Create Your Proving Sources By Jeannette Holland Austin

To establish facts for elusive ancestors when there are none is tough. One solution is to research around the facts and thus eliminate persons in that generation. We need to know who is who and put them down on a family group sheet irregardless of whether or not they are directly related. This process documents a family and eliminates them. First, locate your ancestor's surname in nearby counties and states. Then search court house records -- deeds, wills, tax records, estates, etc. -- and establish the facts for each person. Next, complete a family group sheet on that family, noting the sources you used. Proceed accordingly on all questionable families, thus identifying each person of the era and location. Third, examine each family group sheet. Look for nicknames. For example, Betsy, b. ca 1757 could be your Elizabeth, b. 1759. Fourth, once everyone is identified you probably have a number of loose persons for whom you need to discover more information. Try to trace that person so that he may be either identified or elimated; use marriage records, estates, etc. In the earliest pioneering days the eldest son inherited the farm while others went into other acceptable occupations such as physicians, ministers, etc. This took them away from the homeplace. In other words, erase confusion by identifying and eliminating all families in prescribed areas having your same.

Jeannette Holland Austin, Georgia Author of Genealogy Books

Georgia County Records (digital images) wills, estates, marriages

New Additions to Georgia Pioneers
Dade County Index to Wills & Estates 1884-1904; Index to Will Bk A 1903-1948; Index to Inventories, Appriasements, Sales 1853-1877 Decatur County Will abstracts 1828-1838; Index to Minutes Bks A & B (includes wills); index to Wills 1828-1913 Dooly County Wills 1849-1931 (abstracts); Index to Annual Returns, Vouchers, 1847-1859; Index to Wills, Bk A, 1847-1901 Dougherty County Index to Wills, Vol. 1, 1854-1925 Douglas County Wills 1870-1916 (images); Wills and Letters of Guardianship 1871-1885 (images); Index to Will Bk A, 1870-1932; Index to Annual Returns 1871-1897, Bk A Early County miscellaneous wills (images); Index to Will Bk B 1839-1895; Index to Will Bk 2, 1896-1941 Echols County Index to Wills 1875-1952 Effingham County Wills 1826-1856 (abstracts); Index to Wills, Vols. 3 and 4, 1829-1898; Index to Inventories and Appraisements, Vol. 3, 1827-1865 Elbert County Wills 1791-1826 (abstracts); Index to Misc. Wills, Inventories, etc. 1791-1806
Cherokee County Miscellaneous Wills & Estates (digital images) Estates and Wills Miscellaneous Wills & Estates (digital images)
New Additions to Virginia Pioneers
* Amherst County Wills (abstracts) 1762-1782
* Bedford County Wills (abstracts) 1763-1775
* Campbell County Wills (abstracts) 1782-1801
* Fairfax County Wills (abstracts) 1740-1749
* Grayson County Wills Index
* Loudoun County Wills (abstracts) 1761-1774
* Norfolk County 1675-1675 Court Orders
* Prince William County Wills (abstracts) 1734-1742
* Rockbridge County Wills (abstracts) 1778-1790

New Additions to South Carolina Pioneers
Gedcom Files; you can view and/or download - Adair of Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia; Camp/Camps of America, begins 1559 in England (356,752 bytes); Evans of DeKalb County and Anderson County, South Carolina.

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