RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 26, 2017
KINSEARCHING
by
Marleta Childs
P. O. Box 6825
LUBBOCK, TX 79493-6825
[email protected]
Genealogists know court minutes are often a valuable resource for family information, but they often ignore them because the material is usually not indexed. Many researchers seeking ancestors in the Macon area of the Peach State, therefore, will welcome the new book, BIBB COUNTY, GEORGIA, SUPERIOR COURT TRIAL RECORDS, 1822-1842 by Michael A. Ports.
As the author explains in his introduction, Bibb County was created in 1822 from parts of the Georgia counties of Jones, Monroe, and Twiggs. Macon was established as the county seat. Along with Crawford, DeKalb, and Pike counties, Bibb was added to the existing Flint Judicial District. Traveling from place to place, judges held court in each county in their district at least twice a year.
The records in this volume pertain only to criminal cases from November 1822 to November 1842. All case entries provide the names of the defendants and the specific alleged charges. Following the case citations are the bills of indictment, which include names and residences of the defendants, specific alleged charges, the dates the crimes were committed, and the names of the grand jurors. Frequently—but not always—the bills of indictment encompass reports of where and how the crime was committed. Some even furnish lurid accounts of assaults and murders and detailed descriptions of stolen articles or physical characteristics of any slaves involved in the incidents. A few recurring surnames, often as jurors, are BENNETT, BENTON, BIVINS, CALHOUN, CHAPMAN, FREEMAN, HAMMACK/HAMMOCK, HOWARD, LAMAR, RADFORD, RAINES, SIMS, STARK, TUCKER, WASHINGTON, and WIMBERLY.
Court minutes help to pinpoint individuals in a particular place at a specific time. In addition, they may supply details that cannot be found elsewhere. As a result, genealogists with forebears in this part of the Peach State will want to see what fascinating data they may discover in BIBB COUNTY, GEORGIA, SUPERIOR COURT TRIAL RECORDS, 1822-1842.
The 357-page book has soft covers, an introduction, and a full name index. To the book’s price of $38.50, 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 #8520) 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).
Marian Burk Wood, author of PLANNING A FUTURE FOR YOUR FAMILY’S PAST, has a blog, “Climbing My Family Tree,” which may be of interest to many genealogists. She furnishes information and sometimes photographs of many of her and her husband’s forebears and relatives. Some of the families which she is researching are BENTLEY (New York to Indiana to California), BERK (Lithuania to Manchester to Canada), BIRK/BURK (Lithuania to New York City), DEMAREST (New York City to Louisiana to Toledo, Ohio), FARKAS (Hungary to New York City), KUNSTLER (Hungary/Carpathia), JACOBS (Latvia to New York City), LARIMER/LARRIMORE (Fairfield County, Ohio), MAHLER (Riga/Kovno), Halbert McCLURE (immigrant from County Donegal to America in the 1730s), McKIBBIN/McKIBBEN (County Down to Pennsylvania to Indiana), SCHWARTZ (Ungvar, Hungary), SLATTER (Oxfordshire to Canada), STEINER (Pennsylvania to Crawford County, Ohio), RINEHART (Wyandot, Ohio), and WOOD (England to Toledo and Cleveland, Ohio). For more information, go to http://climbingmyfamilytree.blogspot.com.