Georgia genealogy records

Births and deaths

Statewide registration of births and deaths began in Georgia in 1919. An 1875 law tried to require registration of births, deaths, and marriages, but few counties complied and the effort was funded for only two years. The Georgia Archives has scattered birth records on microfilm from that attempt for a handful of counties, plus older births for Clark County (1808 to 1852) and part of Emanuel County.

Some cities started earlier. According to the Georgia Archives, Savannah recorded deaths from 1803 and births from 1890, Macon recorded deaths from 1882 and births from 1891, Atlanta deaths from 1889 and births from 1896, Columbus deaths from 1890, and Augusta deaths from 1904. These records stayed with the city or county, so contact the local office or archive named by the Georgia Archives.

For death certificates, the Archives says certificates from 1919 to 1927 are indexed and viewable online in its Virtual Vault, and deaths from 1919 to 1943 are indexed on FamilySearch. The original certificates through 1943 are at the Georgia Archives. Note that the state's early filing was scant: certificates for deaths before 1916 were filed after 1919, gathered roughly by year.

Ordering a birth or death certificate

The Georgia Archives does not have birth certificates or any index to them. For births from 1919 to the present and deaths from 1944 to the present, the Archives sends researchers to the Georgia Department of Public Health, Vital Records, in Atlanta, or to the vital records office of the county where the event happened. Check the department's current rules on who may order a certified copy before you apply.

Marriages

Marriages are the strongest early vital record in Georgia. Beginning in 1805, state law required marriages to be recorded in the Court of Ordinary, known today as the Probate Court. The Archives notes that marriages were generally recorded in the county where the bride lived, which is worth remembering when a couple seems to be missing.

Marriage records for most counties, except where a courthouse fire or other disaster destroyed them, are on microfilm at the Georgia Archives, and many are viewable in the Marriage Records on Microfilm collection of the Virtual Vault. With few exceptions, marriages after 1900 are not at the Archives; ask the probate judge of the county.

Census records and substitutes

Georgia's federal census schedules for 1790, 1800, and 1810 are missing, along with 1820 schedules for Franklin, Rabun, and Twiggs counties. The 1890 population schedules were destroyed as a result of a 1921 fire in Washington, and the Archives says less than one percent of the schedules nationwide survive. All existing counties are available for 1830 to 1880 and 1900 to 1940, along with the 1850 and 1860 slave schedules.

Tax digests are the usual substitute for the lost early censuses, and the Virtual Vault has county tax digests from 1785 to 1799. Georgia also took state censuses, but the Archives says only a few returns survive, for scattered counties in years such as 1800, 1827, 1838, 1845, 1852, and 1859, and like the early federal counts they name only the head of household.

Land: headrights and the lotteries

Between 1783 and 1909, Georgia granted land east of the Oconee River through headright and bounty grants. The grantee picked the land, and there was no advance survey into districts and lots. Revolutionary War bounty grants had their own qualifications tied to wartime service.

Land west of the Oconee was given away by lottery. Eight times between 1805 and 1833, eligible citizens registered in their county, their names went into one wheel, and land lots went into another. A person who drew a lot, called a fortunate draw, could take out a grant after paying a fee. Each lottery act spelled out who was eligible, and people registered in their county of residence, so a lottery record places a person in a county at a known time.

Wills, estates, and court records

The Probate Court, formerly called the Court of Ordinary or Inferior Court, handled marriages and estates: wills, letters of administration, inventories, annual returns, sales, and guardian bonds. The Superior Court kept deeds, civil and criminal cases including divorces, and property tax digests. For Georgia families before 1919, the Archives recommends estate records to confirm dates of death and family relationships.

Most pre-1900 Georgia county records, except civil and criminal case files, are on microfilm at the Georgia Archives, and many probate and marriage records are also on FamilySearch. For records after 1900, write to the probate judge or the clerk of the superior court.

Military, Reconstruction, and newspapers

The Virtual Vault has Georgia's Confederate pension applications and Confederate enlistment oaths and discharges. Among the federal records at the Archives are Confederate service records and records of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, and county voter registration lists are kept with the superior court or sometimes the probate court.

For birth, marriage, and death notices, the Archives points to newspapers on microfilm there and at the University of Georgia Library, and to regional newspapers scanned by the Digital Library of Georgia.