Forsyth County History for Genealogists
Forsyth County was formed in 1832 and given away in the 1832 Cherokee Land Lottery. It was formerly occupied by Cherokee Indians, most of whom were
removed west as a result of the Act of 1832. Before leaving, the silver and gold mines were hidden, but marked on maps. During the early 1920's
a caravan of wagons of Cherokees from Oklahoma were seen loading their minerals into wagons. Gold deposits were found in the county during the Georgia gold rush.
A visit to this county discovered that the surving will book beginning in 1856 was virtually not readable. Many pages were blank due to the fact that the ink had
faded. I filmed the blank pages, then used the photo enhancer to bring them up. Although most of the pages are readable, one must examine each word separately.
Otherwise, no one would know whose wills are in this book.
The early settling families were: Braselton, Bruton, Porter, Julian, Jackson, Hutchins, Merritt, Mills, Harding, Sanford, Cochran, Wills, Strickland, McGinnis,
Westbrook, Creamer, Whitmire, Owens, Kellogg, Wofford, Ezzard, Bell, Garrett, Williams, Gilstrap, Patterson Sewell, Pilgrim, Lindsey, Mangum, Hansard,Vaughn and
others.
Images of Forsyth County Wills books 1856-1892 and 1892-1936 are available to subscribers of
Georgia Pioneers Because of faded ink and almost blank pages, every page of the actual books in the clerk's office are not readable. It took a photo
enhancing program to bring up most of the images. Otherwise, it is impossible to see many existing wills.
