Georgia Genealogy & Ancestry Resources

Georgia Genealogy Resources

Georgia History Timeline

20 May 1498 – Italian explorer John Cabot (Giovanni Caboto) explores the coast of Georgia.
29 September 1526 – First colony established by Lucas Vazques de Aylllon.
1540 – Spanish hernando de Soto (1500-1542) explored Georgia, almost all of Georgia was controlled by the Creeks.
1629 – English King Charles I grants a charter for the territory to Sir Robert Heath.
30 July 1730 – James Oglethorpe and 20 associates petition King George II for a royal charter to establish a colony southwest of Carolina.
1733 – The first Creek Native Indian cession.
1733 – Georgia was named after King George II of England. The terms of the charter granted by the king specified that the colony (to be founded by James Oglethorpe) was named after the king.
7 July 1742 – the Battle of Bloody Marsh was the last Spanish action in the War of Jenkins Ear.
1756 – 1763 – The Seven Years War (French and Indian War) due to disputes over land is won by Great Britain France gives England all French territory east of the Mississippi River, except Ne Orleans. The spanish give up east and west Florida to the English in return for Cuba.
1775 – 1783 – The American Revolution creates the United States of America.
10 July 1778 – Frances declares war against Britain and makes an alliance with the American revolutionary forces.
3 September 1783 – The Treaty of Paris is signed by the victorious United States and the defeated Great Britain.
1788 – Georgia was admitted to the Union – January 2, 1788. Georgia was the 4th State to be admitted to the Union.
1812 – 1815 – The War of 1812 between U.S. and great Britain, ended in a stalemate but confirmed America’s Independence.
1813-1814 – The creek Indian War – At the start of the 1500’s the Creeks occupied nearly all of southeast United States. Their defeat at the battle in Lumpkin County near Slaughter Gap forced them farther and farther West.
1828 – Gold discovered in Georgia.
1836 – 1837 – The Second Creek War (Siminole War) in which Creek warriors were defeated.
1838 – The Trail of Tears. Cherokee and Creek Indians are forced from the state.
1831 – 1865 – The American Civil War. In 1859 John Brown raided Harpers Ferry and set in motion events that led directly to the outbreak of the Civil War. Abraham Lincoln was elected president and in 1861 the South Secdes. The iitial Secession of South Carolina was followed by the secession of Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina. These eleven states eventually formed the Confederate States of America. The bomardment of Fort Sumter was the opening engagement of the Civil War.
1865 – the surrender of Robert E. Lee on April 9, 1865 signalled the end of the Confederacy.
6 December 1865 – The Abolishment of Slavery. The Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified, officially abolishing slavery.
1870 – Georgia is restored to the Union.
1898-1901 – The Spanish American War. On December 10, 1898 the Treaty of Paris the US annexes Puerto Rico, Guam, Philippines.
1921 – The boll weevil destroys much of Georgia’s crops.
1977 – Georgia governor Jimmy Carter becomes President of the United States.
1996 – The Summer Olympics is held in Atlanta.

Georgia Vital Records

1875 – Georgia attempted to require registration of births, marriages and deaths on a county level in 1875, but the law was repealed in 1876. Some vital records for fourteen Geeorgia counties for 1875 are available at the Georgia Archives.
1919 – In 1919 Georgia law required the registration of all births and deaths in the state. As in many other states, Georgia’s county governments were slow to respond to the new law and most did not comply until 1928. Af few major cities required birth and death registration early on:
- Atlanta—births, 1896; deaths, 1887. Fulton County Health Department, Atlanta, GA.
- Augusta—births, 1823-1896. (See Georgia Genealogical Cociety Quarterly (1968): 1988-93)
- Savannah—births, 1890; deaths, 1803. Chatham County Health Department, Savannah, GA. Early death records have been published by the Georgia Historical Society.
- Macon—births, 1891; deaths, 1882. Bibb County Health Department, Macon, GA.
- Columbus—births, 1869; deaths, 1890. Muscogee County Health Department, Columbus, GA.
- Gainesville—births, 1865; deaths, 1909. Available on microfilm at Georgia Archives.
Georgia marriage records are created at the county level. Some Georgia counties kept some marriage bonds before 1805, although Georgia law did not require marriage licenses to be recorded until 1805. Officials were careless in adhering to the law and consequently some marriages were not recorded at all. Some records were also lost in various courthouse fires. All recorded Georgia marriages to 1900 are available on microfilm at the Georgia Archives and the Family History Library (FHL) in Salt Lake City. The former also has some loose, original county marriage records. Heritage Papers’ periodical Georgia Genealogist contains civil marriages to 1810. Marriages after that date can be found in Mary B. Warren, Georgia Marriages 1811 Through 1820 (Danielsville, GA.: Heritage Papers, 988).
From 1793 to 1832, divorces in Georgia were subject to legislative approval after being approved by the county superior court. The divorce files remain in the custody of the county superior courts. Divorces, name changes, and decrees of femme sole )also called feme sole) granted by the Georgia legislature are abstracted in Robert S. Davis Jr., The Georgia Black Book II (Easley, S.C.: Southern Historical Press, 1987).¹

