I'm confused and I hope someone on this list can help me. As I understand it, the land in Habersham, Rabun, Early, Irwin, Walton and Appling was drawn in the 1820 lottery. If Habersham became a county in 1818 and settlers moved in, was the land they settled on given away to someone who was a winner in the land lottery of 1820? Glenda

Dear Glenda, Don't know about 1820, but in the dual 1834 GA Cherokee & Gold land lotteries Jesse & eldest son John N. Self of Habersham county each received two draws for new lands in northwest GA, and swapped or sold their claims for other 1834 lands in what would become Walker county, where they settled. Although all the lands of 1834 were initially designated as Cherokee county, even by the time of the lottery new counties were already being "calved" from Cherokee. the 1834 lands were considered unoccupied for the purposes of the lottery. This was because the lands had only just then officially been "ceded" to USAmerica at the time of the Cherokee Removal. Then it took a year or two to organize holding the lottery. Legally, there were supposed to have been no existing inhabitants, and many controversies over disputed titles ensued, since many "squatters" had already moved in even before the Cherokee were gone (and some Cherokee managed to stay). I suspect that this was a common pattern in the various GA land lotteries through the years. Bryce [email protected] wrote: > > I'm confused and I hope someone on this list can help me. > > As I understand it, the land in Habersham, Rabun, Early, Irwin, Walton and > Appling was drawn in the 1820 lottery. > If Habersham became a county in 1818 and settlers moved in, was the land they > settled on given away to someone who was a winner in the land lottery of 1820? > > Glendað