|
Land and property records, combined with tax digests, can be
important keys to successful research in Georgia. Surviving colonial and state
land grant records of Georgia, including loose, original records not available
on microfilm, are in the Georgia Surveyor General Department, Floor 2V, Georgia
Department of Archives and History. See also Marion R. Hemperley, The Georgia
Surveyor General Department (Atlanta, Ga.: Georgia Surveyor General Department,
1982), and Pat Bryant, Entry of Claims for Georgia Landholders, 1733–1755
(Atlanta, Ga.: State Printing Office, 1975). The latter is a book of titles
given to Georgians in 1755 for their lands under the trustees between 1733 and
1755.
The first effective legislation, dated 17 February 1783, concerning land grants
after Georgia became a state provided for headrights and bounty-land grants. The
law allowed each head of household 200 acres free as his own headright and fifty
additional acres for each member of his family and each slave at a cost of from
one to four shillings per acre. Grants were limited to 1,000 acres, and the
grantee was responsible for paying survey and grant fees. Those who had received
grants under colonial jurisdiction were entitled to the lands they occupied when
the law went into effect.
The 1783 act also provided for establishing a land court in each county. A land
grant applicant would appear before five justices to swear under oath concerning
the size of his family and the number of slaves he owned to obtain a warrant of
survey. Once the county surveyor completed his layout of the applicant's land, a
copy of the plat of survey was forwarded to the surveyor general, and the
original was filed in the county. The applicant was then required to live on the
land for a year and cultivate 3 percent of the total acreage. After meeting
those requirements, the applicant could apply to the governor's office for his
grant and pay all fees. At that point the grant would be issued and recorded.
Headright grants were made in Bryan, Bullock, Burke, Camden, Chatham, Clarke,
Columbia, Effingham, Elbert, Emanuel, Franklin, Glascock, Glynn, Greene,
Hancock, Hart, Jackson, Jefferson, Johnson, Laurens, Liberty, Lincoln, Madison,
McDuffie, McIntosh, Montgomery, Oconee, Oglethorpe, Richmond, Screven,
Taliaferro, Tattnall, Warren, Washington, and Wilkes counties.
Bounty-land grants were made to soldiers who served in the Georgia military,
civilian residents of 1781–82, and Georgia citizens who went to other states
during the Revolution to continue the war. Most of the surviving Georgia
Revolutionary War bounty certificates (except for civilian residents) are
abstracted.
A second act of 25 February 1784 created new counties and designated some of
the area as bounty lands for Georgia veterans who had served in the Continental
Line or Navy. Most of the area that later became Greene County was reserved for
bounty-land grants. The Georgia Department of Archives and History and the FHL
have microfilm copies of original land grants.
Only Georgia has the distinction of distributing lands by lottery. Lands given
to Georgia citizens by lotteries from 1805 to 1833 are in the present western
and northern three-quarters of Georgia. Lotteries took place in 1805, 1807,
1820, 1821, 1827, and two in 1832. All Georgia citizens were eligible to qualify
for a lottery, although the 1820, 1827, and 1832 lotteries also gave special
consideration to war veterans. Published lottery books are excellent sources for
pinpointing where a Georgia family lived when a lottery was held.
Where Georgians sold lots won in the lotteries, researchers will find that deeds
may be valuable sources of genealogical information. Those deeds should have
been recorded in the counties where the land was located, but in some cases
references may be found in the counties where the owner resided. Land
transaction between private individuals are recorded with the clerk of superior
court in the appropriate county.
Most surviving pre-1900 county land records, including deeds and land court
minutes, are on microfilm at the Georgia Department of Archives and History and
the FHL. Many of the mortgage and county plat books are not included in the
FHL's microfilm collection."
(Source: Ancestry's Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources )
Clerk of Superior Court [has Court Records from 1801 and Land Records from 1801
]
325 E. Washington St., Rm. 450, P.O. BOX 1805 (30603), Athens, GA 30601;
Phone: (706) 613-3190, Fax: (706) 613-3189
Georgia
Land Lotteries
Pulaski
County Georgia
Cherokee
County Georgia
Terms
used in the Township and Range System:
Section
Basic
unit of the system, a square tract of line one mile by one mile containing
640 acres.
