List Members, I was wondering if anyone knew when Gwinnett county was created. My GGGG grandfather Amos Shaw was born 12/18/1789 in what I thought Oglethorpe County. I was told just a few days ago that Amos was actually born in Gwinnett County and that the county lines were different back then. Can anyone shed some light on this confusion? Thanks for any help I can get. Becky Roberts Pilotsmom@classicnet.net "I only work on Genealogy on days that end in "Y"." - Author Unknown

Gwinnett Co. was created in 1818 from Indian Land. Oglethorpe was created in 1793 from Wilkes Co. Wilkes was formed in 1777. Your best bet is to try Wilkes Co or possibly Greene formed 1786 since that also starts with a "G".

Becky, Gwinnett County was created by acts of the Georgia Legislature on Dec 15th and 19th 1818 and is an original county. The land for the county came from the Cherokee cession of July 8, 1817 and Creek cession of Jan 22, 1818. The county was named for Button Gwinnett who was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, but who never set foot in the county or the county lands. In 1789, Gwinnett was not even a thought on anyone's mind and would have been deep into Indian wilderness in any case. Georgia has the dubious distinction of having 159 counties today and more counties per square mile than any place in the world. (Way too much government!) A process of dividing existing counties and in the earliest days accessing unclaimed territory has lead to this situation. County boundaries changed frequently in the preceding centuries. It can be quite confusing to be sure since if you follow public records, it may appear that your ancestors were moving around quite a bit. Though sometimes they actually did physically move, at other times the county boundaries changed and they just appeared to have moved. When a new county was created or a boundary changed, existing records stayed with the old county. Occasionally a county would be completely absorbed by another county. An example of this is the disappearance of Milton County (county seat Roswell, GA) and Campbell County into what is today Fulton County on Jan 1, 1932. The Milton and Campbell Co records were transferred to Atlanta, the county seat of Fulton Co. But this did not happen often--hence 159 counties. You can obtain a small paperback book, "Georgia Counties: Their Changing Boundaries," from the Georgia Department of Archives and History, which can lead you through these various boundary changes and which give dates, but unfortunately does not provide maps showing how the boundaries actually moved. This book is inexpensive (less than $10) and is invaluable in trying to decipher when boundaries actually changed. I took a quick look on the internet to see if I could find if you could order this book from the Georgia Archives, but I did not see it listed in the available publications. If you are interested you might want to call the Archives and inquire if it is available. Also have a look at <http://www.sos.state.ga.us/archives/rs/gcc.htm> Walter Freeman Becky Roberts wrote: > List Members, > I was wondering if anyone knew when Gwinnett county was created. My GGGG grandfather Amos Shaw was born 12/18/1789 in what I thought Oglethorpe County. I was told just a few days ago that Amos was actually born in Gwinnett County and that the county lines were different back then. Can anyone shed some light on this confusion? > > Thanks for any help I can get. > Becky Roberts > Pilotsmom@classicnet.net > "I only work on Genealogy on days that end in "Y"." - Author Unknown > > > ==== GAGWINNE Mailing List ==== > Gwinnett County Historical Society web site: www.gwinnetths.org > > ============================== > Gain access to over two billion names including the new Immigration > Collection with an Ancestry.com free trial. Click to learn more. > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=4930&sourceid=1237