Record Atlas
5 eras · 1732–2026 · 183 places

Georgia - the Trustees' colony, the Creek and Cherokee lands

Savannah, Augusta, Atlanta, Macon, Milledgeville, Columbus. Which empire held this ground in which years — and, the part that matters, which archive that means.

Whose archive this ground was

YearsWho held itWhose archive that means
1732–1752 Province of Georgia - the Trustees FamilySearch

The charter was finalised on 9 June 1732 and Savannah was founded in February 1733. The charter banned slavery; it was permitted from 1749 and the ban was lifted by 1751.
1752–1776 Province of Georgia - royal colony FamilySearch

The Trustees ceded the colony to the Crown in 1752 (the source article also gives 2 January 1755). Georgia was divided into eight parishes in 1758, and the Proclamation of 1763 extended its southern boundary to the St. Marys River.
1776–1861 State of Georgia FamilySearch · National Archives Catalog (NARA)

Savannah was held by British forces from 29 December 1778 to 11 July 1782, and Georgia ratified the Constitution on 2 January 1788. Land taken from the Muscogee (Creek) and Cherokee nations was distributed by lottery from 1805 to 1833, the Cherokee were forcibly removed, and the lottery records are held by the Georgia Archives.
1861–1865 Georgia - Confederate State FamilySearch · National Archives Catalog (NARA)

The secession ordinance is dated 19 January 1861 (a signed copy is dated 21 January). Atlanta was captured on 2 September 1864 and Union forces entered Savannah on 22 December 1864.
1865–2026 State of Georgia FamilySearch · National Archives Catalog (NARA) · Chronicling America

Georgia was readmitted to the Union on 15 July 1870. City registers began earlier than the state's: Atlanta births in 1896 and deaths in 1887, Savannah births in 1890. A 1919 law required statewide registration, with full compliance not until 1928.

The rings are approximate — deliberately. They exist to shade which filing system a place fell under, not to adjudicate a border. A place near a ring's edge should be checked against both neighbours.

See the whole span, 1732–2026, on the map →

The map takes a range, and a range that crosses one of the rows above is where records get lost: the family never moved, and the archive on the far side of the handover will tell you it holds nothing.

183 places on this ground

1742 FamilySearch collections reach this ground

Ranked with the regional ones first — a collection for a province is usually a better lead than a national index, though the national index is often where a name is actually written down. A free account opens the images.

…and 1682 more.

All record regions · The map