Township
36
sections are ranged in a 6 by 6 array, measuring 6 miles by 6 miles. Sections
are
numbered
beginning with the northeast-most section, proceeding west to 6, then south
along
the west edge of the township and to the east.
Range
Assigned
to a township by measuring east or west of a Principal Meridian
Range
Lines
North
to south lines which mark township boundaries
Township
Lines
East
to west lines which mark township boundaries
Principal
Meridian
Reference
or beginning point for measuring east or west ranges.
Map
of meridians & base lines from the BLM web server
Base
line
Reference
or beginning point for measuring north or south townships.
Map
of meridians & base lines from the BLM web server
About Georgia Land Records
Georgia is a state-land state. Most lands were obtained from
either the state or from other individuals. Individual lands are found recorded
with the clerk of the Superior Court for each county. Most early records have
been microfilmed and are available at the FHL and the Georgia Surveyor-General
Department in the state archives. State grants were usually given in the form of
headrights, bounty-land warrants and lottery drawings. Headright laws allotted
each head of household 200 acres free as his own headright and fifty additional
acres for each member of his family and each slave at a cost of from one to four
shillings per acre. Bounty land grants were made to soldiers who served in the
Georgia military, civilian residents of 1781–82, and Georgia citizens who went
to other states during the Revolution to continue the war. Lotteries took place
in 1805, 1807, 1820, 1821, 1827, and two in 1832. All Georgia citizens were
eligible to qualify for a lottery, although the 1820, 1827, and 1832 lotteries
also gave special consideration to war veterans. For more information on these
sources and others, see:
Hemperley, Marion R. The Georgia Surveyor General Department: A
History and Inventory of Georgia's Land Office. Atlanta: Georgia Surveyor
General Department, State Printing Office, 1982.
Lucas, Silas Emmett, Jr. Index to the Headright and Bounty
Grants of Georgia, 1756–1909. Vidalia, GA: Georgia Genealogical Reprints, 1970.
Hone, E. Wade. Land and Property Research in the United States.
Salt Lake City: Ancestry, Inc., 1997.
Davis, Robert S., and Silas E. Lucas. The Georgia Land Lottery
Papers, 1805–1914. Easley, SC: Southern Historical Press, 1979.
Georgia Land
Records Glossary
Bounty
Grants
Grants
issued to Revolutionary Soldiers or to Citizens (persons who stayed neutral
during the Revolution).
It
cannot be determined from the grant itself, if the person did military
service. However, application papers will
reflect
the status of the grantee (see also Loose Headright and Bounty Documents
File).
Certificate
A
document that would entitle a person to a bounty grant. If the person was
a
Revolutionary
Soldier, the paper would be signed by the commanding
officer
of his battalion or regiment, if he was a Citizen, it would be signed by
the
captain
of the Militia District in which he resided. Upon receipt the governor
would
then confirm the man's eligibility with a numbered certificate that
reflected
his status.
Citizen
A
person who did not leave the state during the Revolution and could not
be
convicted
of "plundering or distressing the country"; he was entitled to a
bounty
grant. This would have to be documented by a certificate.
Colonial
Grants
Although
issued under slightly different principles from those of the Headright
System,
they are considered a sub-category of the latter ones.
Colonial
Plats Ca. two thirds were lost during the Revolution.
County
Division
for local government. New land cessions were first laid out into
original
counties" which were then subdivided into newly created counties
in
a continuous process that lasted until 1924. Lottery grants are always
cited
by original county, while headright grants could also be issued in
"modern"
counties.
County
Land Records
Records
reflecting real estate transactions after the land was granted.
Includes
deeds, plats, conveyances, indentures.
Deed
A
land record on the county level; a legal instrument documenting transfer
of
title to a parcel of land from one owner to the next.
Fifth
Lottery
It
was held in 1827 and distributed Lee, Muscogee, Troup, Coweta, and Carroll
Counties,
bounded by the Chattahoochee. Before they received names these
counties
were first called 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th section.
