Facts on Local Court Records

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    There is no effective substitute for an on-site search of count
    There is no effective substitute for an on-site search of county courthouse records. County level records have not yet been centralized. No single county's records have been significantly abstracted or transcribed, making a courthouse visit essential. County records vary widely from county to county in both quality and quantity.

   Unfortunately, no colonial Georgia court records survive. Georgia's state constitution provided for two county level courts to be created in 1777. Superior courts were established at the county level to hear cases dealing with divorce, civil and criminal charges, naturalization, military discharges, homesteads, prisons, and slaves. Simultaneously, courts of ordinary were created to hear and record cases involving probate matters. It also dealt with indentures, paupers, licenses, voting, and marriage. Each court kept minutes, which are useful in genealogical research.

   Inferior courts were created in 1798 and were responsible for probate matters (until 1852), civil matters, and misdemeanor type civil and criminal cases. Georgia's state supreme court began in 1846, and the case files and records of this court are in the Georgia Department of Archives and History . The decisions of that court are published annually in the Georgia Reports. With the exception of only the most recent records, the federal district and circuit court records for Georgia are at the National Archives-Southeast Region in East Point, Georgia.

   Georgia's state prison and asylum records are housed at the Georgia Department of Archives and History . These records are open to researchers when over seventy-five years have passed from the date of their creation. 

   The FHL has a broad collection of court records from each of Georgia's courts at the county level, as well as the U.S. Circuit Court, District of Georgia.

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Facts on Local Probate Records

   The office of the probate judge is the county office where the most significant genealogical records are created and maintained in Georgia. A variety of records are housed in this office.

   In Georgia, estate records are produced by courts with jurisdiction at the county level beginning in 1777 and with the creation of the county ordinary courts. Prior to that date, most estate matters were handled at the colonial capitol in Savannah. Most all of Georgia's colonial estate, colonial deed, mortgage, and deed of gift records survive at the Georgia Department of Archives and History .

   County ordinary courts kept probate records from 1777–98 and began keeping them again in 1852. County inferior courts were responsible for probate matters from 1798–1852. Almost all pre-1900 county probate records are on microfilm at the Georgia Department of Archives and History and the FHL. The Archives also has many loose, original Georgia county records. After 1900, probate records are in the county's ordinary court.

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Tips for General Court Records

Excerpts From the Book "Family History Made Easy"

   Even today, few people escape mention in court records at some time during their lives as witnesses, litigants, jurors, appointees to office, or as petition signatories. However, Americans of a few generations ago also expected to attend local court proceedings when they were in session.
Arlene H. Eakle, Ph.D. “Research in Court Records”
In The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy

   American court files mirror U.S. history. Buried away in courthouses and archives everywhere are the dreams and frustrations of millions of citizens. The chances are great that your ancestors have left a detailed record of at least some aspects of their lives in court records.

   Most of us don’t think of court records as the rich source of personal history that they are. But America’s English heritage established a tradition of court processes in which the people have a right to participate actively—and we always have. With relative freedom from royal supervision and with court enforcement of religious as well as civil laws, American courts tried many matters that were not subject to court action in other parts of the British empire and that are now considered too minor to warrant criminal action.

   When a person dies, every state has laws that provide for public supervision over the estate that is left, whether or not there is a will. The term “probate records” broadly covers all the records produced by these laws, although, strictly speaking, “probate” applies only when there is a will.

   Family historians use probate case files far more than any other kind of court record. Probate case files are logical sources because they tend to include so much personal data, and because Americans have depended on the courts to settle their estates since North America was colonized. According to Val Greenwood in his Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy, “All records which relate to the disposition of an estate after its owner’s death are referred to as probate records. These are many and varied in both content and value, but basically, they fall into two main classes: testate and intestate” (page 255). Probate case files generally provide names, addresses, and biographical data for the deceased, but frequently provide the same information for other relatives named in the papers. Relationships, maiden names of wives, married names of daughters, past residences, and place of origin in a native country are just a few of the details that can be discovered in probate files. And probate files can be found in courthouses and archives across the United States.

   When requesting probate information from the county clerk, it is important not to limit yourself by asking for a person’s “will.” The clerk will usually take you at your word and not copy other papers in the probate file that may have equally important information if there is no will.

   Even if your ancestor is not mentioned in a probate case, consider all of the other procedures which might have resulted in him or her appearing in court records:

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