CNIDR Isearch-cgi 1.20.06 (File: 157) ============================================================ Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1998 18:30:04 -0000 From: "GAYLE CALABRESE" <GAELCEE@worldnet.att.net> To: DOVER-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <19981112223928.GUXN20281@default> Subject: [DOVER-L] Georgia lotteries Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Reprint of Official Register of Land Lottery of Georgia 1827 15th Day's Drawing- March 23 Habersham pg43 Fortunate Drawers: Anderson Dover Captains District. Cross's Numer 173 District/ 16 County/ Lee [as above] 21st day's drawing-March 30 Habersham pg.63 FD- Francis J. Dover Capt's District/Cross No. 290 Dist. 20 County / Muscogee Co. [As above] 23rd Day's Drawing- April 2nd Haber. pg.70 FD/ Lawson Dover CptDist/Cross No.180 Dist. 18 County/ Muscogee Co. [same above] 27th Day's Drawing- April 6th Morgan pg.83 FD/ Samuel Dover CptDist/ Boswells No. 12 Dist. 22 Co/ Lee County [as above] 42nd Day's drawing/ April 24 Habersham pg. 130 FD/ Francis J. Dover, RS CptDist/ Cross no.247 Dist. 2 Co. Troup County THE GEORGIA DISTRIBUTION OF LAND BY LOTTERY Following the Revolutionary War it was evident that the "headright" method of distributing land for the settlement of new territory ceded from the Indians was not satisfactory. That plan had led to fraud and confusion. The Land Lottery Act was passed by Ga. in 1803, since it was thought to be a better plan. After this act was passed, some of the counties which were created were land lot, some were headright and some were a combination of headright and land lot. There were 42 all-headright Counties in GS, as wer all counties created prior to 1802. After then the Headright Law continued in effect and headright counties continued to be created. The 2 methods of distribution of land were separate and operated independently of each other. After the Land Lottery Act was passed lotteries were set up by the state in 1805/ 1807/ 1820/ 1827/ and 1832, to divide the land among the people living in the state who met the qualifications. In the lottery plan, all people who wanted to draw a land lot registerd with the majority of the justices of the inferior court in the county in which they lived. The people registered at the county seat where the justices met as a group. The names of those who qualified for land lots were sent to Milledgeville, the state capitol at that time, wher the governor appointed lottery commissioners who wrote the names of those who had registered on small tickets and placed in another druma or whell. On specified days, the commissioners would draw a name ticket from one of the drums and a lot # from the other. These were attached to one another and name and land lot were immediately recorded in ledgers or books for that purpose. Since there were more people to draw than there were land lots, Blank tickest were added to the land lot drum so there would be the same number of tickets in each one. Some people drew blanks designated by letter B, and received nothing. The ones who drew land lot numbers designated by letter P for prize, were called "fortunate drawers." The fortunate drawers were notified of their good luck and were given plats of their lots and grants signed by the Governor with the Stae seal attached after a small required fee was paid. No mention was made of notification of those who drew blanks. There were also fractional lots that did not contain the acreage of regular lots. These were lots that were usually on rivers or boundary lines and were considered more valuable. These were not placed in the lotteries to be drawn. Instead, the State of Georgia sold them to the highest bidder who was issued a grant when the total price had been paid. In each of the 6 lotteries, there were certain qualifications a person must meet to be entitled to draw. In the 1st Land lottery-1805- the qualifications were as follows: 1/Bachelor, 21 years or over, one year residence in Ga, US Citizen = 1 draw 2/ Married man, with wife and/or child, 1 yr. residence in Ga= 2 draws 3/ Widow with minor child, one yr. Residence in Ga = 2 draws 4/ minor orphan, or family of minor orphans/father dead &mother dead or remarried = 1 draw The qualifications for drawing were changed and/or added to in the remaining 5 lotteries. One change in all 5 was that a person must have been a Ga. residence for 3 yrs. In the last 4 lotteries the age qualification was changed from 21 to 18 yrs. The other changes were those Re:Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Indian wars, idiots and illegitimates. The # of acres in the land lots varied from 40 acres to 490 acres, depending on the value. A section near Dahlonega was called the Gold Lands, and these were 4o acres. Other tracts in thsi area wer 169 acres. Lots in the middle part of the state were 202 1/2 acres. Par6 of thelots in Habersham, Hall and Rabun, where the land was not so good were 250 acres. The lots in extreme southeast GA were 490 acres. This section was called the pine Barrens. On name list of lottery drawings BB indicated the drawer had 2 draws and drew 2 blanks. B incicated the drawer had one draw and drew a blank. P indicated the drawer was a fortunate drawer and drew a prize of one lot. BP means one blank draw and one prize of a lot. The 1805 Lottery has special significance when you can access the name list, because of the losss of the 1790/ 1800 and 1810 census records for Georgia. I hope this little history lesson has been helpful for some of you. If you were clear on the Land Lotteries, I apologize for taking up so much space in order to share this with those who weren't. TTYL.........gaelcee ______________________________ - ----------------------------