First
Lottery
It
was held in 1805 and distributed the first 5 districts of Baldwin County,
the
first 5 districts of Wilkinson County, and the whole of Wayne County.
Fortunate
Drawer
A
person who won a "prize" (land lot) in the lottery. Not always identical
with
the grantee to that land lot (see Grantee under Lottery System and
Reverted
Lot).
Fourth
Lottery
It
was held in 1821 and distributed Dooly, Fayette, Henry, Houston, and Monroe
Counties,
bounded by the Flint River.
Fractions
Fractional
lots were created by district or cession boundaries. They were not
thrown
into the lottery (with the exception of the Cherokee lotteries), but
sold
at public auction. An alphanumerical index by county, district and lot
number
exists, but not a name index of the buyers.
Grant
See
Land Grant.
Grant
Book
A
bound volume that contains recordings of the grants. See also Headright
Grant
Book and Lottery Grant Book.
Grantee
1)
On the state level the first individual owner of a parcel of land, or
the
recipient of a grant; 2) on the county level any subsequent owner of
a
parcel of land who acquired it by purchase or as a gift or by inheritance.
Grantee
under the Lottery System
In
most cases the grantee is the person who drew the land lot. However,
there
are occasions when the lot would be sold at public auctions, e.g.,
the
Reverted Lots or the Fractions. In this case the grantee is identical
with
the highest bidder.
Grantor
1)
On the state level land was granted only by the King of England in
Colonial
times and by the State of Georgia after the Revolution. No land
in
Georgia was ever granted by the Federal Government or by the Native
Americans.
2) On the county level grantor and seller are synonymous.
Headright
Grant Books
Their
titles consist of letters of the alphabet, ranging from A to M,
DDD
to ZZZZZ (Z-5), AB through AD. The grants are entered in roughly
chronological
order, but no systematic arrangement can be recognized.
Most
volumes have a randomly alphabetized index, i.e., names are only
alphabetized
by their first letter. WARNING: Some volumes have duplicate
pages
and there are two distinct volumes both with the title RRRRR or
R-5,
each beginning with page 1.
Headright
Plat Books
Similar
to the Headright Grant Books, their titles are made up out of
letters.
Again, order of entry is roughly chronologial without a
systematic
arrangement.
Headright
System
Land
distribution system prevailing roughly east of the Oconee River
from
1755 to 1909. The size of the land to be granted depended on the
number
of "heads" in a household. In many cases settlers selected the
tract
of land first and then applied for a grant. The surveying system
used
was the Metes and Bounds System.
Land
Court
A
panel of judges to whom an applicant would apply for a land grant
under
the Headright System.
Land
Grant
A
deed from the government to the first individual owner of a parcel of
land.
Grants are one of the two major record groups originating from
Georgia's
distribution process of its public domain (the other group
consists
of plats). In many states these records are called "land patents".
Land
Lot System
Surveying
system used in connection with the lotteries. Before the lottery
could
be held any newly-ceded land had to be pre-surveyed, i.e., the land
was
laid out first into original counties, these were subdivided into
numbered
land districts and these again into numbered land lots. One
exception
was the area of original Cherokee County; it was so large
that
it was first laid out into 4 sections, then these were subdivided
into
districts and land lots.
Land
Patent
See
Land Grant.
Land
Records
See
State Land Records and County Land Records.
Loose
Headright and Bounty Documents File
Records
that were created during the land granting process, consisting
of
petitions, warrants, certificates, etc.
Lottery
Applications
No
written applications had to be submitted by potential drawers, only
an
oral oath was required to prove eligibility.
Lottery
Grant Books
The
grants are arranged in the books by original county and land district,
but
no further order is recognizable. The books' titles consist out of
the
same elements, e.g. Wilkinson, District 1. Often grants of more than
one
district of the same county are bound together in which case the title
of
the volume might read Muscogee, District 13-14 or Baldwin, District 15,
16,
17. For each district, pagination starts with page 1, however, a
comprehensive
index at the beginning of each volume covers the grants of
all
the districts this volume contains with names alphabetized only by
their
first letter. In addition to these "regular" grant books there are
supplements
and those for fractions and reverted lots.
