The Georgia Archives has extensive holdings of original records, microfilm copies of many pre-1900 county and federal records, published lists, indexes, abstracts, and other guides to these sources. These holdings document the lives of Georgians since our founding in 1733, but they rarely extend into the 20th century unless that Georgian served in a public office or in World War II.

We encourage you to visit the Georgia Archives so that we may assist you with your research needs but we do realize that sometimes this is not possible. Georgia Archives staff can perform limited research via mail for a non-refundable fee of $15.00 for Georgia residents and $30.00 for out-of-state residents. This fee will include one of the following: 1) up to twelve (12) photocopies for most orders with a source citation, 2) a report of the search indicating all sources searched, or 3) a listing of suggested sources for further research.

For up to one hour, staff will search the records described below and provide appropriate copies. If more than twelve pages are to be copied, the charge is $.30 for each additional page. You will be notified of any potential additional charges. Each search request requires a separate form with the appropriate fee. The Georgia Archives is not authorized or staffed to engage in comprehensive genealogical research or to verify family relationships.

To request a search, please print out our Mail Reference Request Form (available in PDF) and mail it back to us along with your check or money order. The Georgia Archives cannot take research requests via e-mail or fax. To obtain the latest Adobe Acrobat Reader, please go to: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html

Dependent upon the type of record requested, the Archives staff will conduct searches in the following:

Georgia County Records

• Estate Records: these include loose estate case files, wills, annual returns, guardianships, inventories and appraisements, letters of administration, or a general index listing.
• Marriages: for any marriage during requested period. Please note that Georgia marriage licenses do not contain genealogical information such as parents names or birth dates.
• Tax Digests: for a specific name in a specified county for any one year. The tax digest must be alphabetically arranged. Deeds: for a specific deed or general index in a specified county

Georgia State Military Records (Please note that none of these records will consist of service records. Service records should be requested from the National Archives and Records Administration.)

• Confederate Pensions: This includes either the soldier's or the widow's application
• Militia Records: the Adjutant General records contain information for soldiers in the Indian Wars (1779-1842), the war of 1812, or the Mexican War (1846-1848). These records consist primarily of muster rolls, lists of names, or letters to governors
• Revolutionary War: the records searched include headright bounties, certificates, warrants, petitions, and affidavits.
• Spanish American War (1898): records consist of Muster-In and Muster-Out rolls only.
• World War I Service Summary Card Files: these cards usually contain residence, place of birth, age, race, service number, service, and date of discharge.

Other Georgia Records

• Headright Grant or Land Lottery: for a land grant to a specified individual or group. The applications were oral and thus are not available. Parent's names, place of birth, or age is not contained in these records.
• State Government: for specified records created by a specified agency. If the type of records are not specified, an inventory to the agency's records will be provided.
• General Name File Cards: for specific information on a pre-1900 individual. The information that the card provides varies widely from card to card. Please note that this is not an overall or comprehensive index to our
• Maps: For a map of a specific area for a specific year. Information on the maps varies widely.
• Private Manuscript: Search includes one folder only. If a folder is not specified, the inventory to the collection will be provided.

Federal Records of Georgia Residents

• Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers: for a service record when regiment is specified. If the regiment not known, a search of index of Compiled Service Records is provided. Census Records: for an actual census, one year only per search.