Most of us searching for Georgia ancestors know about Georgia’s Virtual Vault, part of the Georgia Archives of the University System of Georgia. It contains collections such as Colonial Estate Records, Colonial Plats and Warrants, County Maps, County Tax Digests, etc, whose purpose is obvious from the title.
One record set that may not be so obvious, though, is titled File II: Counties and Subjects. According to the Georgia Archives, “File II Counties and Subjects is an artificial record series created by Georgia Archives staff beginning in the 1930s and arranged for easy access by subject or county to Archives records. The series includes: original records and correspondence removed from their original government record series; typed transcripts of original documents made during WPA transcription projects during the late 1930s and early 1940s; clippings; and printed secondary research material.”
In my continuing quest for more information about my Liberty County, Georgia, ancestors, I searched the File II: Counties and Subjects set for Liberty County. These were among the results:
Liberty County – Courts
Liberty County – Indian Depredations, 1788
Liberty County – Indians
Liberty County – Land Lottery
Remember, these are loose papers and have not been transcribed or indexed, so you must browse each record set page by page to find your ancestors. In the “Liberty County – Courts” records, I found my ancestors on grand and petit jury rosters for the late 1700’s. In “Liberty County – Land Lotteries,” I found my ancestors trying their luck.
A related record set is File II: Names, described by the Archives as “an artificial record series created by Georgia Archives staff beginning in the 1930s and arranged for easy alphabetical access by personal name to Archives records. The series includes: original documents removed from their government record series; typed transcripts of original documents made during WPA transcription projects during the late 1930s and early 1940s; Archives reference correspondence; clippings; and printed secondary research material.” This record set is searchable by name, and I found several documents containing my ancestors’ surnames, including a letter sent by an ancestor of mine, a court official, to the Governor of Georgia with an account of an 1892 lynching in Liberty County.
Some of my best discoveries have been in this rather obscure sounding set of records, which I found only by patiently paging through record sets. Have a look, and good luck in finding exciting discoveries of your own!
