The Land Lotteries were for the purpose of getting settlers into the Indian Lands that had been purchased by the State of Georgia. Usually a 'drawer' was not living in the new county when he drew in the lottery. The new counties were divided into Militia Districts and each district had an officer of the Georgia Militia who was 'the law' in that district, responsible for law and order and for collecting taxes, etc. The claims were often NOT lived on by the person who drew it. He was still liable for the taxes on the property unless he sold it to someone else. There were cases where the claimant didn't pay the taxes and was listed on the tax rolls as "delinquent". I don't know for sure, but I suspect that after a certain length of time if the claimant continued to be delinquent, the property was claimed by the state and sold. The deeds originated in the county where the claim was located and if the property was sold the deeds would be transferred to the new owner in the county where the claim was located. ----- Original Message ----- From: The Allen's <allensofmarietta@earthlink.net> To: <GATWIGGS-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, June 01, 2003 8:15 AM Subject: [GATWIGGS] 1820 Land Lottery Questions > I have long been mystified with the Land Lottery information unclear on what > it all means. Can someone help interpret the 1820 Land Lottery info? My > suspected ancestor, John Allen, appears in the Twiggs County 1820 Land > Lottery as a fortunate drawer. Entry is as follows: > > Grantee: John Allen > Militia District: Griffin > Land Lot #: 372 > Section: 16 > County: Early > > My questions are: > 1. Were the fortunate drawers all living in Twiggs County at the time of the > lottery? > 2. Militia District, what does that mean? Is that a district in Twiggs or > Early County? > 3. Was there a claim process? i.e. What happened to the property if the > fortunate drawer never went to claim the property? > 4. How and where did the deeds for that property originate, in Twiggs or > Early? If the property was sold, where would the transaction be recorded, > in Early County? > > Can anyone help clarify these questions for me? > > Thanks, > Cary Allen > > > > ==== GATWIGGS Mailing List ==== > Post your Bible Records for Twiggs County > http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/Ga/TwiggsBibl > > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 > >