Telephone Searches are Very Useful Source

August 7th, 1994

TELEPHONE SEARCHES ARE VERY USEFUL SOURCE

Telephone books for the entire United States have been placed on CD-Rom disks and can be used in many metro-area public libraries. The value of this new source is that one can search by region, by surname, surname and town combined search, search by telephone number only, or even determine who is now living in Cousin Minnie’s house to see if they know what became of the family. The Decatur Public Library has ProPhone produced by ProCD, Inc. of Marblehead, Mass. If you have never used one of these new services to find missing relatives for genealogy or any other purpose, now is the time. They are also very handy when looking for lost members of your school class for a reunion. ProPhone divides the U.S. into seven regions and as long as you are aware of which state is in which region, you just type in a name and it appears, if the person has a listed telephone.

ACCESS ATLANTA

For those readers who have a modem and are aware of the fact that this newspaper is now available on Access Atlanta, they can also find this column there. Usually the column appears, in full, on Access Atlanta several days before it appears in print.

SEMINARS

August 26-28 the Augusta Genealogical Society will hold their annual Homecoming, this time honoring their 15th anniversary. One of the most, if not the most, productive genealogical societies in Georgia, the group is having a one-day seminar on Saturday, August 27th at the Galloway Hall, Augusta College. The theme for the seminar day, during which there will be seven lectures, is “Emigrations, Immigrations, and Migrations”. The most prominent speaker will be Hank Jones who will lecture on the Palatine immigrants to America and their German roots. Nell Callahan will speak on the Famine Irish, William Nelson on the Confederate exodus to Brazil, Brent Holcomb on immigrant ancestors in South Carolina, and Dr. John Vogt on European economics and politics which forced our ancestors to leave. Hank Jones will speak again that night at the banquet at which time his topic will be “I Don’t Chase Dead Germans–They Chase Me”. Registration for non-members is $40 until August 22nd, afterwards $45. To register contact the Augusta Genealogical Society, P.O.Box 3743, Augusta, Ga. 30914 or call (706) 722-4073cq. Anyone who has not been to Augusta lately has missed the society’s new headquarters.

METHODIST MARRIAGES

“Marriage Notices from the Southern Christian Advocate, 1867-1878” has just been compiled and published by Brent H. Holcomb. This follows as a third volume his earlier abstracts of marriages and deaths from the same newspaper covering 1837-1867, and deaths for 1867-1878. After 1878 the newspaper, sponsored by the Methodist church, began publishing in Georgia as the Wesleyan Christian Advocate, as it continues today. Published in Macon, the newspaper covered primarily Georgia, South Carolina and Florida. Some marriages are for those of other faiths. In almost every case, the county or town of residence of the bride and the groom are given. It is definitely worth a look and is an important addition to any genealogical library, be it public or personal. Most post-Civil War Georgia county records have not been published and thus if you do not know where someone married, it will take a lot of research, but this book will certainly help. For South Carolinians, where civil marriage records were not required until 1911, it may be the only source. The book is available for $35 plus $2 postage from SCMAR, P.O. Box 21766, Columbia, S.C. 29221.

ROCKDALE SOCIETY

The Rockdale Genealogical Society has been formed with Martha Brown and Linda Etheridge as co-presidents. The society meets the second Sunday of each month at 3 P.M. at the Nancy Guinn Library in Conyers. The newsletter is called “Jeans and Genes”. For further information contact Linda Etheridge at 1169 Pine Knoll Lane, Conyers, Ga. 30208 or 483-6172.

COUNTY RECORDS

The R. J. Taylor Foundation has recently sponsored in part the publication of three more books of county records. “Cherokee County, Georgia, Land Records, Vol. 4, Deed Book D” covers 1838-1839. Compiled by Wyndell and Bernice Taylor, the book contains abstracts of the basic deed information and a full index. The careful work of the compilers is a model for others to follow. Anyone with missing roots in Georgia should check this in case a deed was filed or witnessed by an ancestor. It is available for $24 plus $1.20 tax and postage from Bot’s Books, P.O.Box 63, Powder Springs, Ga. 30073.

Victor R. Myrick has abstracted “Wills of Pulaski County, Georgia” covering 1810-1906 for this central Georgia county. The wills are abstracted in chronological order and there is a full index. This type of work helps researchers not only find a specific ancestor but other people he might have been associated with as well as links between families. There are 281 wills abstracted covering the first century of this county. It is available from the Central Georgia Genealogical Society, P.O.Box 2024, Warner Robins, Ga. 31099 for $16 plus $1.50 postage and 5 % sales tax (80 cents).

The same society’s prolific abstracting team of Davine Campbell and William R. Henry has produced “Land Records of Macon County, Georgia, 1857-1863 Deed Book A”. This is an important work for the county suffered a fire in 1857, producing a loss of the first 20 years of courthouse records. This publication includes many deeds which were brought back into the courthouse and re-recorded, thus they date from the 1830s, not from the years on the volume, which are the dates they were recorded. If you have ancestors in the county, or who won land the lottery that later fell in this county, you should check the book. Your ancestors could have also witnessed a deed and the deed might prove a valuable clue as to where they were at a certain time. This volume is available for $23.50 plus postage of $1.50 and $1.18 sales tax from the Central Georgia Genealogical Society, P.O.Box 2024, Warner Robins, Ga. 31099.