RELEASE DATE: JANUARY 8, 2017
KINSEARCHING
by
Marleta Childs
P. O. Box 6825
LUBBOCK, TX 79493-6825
[email protected]
Good news! The library holdings of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas (DRT) have found a new home. The contents are in the process of being moved to the former Federal Reserve Bank Building in downtown San Antonio. On a five-year loan to the branch of Texas A&M University in that city, it will be known as the DRT Collection-Texas A&M-San Antonio. After an official opening planned for mid-March 2017, the library’s contents will again be available for public use.
After focusing on data about Jefferson County, Michael A. Ports has completed another volume in his new series pertaining to land in the Peach State. Another recent publication is BALDWIN COUNTY, GEORGIA, LOTTERY DRAWERS FOR 1820 AND 1821.
After Cherokee and Creek Indians ceded land between 1814 and 1818, Georgia Governor William Rabon authorized the Third Land Lottery in order to distribute the acreage. To achieve that goal in an orderly manner, the act provided for the creation of seven new counties: Appling, Early, Gwinnett, Habersham, Hall, Irwin, and Walton. The Surveyor General of Georgia was assigned the task of dividing each county into numbered land districts and then partitioning each district into numbered lots.
In 1821, Georgia Governor John Clark authorized the Fourth Land Lottery after the Creeks ceded more land. This act established five more new counties: Dooley, Fayette, Henry, Houston, and Monroe. Again, the Surveyor General performed the assignments of dividing and numbering the land.
Reproduced in Ports’s volume are the lottery rolls which identify Baldwin County people who were eligible to participate in the two lotteries and the number of draws they were allowed. The rolls also furnish the names of the “Fortunate Drawers,” who won parcels in the former Indian lands. Additional information about many—but not all--individuals may include marital status, occupation, and family relationships. Chloe BOZEMAN, for example, was referred to as a widow; William GREEN was listed as a doctor; and Abner LOCKE was the guardian for Washington DAWSON, orphan of John DAWSON.
Since the names of thousands of persons appear in this volume, Portis’s material supplies useful supplementary information about many of them. Because the 1821 lottery occurred after the 1820 census had been taken, for instance, the rolls may identify people who remained in the county. Since the families of fortunate drawers may have moved to the parcel they won, the lottery may supply clues as to where they relocated. In addition, the miscellaneous remarks, such as an indication of military service—James COON, for instance, was listed as an “old soldier”--may furnish clues for research in resources previously overlooked. For these reasons, BALDWIN COUNTY, GEORGIA, LOTTERY DRAWERS FOR 1820 AND 1821 will be of special interest to genealogists tracing families in this particular region.
The 233-page publication has soft covers, a general introduction, a map, and a full name index. Names and information about participants are arranged in easy-to-read tabular form. Accompanying the tables are data about the individual militia districts and explanations of the two lotteries and the qualifications needed to be a participant.
To the book’s price of $24.95, buyers should add the cost for postage and handling charges. For U. S. postal mail, the cost is $5.50 for one book and $2.50 for each additional copy; for UPS, the cost is $7.50 for one copy and $2.50 for each additional book. The volume (item order number 8466) may be purchased by check, MasterCard, or Visa from Clearfield Company, 3600 Clipper Mill Rd., Suite 260, Baltimore, Maryland 21211 (for phone orders, call toll free 1-800-296-6687; fax 1-410-752-8492; website www.genealogical.com).