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Georgia Research Outline |
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Table of Contents
Records Of The Family History Library
Family History Library Catalog
Archives And Libraries
Bible Records
Biography
Cemeteries
Census
Church Records
Court Records
Directories
Emigration And Immigration
Gazetteers
Genealogy
History
Land And Property
Maps
Military Records
Naturalization And Citizenship
Newspapers
Periodicals
Probate Records
Taxation
Vital Records
Voting Registers
For Further Reading
Comments And Suggestions
LAND AND PROPERTY
From 1732 to 1755 the area that is now Georgia was a trusteeship in which land was allotted to males and their heirs. After 1755 lands were granted without restrictions. Land transfers before 1777 were generally recorded in Savannah, and many early land grants have been transcribed and published. One source for these records is Pat Bryant, Entry of Claims for Georgia Landholders, 1733-1755 (Atlanta: State Printing Office, 1975; FHL book 975.8 R2br).
Georgia was a state-land state The Family History Library and the Georgia Surveyor General Department at the Georgia Department of Archives and History have original land grants on microfilm. The records at the Family History Library include books of conveyances (1750-1802), mortgages The parts of Georgia that are now Alabama and Mississippi were ceded in 1802. The remaining northern and western areas of present-day Georgia were surveyed and given away by lotteries in 1805, 1807, 1820, 1821, 1827, and 1832. The lottery lists have been published in several sources, such as:
Virginia S. and Ralph V. Wood, The 1805 Georgia Land Lottery (Cambridge: The Greenwood Press, 1964; FHL book 975.8 R21w). This lists the names of all registrants, while the other lotteries list only those who received land.
Also see Robert Scott Davis, Jr., and Rev. Silas E. Lucas, The Georgia Land Lottery Papers, 1805-1914: Genealogical Data. (Easley, S.C.: Southern Historical Press, 1979; FHL book 975.8 R2d). This includes a map showing which counties were formed in each of the lotteries.
An alphabetical index to Georgia land grant records, 1767-1908, in the Surveyor General Department is on FHL films 465173-84. The Family History Library also has the following records for Georgia:
For further details on state land records, see Marion R. Hemperley, The Georgia Surveyor General Department: A History and Inventory of Georgia's Land Office (Atlanta: State Printing Office, 1982; FHL book 975.8 R2hg).
After original title to the land was granted, subsequent transactions, including deeds The Family History Library has copies of the county deeds and mortgages, dating from the creation of each county to 1900 or 1920, on microfilm for most counties. The Family History Library also has homestead records from the 1860s to the 1920s. For example, the library has 150 microfilms for Chatham County of deeds, deed indexes, homestead records, mortgages, lottery lists, oyster leases, and pony homestead records.
The largest collection of maps for Georgia is found at the Georgia Surveyor General office at the Georgia Department of Archives and History. For information about this collection see:
Blake, Janice Gayle. Pre-Nineteenth Century Maps in the Collection of the Georgia Surveyor General Department. Atlanta: Surveyor General Department, 1976.
Johnsen, Margaret A. Nineteenth Century Maps in the Collection of the Georgia Surveyor General Department. Atlanta: Surveyor General Department, 1981.
The Family History Library has a series of modern maps from the Surveyor General office (FHL films 465171-2), a few colonial maps, and city ward maps Maps that show county formation are found in Pat Bryant, Georgia Counties: Their Changing Boundaries, 2d ed., revised by Ingrid Shields (Atlanta: State Printing Office, 1983; FHL book 975.8 E3b).
Modern city, county, and state maps can be purchased from:
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Colonial and State Records
in which land was distributed first by the governor and then through land courts established from 1783 to 1909. From 1756 land was distributed in the eastern quarter by headright and bounty grants. The grants usually do not give residences, family names, or military information. Not all bounties were for military service. These records are listed in Index to the Headright and Bounty Grants of Georgia 1756-1909 (Vidalia, Ga.: Georgia Genealogical Reprints, 1970; FHL book 975.8 R2i).
(1755-1822), fiats for grants (1755-76), and bonds, sales, and gift records (1755-1829).
County Records
and mortgages, were recorded by the county, usually by the clerk of the superior court. You can obtain copies by writing to the clerk.
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MAPS
for Atlanta in 1888 (FHL film 1377700). Also see James C. Bonner, Atlas for Georgia History (Milledgeville, Ga.: Georgia College Duplicating Department, 1969; FHL book 975.8 E7b).
Map Room
Georgia Department of Transportation
Two Capitol Square
Atlanta, GA 30334
Telephone: 404-656-5336
[FamilySearchTM: Research Guidance
Version of Data: 6/8/2001]