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Welcome to your Cherokee County roots! What are your questions
about Cherokee County family research? Here are some that
we frequently hear, especially from those researchers who
live in other states:
Why are Militia Districts important? What do you mean by
Districts and Sections connected with deeds to Land Lots?
What is a Numerical Deed Index? We shall try to explain the
use of these research tools, some of which are unique to
Georgia or Cherokee County.
Why are Militia Districts important?
Elsewhere on this Website, you will find a history of the
origin of Militia Districts in Georgia and a map showing
the location of each Militia District in Cherokee County.
These Militia Districts still exist today but are primarily
only used to indicate voting districts. As you find your
ancestor in the Cherokee County census records (after 1850),
you will notice that, at the top of the sheet, there will
be a name and/or a number. This indicates the Militia District
in which your ancestor lived.
Example: Conns Creek 1031. By looking at the map, you can
locate the area of the county in which your ancestor resided
at the time the census was taken. You have a question: "Why
was my ancestor in Shake Rag District in 1860 and 1870, then
in Clayton District in 1880? He seemed to own the same land." For
some reason, the name of this District was changed some time
between 1870 and 1880. Your ancestor probably did not move.
We are including here a list of the Militia Districts with
number, and with notations for some, to give you another
name by which you may have heard this area called in your
oral family history.
792 - Canton
817 - Bells
818 - Mullins (Includes Buffington
and Macedonia Communities)
890 - Woodstock
960 - Salacoa
971 - Clayton
1000- Cross Roads (Free Home Community)
1008- Harbins (Waleska Area)
1010- Hickory Flat
1015- Lickskillet
1019- Wildcat (Holly Springs Area)
1028- Fair Play (Sutallee Community)
1031- Conns Creek
1032- Ball Ground
1174- Little River
1279- Sixes
What are Districts and Sections that are referred to in
deeds?
Now you have located the Militia District in which your ancestor
lived, and you have a further question. "My ancestor owned
part of Land Lot 386, 15th District, 2nd Section. What does
this mean and how can I locate exactly where he lived within
the Militia District?"
When the ten Georgia counties were formed from the original
6900 square mile Cherokee County (which existed from December
1831 until December 1832), it was divided into 4 Sections,
running north and south, with the First Section being the
easternmost and the Fourth Section bordering on Alabama.
Land Districts are used in most of Georgia to designate legal
boundaries of land. The Land District is then divided into
Land Lots. Each of the 4 Sections mentioned above was divided
into Land Districts. These Districts were then divided into
Land Lots.
All of present day Cherokee County lies within the 2nd
Section and contains all of three Land Districts and parts
of six others. So if your ancestor owned part of Land Lot
386, 15th District, 2nd Section, you can find exactly where
he lived by using the 1895 Cherokee County map which shows
all the Militia Districts, Land Districts and Land Lots.
(Please look elsewhere on this Website for availability of
copies of the 1895 Cherokee County map.)
What is a Numerical Deed Index?
Cherokee County's Clerk of the Court Office has a unique
record for keeping track of Land Lots as they pass from
one owner to another. We have never found this method in
any other courthouses we have visited. Besides alphabetical
Grantor and Grantee Indexes, a Numerical Index is also
kept. When a Land Lot or any portion thereof changes ownership,
the book and page number showing the recorded deed is entered
in an index for that particular Land Lot. For example:
If Land Lot 386, 15th District, 2nd Section is mentioned
in a deed, the Deed Book and page number will be recorded
beside Land Lot 386 in the portion of the index which shows
Land Lots in the 15th District. Using this index, one should
be able to find every owner of any part of any Land Lot
in Cherokee County.
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Watch for Mary Free's RESEARCH TIPS column to be updated
and archived on this site.
See a listing of officers and privates of the Canton
[GA] Volunteers who served in this war between 1846
and 1847. For more information on the US-Mexican War, visit
this bilingual PBS.org
website about: "Two nations. One border. And the war
that transformed them forever."
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Genealogy Research OnLine
According to some sources, the biggest and fastest growing
hobby that one can pursue over the Internet is genealogy. RootsWeb,
the Internet's oldest and largest free genealogy community,
has hundreds of gigabytes (millions of pages) of free genealogy
data, with more added every day and over twenty million individuals
on file in RootsWeb's WorldConnect Project.
The USGenWeb
Project consists of a group of volunteers working
together to provide Internet websites for genealogical
research in every county and every state of the United
States. The Project is non-commercial and fully committed
to free access for everyone. Organization is by county
and state, and their website provides you with links
to all the state websites which, in turn, provide gateways
to the counties. The USGenWeb Project also sponsors important
Special Projects at the national level and their website
provides an entry point to all of those pages, as well.
Visit the USGenWeb Project to find state sites when you
begin your online research.
The GAGenWeb site
is Georgia's state representation within the USGenWeb Project.
Here you will find helpful links to many of Georgia's records
online.
Additionally, you will want to visit the Cherokee
County GenWeb site for historical and genealogical
information, including a Muster Roll of Company I--23rd
Regiment of Georgia, maps of the original county area,
an index of Confederate soldiers from Cherokee County...and
more.
Cherokee County eMailList
The Cherokee County eMailList is hosted by Rootsweb. It
is for discussion of local history and genealogy. When you
subscribe, you will receive all mail postings sent to the
list address, so you will be able to "eavesdrop" on everyone
else's research questions and post queries of your own to
other researchers on the list.
--QUICK INSTRUCTIONS--
To subscribe, send an e-mail message to:
TNPUREBX-Y-erdhrfg@ebbgfjro.pbz (for
individual messages)
TNPUREBX-Q-erdhrfg@ebbgfjro.pbz (for
a digest of multiple messages)
In the body include only one word: subscribe
(Turn OFF your signature file when sending this command)
To unsubscribe, send an e-mail message to these
addresses:
TNPUREBX-Y-erdhrfg@ebbgfjro.pbz (for individual messages)
TNPUREBX-Q-erdhrfg@ebbgfjro.pbz (for a digest of multiple
messages)
In the body include only one word: unsubscribe
(Turn OFF your signature file when sending this command)
To post messages to everyone on the list (you must be
a subscriber), use this address:
TNPUREBX-Y-erdhrfg@ebbgfjro.pbz
This site is a collection of postings on genealogy in Cherokee
County. You may search the Forum by surname, location or key
words, and your own use of the Forum is customizable to view
messages in increments.
Browse through an extensive listing of historical and genealogical
resources compiled for the Cherokee County Historical Society
web site by
Linda Woodward Geiger, CGRSSM, CGLSM.
  Among
the first to inhabit the land now known as Cherokee County
were the Cherokee (Tsalagi). Many researchers are finding that
their families in the North Georgia area may have had Cherokee
blood, and some of those relations may have traveled on the
now infamous 'Trail of Tears' to Arkansas and Oklahoma in the
late 1830's. There are many very good Internet sites with information
about the Cherokee Indians. We recommend these resources for Native
American research...
Visit the growing online ARCHIVES of
the Historical Society. Read articles excerpted from old Society
newsletters, view our historic photo collection, and more!
Cherokee County Maps
See our History section for
these maps:
"The Original Cherokee County--1831"
"Land and Militia Districts of Cherokee County--1833"
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