Lottery
Plat Books
Similar
to those of the headright plat books their titles consist of
letters.
The arrangement is by original county, land district and land
lot.
However, the original counties are not arranged alphabetically,
but
chronologically (e.g. Wilkinson County comes before Gwinnett County).
To
complicate matters, districts from different counties might be bound
together
in one volume or one district might be divided between two volumes.
However,
the microfilm catalog cards are arranged in proper alphanumeric
order
and need to be checked to secure a systematic approach.
Lottery
System
Land
distributed under this system was first laid out into a rectolinear
pattern
of land lots identified by a numbering system. The land lots were
then
given away in a raffle to fortunate applicants. While the Headright
System
lasted from 1755 to 1909, the lottery system was confined only to
a
period of 27 years (from 1805 to 1832) during which 7 lotteries (see
First
Lottery, Second Lottery, ...) were held.
Memorials
Book
A
Colonial record book that revealed the current owner of a tract of land.
Every
time land changed hands, beginning with the grant, this transaction
had
to be recorded.
Metes
and Bounds System
Surveying
system used under the Headright System. The boundary lines of a
tract
were measured (metes) and described in terms of the adjacent land or
geographical
features, i.e., a stream, a road, land owned by another person
or
unknown land. The land was never pre-surveyed as a whole, but piece by
piece,
as it was granted. In contrast to the metes and bounds system is the
Land
Lot System.
Militia
District
A
division within a county. All men between 16 and 60 (age varied) residing
within
its lines were automatically enrolled in a company for military
purposes
under a captain.
Petition
A
written application for a grant under the Headright System and also for
a
Bounty Grant.
Plat
1)
On the state level a survey or little map of the granted parcel, usually
drawn
a few years prior to the issuance of the corresponding grant; 2)
on
the county level a survey accompanying a deed.
Plat
Book
A
record that contains recordings of the plats, both at state and at county
level.
See also Headright Plat Book and Lottery Plat Book.
Refugee
A
man whose house had been ransacked by the British and who fled from the
state
and who would then join the Militia Regiments of South Carolina and
North
Carolina. He was entitled to a bounty grant.
Reverted
Lot
A
land lot not claimed by its fortunate drawer; the deadline within which
grants
could be taken up was extended several times by law, but finally
the
lot would revert to the state and would then be sold to the highest
bidder,
in whose name the grant would be issued. There is no index to the
names
of these highest bidders.
Revolutionary
Soldier
Under
the Headright System a revolutionary soldier was entitled to a Bounty
Grant,
provided he could prove his military status by a certificate. Under
the
Lottery System he had more draws than ordinary citizens and the letters
"R.S."
or "Rev. Sol." would appear on the grant behind his name.
Second
Lottery
It
was held in 1807 and distributed District 6-20 of Baldwin County and
Districts
6-28 of Wilkinson County bounded by the Ocmulgee River.
Sixth
Lottery
It
was held in 1832 and distributed the area of original Cherokee County.
It
consisted of 2 portions: the Gold Lottery (gold districts included
40-acre
land lots) and the Land Lottery ("land" districts included 160-acre lots).
State
Land Records
Records
created during the distributing process of Georgia's public
domain,
such as Grants (including Colonial grants), Plats, surveyor's
District
Plats, Loose Headright and Bounty Papers, Memorials, maps, etc.
Surveyor
General Department
Second
oldest state agency; only Governor's Office is older. Agency was
in
charge of surveying the public domain, before it could be distributed,
and
of keeping proper records on the state level. The office was
consolidated
with that of the Secretary of State in 1861 and is today a
part
of the Georgia Archives. Its surveying function expired in 1909,
when
the existing law of granting land was repealed. However, its
record
keeping or archival function is still very much alive.
Third
Lottery
It
was held in 1820 and distributed Gwinnett, Habersham, Hall, Rabun,
and
Walton Counties in the northeast and Appling, Early, and Irwin
Counties
in the south.
Warrant
A
headright land record; an order from the land court to the county
surveyor
to lay out a tract of land for an applicant.
|