Georgia Census Records

Federal Population Schedules

Indexed—1820 (partial), 1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1890 (fragment), 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940
Soundex—1880, 1900, 1910 ,1920, 1930 (You can find definition of Soundex at FamilySearch.org wiki at https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Soundex).

Industry and Agriculture Schedules

Industry—1820, 1880
Agriculure—1850, 1860, 1870, 1880

Mortality Schedules

1850, 1860, 1870, 1880

Slave Schedules

1850, 1860

The 1820 census is the earlest enumeration of Georgia’s populations to have survived, More than forty percent of Georgia’s population (and likely seventy percent of the frontier migration families) lived in Wilkes County in 1790, making the numerous publications of that one county’s extensive surviving records especially valuable census substitute. The 1820 census of Georgia is also lost for Franklin, Rabun, and Twiggs counties; for many other counties, names were often omitted or unreadable. Land lottery, military, tax lists, and other records are availabe as census substitutes and supplements for the 1820 and earlier censuses. ¹

State

Georgia conducted state censuses for various years from 1787 to 1866. Only a relatively few of these returns survive, and they are only lists of heads of households with some minor statistical information. The returns prior to 1852 have been published in various sources. To see what has survived of Georgia state and federal census records, see Robert S. Davis, Research in Georgia, 27-41, 44,, 147-68.

Georgia Census Records at Ancestry.com

In addition to the U.S. Federal Census Collection at Ancestry.com, there is a collection of Georgia census indexes that include the following: 1790 Tax Substitute Index 1792-1819 Tax lists Index; 1800 Oglethorpe County Territorial Census Index; 1820 Federal Census Index; 1830 Federal Census Index; 1838 State Census; 1840 Pensioners List; 1845 State Census Index; 1850 Federal Census Index; 1860 Federal Census Index; 1860 Slave Schedule; 1870 Federal Census Index; 1890 Veterans Schedule. You can search the collection at Georgia Census, 1790-1890.

Also at Ancestry.com are images of a book entitled The Reconstructed 1790 Census of Georgia that was compiled by Marie De Lamar and Elisabeth Rothstein that attempts “to place as many person as possible in their county of residence in 1790.”

Georgia Counties Map

Georgia Genealogy Links

RedBook — Georgia Family History Research.
https://wiki.rootsweb.com/wiki/index.php/Georgia_Family_History_Research

FamilySearch.org Georgia Census – Online Resources
https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Georgia_Census

FamilySearch.org – Georgia Online Genealogy Records
https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Georgia_Online_Genealogy_Records

Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness – State of Georgia Records Guide
https://www.raogk.org/georgia/

Ancestry.com – Georgia Data Collections
https://search.ancestry.com/Places/US/Georgia/Default.aspx

Rootsweb Freepages – Georgia Genealogy Records
http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~xander/genealogy/georgia-genealogy.htm

Genealoger.com – Georgia Genealogy Resources
https://www.genealoger.com/genealogy/states/georgia.htm

Third Edition Red Book, American State, County, and Town Sources, Edited by Alice Eichholz Ph.D., C.G., Ancestry Publishing,The Generations Network, Inc.1989, 1992, 2004.
Georgia Counties Map Attribute: Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3832923

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