Although this note was specifically written about Burke County.....because it is about "burned County research".... I thought it might be helpful to people trying to locate records for Ware. AND if someone could share something more specific about WARE County....then we could update this....and make it even more helpful. =========================== File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Doug Bell from state and federal sources. I would recommend using the 1820 forward federal censuses. Note everyone by your surname who appears on any census as well as the neighbors about 10 houses in each direction. With luck you can locate where a group of families moved in from unless the family is an early arrival. The TELAMON CUYLER COLLECTION University of Georgia Athens has documents relating to Burke county in a private manuscript collection. ***Could someone check and see if they have any records on WARE County as well?*** BURKE COUNTY FOLKS 1882-1900 This has newspaper abstracts on Burke county families. Why would a newspaper in the 1880s help with an old family? Recollections of the oldest settlers were published in the 1870s and 1880s as nostalgia articles that contain lots of pre courthouse fire information. This also is the case for Washington and Wilkinson counties. Georgia is doing a good job of publishing newspapers. Check the land lotteries for Georgia to see if your Burke county family moved. The census can help with this as well. Sometimes a family relative will move to a county that hasn't suffered multiple courthouse fires like Burke. It may not be your direct line but they can provide clues. Burke county land was distributed by British crown grants in St. George Parish and by Georgia state headrights. Lists of these have been published. Someone in Atlanta needs to get the metes and bounds descriptions of all the land granted in Burke so they can be plotted on a modern map. This would allow a partial atlas of landowners to replace the lost deed books. The archives charges too much for us out of state folks to work on this. If you have an early Burke county before 1800 check also in Screven formed 1793 and Jefferson formed 1796. These counties were formed from Burke and still have their records. Court clerks can help you get married, probate a will, or record your property but they have virtually no experience in genealogy or history. Some will also tell you the courthouse burned to get rid of you. . The deeds before 1854 burned in the fire. You still can get marriage records, probate records and court records back to 1820. There are censuses from 1820 forward and land lottery records. I believe 1805 covered Wilkinson county. You should also look for published newspapers and church records. Don't overlook the 1850 - 1880 federal census agricultural schedule and the 1850 - 1860 slaveowners schedule of the census. These tell you a lot of information about a family's land and slave ownership and farming activities found nowhere else. Burned counties aren't hopeless but they cost you a lot of money and time to trace a family there. You have to collect EVERY mention of the family along with relatives and neighbors. Virginia Crilley