Georgia Genealogy & History

Editor: Jeannette Holland Austin

www.georgiapioneers.com Volume No. 2 Issue No. 12 December 2006

FREE Georgia Genealogy Research in 2006 to New Subscribers of www.georgiapioneers.com

 

 

 


Report to Subscribers

 

During 2006 the goal was to locate old records and put them online. The discoveries were: WW II Draft Registrants for Cobb Co.; WWI Service Records for Camden Co.; 1777 Marriage Licenses in Camden Co.; Franklin Co. Death Certificates and   Gwinnett County Disabled or Invalid Soldiers’ Roll, Indigent Soldiers’ Roll, Pension Roll of 1910, Service Rolls, Widows Rolls; and Physical Descriptions of Liberty Co. Residents.

 

Will Images.  The following old wills were added:  Camden 1795-1900; Carroll Co. 1852-1900; Chatham 1777-1849; Cobb Co. 1866-1904; Douglas Co. 1870-1916; Forsyth Co. 1856-1892; Forsyth Co. 1892-1936; Franklin Co. 1899-1911; Glynn Co. 1809-1866; Gwinnett Co. 1819-1886; Jackson Co. 1802-1860; Jasper Co. 1814-1849; McIntosh Co. 1845-1915; Liberty Estate Index 1784-1791;Liberty Estates 1823-1829; McIntosh Co. 1887-1914; Liberty Co. 1779-1823; Newton Co. 1820-1896 and Rockdale Co. 1914-1923.

 

Brick Walls.  As research is concluded on your brick walls, the results are posted under “Working Ancestral Files” which shares the information with other subscribers to the website and makes it possible for them to contact you.  There are many high walls that are very problematical.  Therefore, some results might not yield sufficient conclusive proofs.  One quite interesting brick wall is the situation of two fellows in Franklin Co. with the same name Littleton Meeks Payne.  One was born in 1814 and the other one was born in 1824.  Various Payne families in Franklin County use the names “Nacy”.  Nacy Meeks was a son of Rev. Littleton Meeks (2/8/1766-9/22/1852).  Rev. Meeks died near Banks Co. and was buried in the Davis Cemetery in Cornelia, Georgia (Habersham Co.)   He had a son, Littleton Meeks (born 1808) who resided in Franklin Co. at one time.  I believe that Rev. Littleton Meeks is the solution to the problem.  He must have had two daughters or two sisters who married Paynes.  If anything can be discovered it will be in Banks and Habersham Counties.

 

Ft. Morris, Sunbury. End of Revolutionary War

 

Captain Thomas Morris commanded the fort in Sunbury.  At the close of the war, a severe battle occurred with the British.  Captain Morris had brought to the fort his 18 Negroes which were under orders to use the cannon, but the gun powder was exhausted.  So Morris’ commanding officer ordered that the colors be struck.   Thus, the British seized possession of the fort and town and Captain Morris was taken prisoner.  After the war was over, Captain Morris went to visit his brother, William Morris, in Virginia and while there, died. The brother had a son (also named William) who replaced a Lietenant so that he could go to Georgia and settle the administration of Captain Morris’ estate, but while in this was in process, William became ill at a local tavern and died.

 

Loyalists in the Bahamas

 

During the Revolutionary War, Savannah was under seige, however, when Cornwallis surrendered, the loyalist families remaining in Savannah were declared traitors.  One, Nathaniel Hall, whose friends were Josiah Tattnall, Thomas Forbe and William Telfair, necessarily evacuated to New Providence, Bahamas. Hall, originally from Liverpool, had immigrated to Savannah before the war.  He died in New Province in 1807, the 45th year of His Majesty's Reign.  His friend, Charles Cameron, the Captain General and Governer in Chief, Chancellor, Vice Admiral and Ordinary of New Providence, attended to his Last Will and Testament. Nathaniel left a large plantation and many slaves in New Providence to his wife, Ann.  Part of his estate was in the hands of his agents in England, Chambers Langston of London and Thomas and John Moss of Liverpool.  This estate presumably consisted of funds received and held by these gentlemen’s accounting offices for goods which he transported from the Bahamas to England; he bequeathed this portion of his estate the children of his brothers and sisters.  His sisters were Martha Hall McAllister of Savannah and Sarah Powell.  Nephews, George Webb Hall and Samuel Hall of Liverpool.  The Codicil bequeathed his Georgia estates to his wife's sister, Hannah McAllister, the wife of Matthew McAllister and to their children, viz: Harriett Hannah and Mathew Hall McAllister.  Brother: Joseph of Bristol. Nathaniel Hall married Ann, a daughter of Hannah and Joseph Gibbons of Mulberry Hill Plantation in Savannah.  The Gibbons were probably the wealthiest families in Savannah during the 18th century as they owned thousands of acres of hundreds of slaves. 

 

Other Loyalists who escaped to New Province were Thomas Starr, Michael Vernon and George Buffett of Savannah. Thomas Starr's merchant ship actively supplied the British stronghold in Savannah.  In 1803 Starr wrote his Last Will and Testament before embarking "for some part of the continent in America to meet the Commissioners appointed under the Treaty between Great Britain and the United States for the purpose of adjusting and liquidating the goods due to the British Merchants by the subjects of the United States of America and to establish and recover the debts due by many of the said subjects to a co-partnership in which I was under the ____ of Story & Beed."  Expecting to recover from the public funds of Great Britain, he left for America.  His wife was Helen. Sons, John, Thomas and George Kincaid Starr.

Origins of Colonial Settlers to Savannah

 

The Colonial period began in 1752 after the charter was surrendered by the Georgia Trustees and Georgia became an official colony of Great Britain.  That was when the colony was settled by entire congregations who brought servants to establish cotton and rice plantations along the coast. The land grants attracted settlers from France, Scotland, Great Britain and the New England Colonies.   A flourishing trade was established between the Bahamas, Savannah and the new Sunbury port.  Among those settling between 1752-1800 were: John Francis Courvois from France, David Keall from Charleston, Jacque Philip Rossignol DeGrantmont from France, Andrew Wells from Beaufort, South Carolina, Samuel Clark from Boston, Stephen Green from Oxbridge, Massachusetts and Thomas R. Price from Essex Co., New Jersey.

 

AncestorTracer is a list of names found in records published to the website and is updated weekly. Currently over 8,000 names are listed with the county of residence.  This is the simpliest means to keeping informed of new names as added.  Even if you are not a subscriber, when searching for Georgia families, it would be helpful to regularly view the Ancestor Tracer at www.georgiapioneers.com

 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Subscribe to www.georgiapioneers.com   

1 year - $125.00              2 years - $200.00

Name_____________________________

 

Address___________________________

 

City_____________State_______Zip___

 

Email______________________________

         Accept Visa/Mastercard/Discover

Card No.__________________________

Expires: _______________

Mail to: 

Jeannette Austin, P. O. Box 420911, Atlanta, GA 30342

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -