Houston County Researchers: One thing to keep in mind about the R.J. Taylor, Jr. Foundation, is that they *do not* fund any county or church histories. They primarily fund projects which are abstracts or transcripts of the early court records. Their guidelines state that these records must concern citizens of Georgia who were *born prior to 1851*. I was really pushing their guidelines when I abstracted the Colored Marriage Records up to 1896, since a person who was born in 1850 would have been 46 years old by then. Since these records hadn't been microfilmed, they were considered to be highly vulnerable to loss. Regarding what the CGGS has already published about Houston Co., GA, here it is in a nutshell: MARRIAGES from the beginning of the county in 1821, and up to 1919, Books "A, B, C, D, E". No further marriage records need to be abstracted at this time. Besides that, no other marriage records have been microfilmed yet. WILLS from 1821 to 1855, Book "A". Patsy Adams is tentatively going to abstract Book "B" 1855-1896. INFERIOR COURT MINUTES from 1821 to 1852, Books "A & B". These extremely valuable records definitely need to be abstracted. Books "C, D, & E" should be approved for a grant, and possibly also Books "F & G". ANNUAL RETURNS from 1821 to 1834, Book "A". These records are not the easiest to abstract, and that is why they haven't been continued. Books "B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, (J is missing), K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V" should be approved for a grant, and possibly also Books "W, X, Y, & Z". APPRAISEMENTS & SALES from 1821 to 1834, Book "A". These records are also not the easiest to abstract, and that is why they haven't been continued. Books "A-1, B, C, D, and E" should be approved for a grant. CENSUS schedules of 1830, 1840, 1850 & 1860. The Taylor Foundation may or may not approve a grant for the 1870 and 1880 Census. DEEDS from 1821 to 1840, Books "A, B, C, D, E, F, & G". Books "H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, and V" should be approved for a grant. These records contain extremely valuable genealogical info. And, they are not that difficult to abstract. If no one is interested in these records, I may do them one of these days. CEMETERIES: Addie Howell has published the data from the majority of the White cemeteries. I'm not aware of *any* data that has been published about Colored cemeteries. This info would probably be approved for a grant. OBITUARY NOTICES: Addie Howell has done a great job with these from the earliest newspaper notices, and up to 1912. It's not likely that a grant would be approved for any further obituary notices. However, I may be wrong. I have been concentrating on the Adminstrators & Guardians Bonds from the beginning of the county in 1821, and up to 1900. Since most people didn't leave a Will in Houston Co., GA, these records will show who died, and who the Administrator was. And, the Guardians Bonds show who died, and who the orphans were. I've been working on these records for about 3 years, and should finish up sometime this year. I believe that the Tax Digests would be some of the best records to compile and publish. So far, I am aware of 3 people who are interested in publishing these. As long as there aren't any duplicated efforts, there is plenty of work to go around. There are several other various types of records that could be approved for a financial grant. But, it has been my experience that the earliest and most widely known types of records are what the Taylor Foundation will fund. The next deadline for an application to the R.J. Taylor, Jr. Foundation, is 30 June 2000. They meet in August, and you should receive your notice of their approval decision by September. In other words, if any of you are interested in applying for a Taylor Foundation grant, you have about 6 weeks to do it. After that, the next deadline will be 30 September 2000. They meet 4 times per year. Unless I am wrong, the CGGS is not currently involved in any Houston Co., GA compilation projects which will be funded by a Taylor Foundation grant. The fact is, it is very difficult to get any type of volunteer efforts these days. People like the late William R. Henry, are difficult to find in this day and time. He spent most of his last 20 years, compiling 25+ books which the CGGS is still reaping the benefits from. Take care & happy compiling! William A. Mills Perry, GA [email protected] ________________________________________________________________ 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.