Roster of the Confederate Soldiers of Georgia, 1861-1865: Index compiled by Juanita S. Brightwell, Eunices S. Lee, Elise C. Fulghum (Reprint Co., 1982)
• Roster of Revolutionary Soldiers in Georgia, 3 vols., compiled by Mrs. Howard H. McCall (Genealogical Publishing Co., 1968-1969)
• A Roster of Spanish American War Soldiers from Georgia edited by Carlton J. Thaxton, Donna B. Thaxton, Stan Thaxton (Thaxton Co., 1984)
• Volunteer Soldiers in the Cherokee War, 1836-1839 (Mountain Press, 1995)

PROBATE RECORDS

• Abstracts of Colonial Wills of the State of Georgia, 1733-1777 indexed by Willard E. Wight (Reprint Co., 1981)
• Georgia Intestate Records compiled by Jeannette Holland Austin (Genealogical Publishing Co., 1986)
• Georgia Wills, 1733-1860 compiled by Ted O. Brooke (Pilgrim Press, 1976)
• Index to Georgia Wills by Jeannette Holland Austin (Genealogical Publishing Co., 1985)
• Index to Georgia’s Federal Naturalization Records to 1950 (Excluding Military Petitions) by Linda Woodward Geiger (Heritage Books, 1995)
• Index to Probate Records of Colonial Georgia, 1733-1778 (R.J. Taylor Jr., Foundation, 1983)
• Statutes Enacted by the Royal Legislature of Georgia from its first Session in 1754 to 1768, 3 vols. compiled by Allen D. Candler (C.P. Byrd, state printer, 1910-1911)

VITAL RECORDS

• 30,638 Burials in Georgia by Jeannette Holland Austin (Genealogical Publishing Co., ca. 1995)
• 37,000 Early Georgia Marriages by Joseph T. Maddox (J.T. Maddox, 1975)
• 1850 Georgia Mortality Schedules or Census compiled by Aurora C. Shaw (Shaw, 1982)
• Colonial Georgia Marriage Records from 1760-1810 by Frances T. Ingmire (F.T. Ingmire, ca. 1985)
• Early Georgia Marriages, 4 vols., compiled by Joseph T. Maddox, and Mary Carter (J. T. Maddox, 1975)
• Georgia Cemetery Directory and Bibliography of Georgia Cemetery Reference Sources by Ted O. Brooke (T.O. Brooke, ca. 1985)
• Georgia Marriages: Early to 1800: a Research Tool by Liahona Research, Inc., edited by Jordan R. Dodd (Precision Indexing Publishers, ca. 1990)
• Georgia Marriages 1811 Through 1820: Prepared from Extant Legal Records and Published Sources edited by Mary Bondurant Warren, abstracted by Frances H. Beckemeyer, et al. (Heritage Papers, ca. 1988)
• Guide to Public Vital Statistics Records in Georgia by the Georgia Historical Records Survey (Historical Records Survey, 1941)
• Marriages and Deaths, 1820 to 1830: Abstracted from Extant Georgia Newspapers by Mary Bondurant Warren with Sarah Fleming White (Heritage Papers ca. 1972)
• Marriages and Obituaries from Early Georgia Newspapers abstracted by Folks Huxford (Southern Historical Press, ca. 1989)
• Marriages and Obituaries from the Macon Messenger, 1815-1865 by Willard R. Rocker (Southern Historical Press, ca. 1988)
• Obituaries Published by the Christian Index, 2 vols., abstracted and edited by Mary Overby (Georgia Baptist Historical Society, Mercer University, 1975-1982)
• Some Early Epitaphs in Georgia compiled by the Georgia Society of the Colonial Dames of America (The Seeman Printery, Inc., ca. 1924)

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From the Family Tree Sourcebook
Also available: the State Research Guide Book, State Research Guides CD and The Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy.