WILKES COUNTY, GEORGIA
FamilySearch.org—emigration & immigration….colonial settlers from Georgia generally
from the Carolinas, Virginia or directly from England and Scotland. Georgia was a
“state-land” state, i.e. land was distributed by governor the then land courts (1783-1909).
In 1756 land in the eastern portion of the state distributed by “headright and bounty
grants”—not all bounties given for military service.
In 1752 the population of Georgia (non-native) was approximately 5000. There are no
colonial censuses for Georgia, and Georgia did not become a state until 1788. The 1790
federal census and the 1800 & 1810 census has been lost. The federal census for Georgia
for 1820 must be supplemented by other records.
After the Revolutionary War, particularly 1802 to 1820 movement to Georgia by
migration by persons seeking free and inexpensive land. Land in the northern and
western areas of the state was distributed by Land Lotteries of 1805, 1807, 1820, 1821,
1827, 1832. Land now belonging to Alabama and Mississippi was relinquished west of
the Chattahoochee River in 1802.
Court records form the basis for much of the recording of an individual’s presence in a
specific locale. The earliest colonial court records (Common Council in England and
Georgia/ Council of Georgia—then the General Court of Pleas and the Court of Quarter
Sessions was superceded 1777 by the Superior Court (divorce,criminal, civil,
homesteads,naturalization, slaves, military discharges) and the Court of Ordinary 17771798 (homesteads, land warrants, licenses, indentures, pauper registration, voter registers,
marriage records) and the Inferior Court 1798-1952 (minor criminal offenses, civil
matters except for divorce and equity)
Index to Headright & Bounty Grants of Georgia, 1756-1909
Jeanette Holland Austin, The Georgians—genealogies of pioneer settlers”,
Georgia Surveyor General Dept, Georgia Dept. Archives & History,---original land
grants.
Coulter—Early Settlers of Georgia
Reconstructed 1790 census of Georgia
Robt.Davis Jr & Rev. Silas Lucas—Georgia Land Lottery Papers 1805-
Reverted Land Lottery Records 1815-1872
Tax Digests (taxable property) also becomes a basis for census of counties.
Index to Georgia Tax Digests—5 voll. 1789-1817.
Tax Digests of Georgia of various counties 1790-1818—taxes were levied on free white
males over 21 (polls) and slaves 21-60 years old.
Family History Center/ FHL film 007023 contains tax digests 17877 to 1899 for many
counties.
Georgia Archives & History, tax digests, voter registration lists; also FHL film available
for state census of Georgia 1827, 1834, 1837, 1838, 1845, 1852,1859, 1879
Silas E. Lucas, Georgia Land Lottery Papers, 1805—1914
Georgia 1805 Land Lottery—basically a census of Georgia. State census for Georgia
includes 1820, 1830, 1840, 1850 1860 and indexes for 1880, 1900, 1910 and 1920 while
county census 1827 to 1890 are enumerated and kept at the Family History Library, Salt
Lake City, Utah.. Federal census for Georgia 1820 to 1880 and 1900 to 1920 also held at
the Family History Library.
Index to 7 state censuses includes counties in Georgia 1838-1845.
Other significant census was: agricultural census 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
Slave schedules 1850 , 1860
Manufacturing schedules 1820, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
Voter registration list 1867
1840 Pensioner schedule
Mortality schedule 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
Family History Center/ Family History Library (LDS Church) films 465173-84=
headright and land grants 1756-1860, Land Lottery records, land lottery surveys,
headright surveys, Reverted lottery records (lots reverted back to state because land
lottery recipients did not claim them); books of conveyance 1750-1802; mortgages 17551822, fiats for grants 1755’ bonds,sales, gift records 1755-1829.
Georgia Archives and History, Jonesboro Rd, Morrow,Ga—