Gaila & Houston County Researchers: >> We will search in other counties too. I find for this area in Georgia that if I am looking for records that I search Macon Co, Bibb Co, Crawford Co and Dooley County. << Don't forget the Twiggs Co., GA records too. Just because the early records in Twiggs and other GA Counties were burned, that doesn't mean that *all* of the records are now *lost*. In many of the court cases, there were appeals made to Federal Circuit Courts. Most of these records are now at the East Point, GA branch of the National Archives. I believe they are all indexed, and that you can send a request to that branch, and they will search for a particular name. At least this was the procedure in 1994. It could have changed by now, or maybe the records have been microfilmed also. If I had a *hint* that any of my ancestors had resided in Twiggs Co., GA during the early years, I would *wear* those records out. In 1992, I *found* an old record book at the Houston Co., GA courthouse, which contained Federal Circuit Court records from the 1820s to the 1850s. Actually, these records are considered to be *lost* at the present time, as far as researchers are concerned. This book has never been microfilmed, and should not be photo-copied until it has been filmed. Otherwise, extremely valuable info could be damaged on the very fragile pages. I am currently in the process of making brief abstracts of the court cases in that record book. I have found that several of the early Houston County families had spent time in Twiggs Co., GA prior to settling here in Houston, *especially* if they came from North Carolina. If you can glean from the Tax Digests of Twiggs Co., GA, that your ancestors had resided there, then I would suggest that you "jump on" the Federal Circuit Court records that pertain to Twiggs Co., GA. The Twiggs Co., GA Tax Digests for 1818, 1826, 1830, 1833, and 1853 have been microfilmed by the LDS on Microfilm # 0159185. One of the main things to remember about burned counties, is that they only contained a copy of the Deed Records. The family had the orginal, and would *usually* come back and have it re-recorded at the courthouse, once it was restored. In North Carolina, The Court of Pleas & Quarter Sessions (CPQS) recorded the names of the Grantor, Grantee & the witnesses to the Deed, in the Minutes. Since 1994, I have been compiling a "restored listing" of over 10,000 Wake Co., NC Deeds from the 1770s to 1833 which had burned. I am not aware of any Deed Records which are mentioned on a regular basis in the Inferior Court Minutes in Georgia. The Inferior Court Minutes which William R. Henry abstracted and then published in 1987 thru the CGGS, ONLY covered the Inferior Court Minutes for *Ordinary Purposes*. There are also Record Books which contain Minutes of the *Proceedings* of Inferior Court. These records are literally "filled with gold" for researchers, but have never been microfilmed or indexed. Book "B" covers 1830 to 1850, but I have never been able to find Book "A". One day, it will probably surface from under some shelf in another part of the courthouse. When it does, it will be worth it's weight in gold to genealogical researchers. My main purpose in dwelling on all of these various types of records, is that just because a researcher cannot find what he is looking for in the *supposedly* published records, all hope is not lost in the search. Even though I am familiar primarily with Houston County records, I still have times when I have to figure out "what's what, and where it's at". Regardless of how many times I have been to the Houston County courthouse, it can still be a "mind-boggling" adventure. I always take a checklist with me, so that I am not "swamped" by the quagmire of folios that await. >> Billy, will you please give us the email for your new research list again. << [email protected] is where to subscribe. This newsgroup is a forum devoted specifically to research in Houston County. If interested, just send an email that says "subscribe". Take care, and happy hunting! _______________________________________ William A. Mills Perry, GA [email protected] Houston Co., GA Publications & Research Webpage: http://www.geocities.com/ResearchTriangle/Forum/8795 ================>>> On Mon, 3 Apr 2000 07:30:42 +1000 "Gaila & Jim Merrington" <[email protected]> writes: HI I guess we will have to study the record books directly. We have just the searched on the Internet and in the CGGS books. Sounds like we are lucky to have so many marriage records prior to 1868. We will search in other counties too. I find for this area in Georgia that if I am looking for records that I search Macon Co, Bibb Co, Crawford Co and Dooley County. These ancestors of our are more mobile than we give them credit for. Billy, will you please give us the email for your new research list again. Thanks for your help, Gaila ________________________________________________________________ YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.