Constitution of the Confederacy

This is an article from the Avalon Project of the Yale Law School.  It consists of a complete reproduction and is very interesting, if not surprising.  For example, it appears to contain the entire Bill of Rights, not as amendments, but as articles within the Constitution itself.  It forbids importation of African negroes from any foreign country other than the slave-holding States of the United States, and provides Congress the authority to forbid importation from any place other than members of the Confederacy.

Georgia's First Constitution

This is another article from the Avalon Project of the Yale Law School.  It consists of a complete reproduction and makes for some interesting reading.  For example, does anyone have any idea where the "port and town of Sunbury" is or was located?  It appears to be equivalent to the port and town of Savannah at the time of writing.

Campbell County Brief History

This is an article extracted from the Autumn 1978 issue of the Georgia Life magazine.

Douglas County Article on the New Georgia Encyclopedia web site.

Mostly history ans legend. No genealogical resources.

The Douglas County web site.

Not much in the way of genealogical resources, but lots of other local Douglas County news and events.

Monthly Newsletter  

The Society produces a monthly newsletter, The Skint Chestnut Logs (a play on the original name for the county seat).  The newsletter contains articles contributed by members, and occasionally, others, providing information on society activities, vignettes from local history and family historical highlights, as well as research tips and tricks.

The newsletter is provided to all society members in good standing.  These are normally provided by email (in pdf format) while a printed copy is sent by conventional postal mail to those members without a valid email address.  A few printed copies of the latest edition are usually available at the meetings, for anyone that may have missed their copy for some reason, or wish to provide a copy to a friend or family member.  Click the paragraph title above to view a sample copy.

Special Collections Room

The Society has donated over 320 volumes of genealogical research material to the Douglas County Library System.  Our gifts help broaden the scope of research conducted by both residents and visitors. The Library System maintains a number of computers with free internet access to Ancestry and HeritageQuest.  Additionally, free wi-fi is provided for your laptop, tablet or other device.  Inquire about access at the desk.

The donated books are stored and maintained in the Special Collections rooms of the Douglas County Library, at either the Selman Drive location (in Douglasville) or the Dog River location (in Bill Arp).  These works may be viewed at the library, but may NOT be checked out or removed from the library.  This is normal library practice for reference works.  Click the list names below to view a Book List for each library.

Selman Drive Library Book List

Dog River Library Book List

Dating Old Photographs

This link will bring up a brief tutorial which will (hopefully) assist you in dating any old photographs you may come across during your genealogical research.  And what family doesn't have several shoe boxes full of old, unidentified, photographs?  There are at least three major keys to dating a photograph.  The type of photograph or print is important, it changed as the technology improved.  Also, pay attention to the clothing (dress lengths, hats, ties, vests, etc.) and the grooming (mustaches, beards, ladies hair styles, etc.).  Each of these can be tied to a particular time period, even as today.  Click the paragraph title above to view the tutorial.

Old Time Occupations

This link will bring up a list (hopefully in alphabetical order) of many of those old time occupations you sometimes encounter (such as Farrier, or Draper) and explains what it is.  Remember, your concept of a clerk is definitely NOT the same as your great-grandfathers concept of a clerk (for example).  Click the paragraph title above to view the list of a Old Time Occupations.

Old Time Diseases

This link will bring up a list (hopefully in alphabetical order) of many of those old time diseases or medical conditions you sometimes encounter (such as Aphonia, or Apoplexy) and explains what it is or gives the modern name.  Click the paragraph title above to view the list of a Old Time Diseases.  We have listed many, but perhaps not all.  Research continues.

Exact Causes of Death

This page provides instructions on determining the official cause of death from a death certificate.
A Brief Excerpt:  No doubt about it. Death certificates are one of the most sought after genealogical records.  From a death certificate genealogy researchers can learn birth and death dates of an ancestor.  We can find information on a spouse and/or the names of the deceased's parents.  (Admit it – Isn’t that what we are really after!)  But... did you ever notice that number written on the death certificate somewhere around the cause of death?  That number represents the official cause of death.  Follow the link above to decode it.

This link provided by Jim Gardner - Thank You, Jim!

Relationship Chart

This link will bring up a chart that makes it simple to figure out just how you are related to that family member.  Is he your Second Cousin Once Removed or your Third Cousin?  Click the paragraph title above to view the Relationship Chart.

Genealogical Forms

Here are some useful genealogical research forms for you to download and print.  Some are PDFs that can be filled out before printing.  If you do this, make sure you save it under a unique name or you may lose some some valuable research.  We are starting off with a just a few forms, but expect to add many more in the future.

PDF Forms

From DCGS:

Brick Wall Form
Times of my Life Form

From Ancestry:

Research Calendar
Correspondence Record
Research Extract
Source Summary
Ancestral Chart
Family Group Record

From National Genealogical Society:

Basic Pedigree Chart
Standard Pedigree Chart
Family Group Sheet

From Obituaries Help:

Family Tree Templates
Pedigree Chart Templates
Kids Genealogy Chart Templates
Scrapbook Family Tree Templates

There are many more forms available.  Any of the above linked pages have links to all sorts of templates.  Feel free to explore.

Other Forms:

None yet...  And may never be - the internet and its search engines are just so darned handy and universal...  However, the list of links (above) will likely continue to grow.

Marriage Records

The Society Members have extracted an index from the early Douglas County Marriage Records.  These are divided into Groom and Bride indexes.  They are organized into books and sorted alphabetically by the surname of the bride or groom, as the case may be.

Bride Index Book A - October 1869 to March 1896
Bride Index Book B - October 1881 to April 1894
Bride Index Book C - December 1893 to September 1917
Bride Index Book D - October 1911 to July 1937

Groom Index Book A - October 1866 to March 1896
Groom Index Book B - January 1866 to April 1894
Groom Index Book C - December 1893 to September 1917
Groom Index Book D - January 1917 to June 1937

Will Indexes

The Society Members have also extracted indexes from the early Douglas County Will Books.  They are organized into books and sorted alphabetically by the surname of the deceased.

Will Index Book A - February 1872 to April 1933
Will Index Book B - October 1934 to December 1976
Will Index Book C - March 1969 to April 1975
Will Index Book D - August 1973 to May 1979
Will Index Book E - August 1977 to October 1982

Cemetery Listings

The Society Members, along with members of the Douglas County Cemetery Preservation Commission, have surveyed many (most?) Douglas County cemeteries.  We currently have the surveys for 53 cemeteries in hand (with more to come).  These have all been cleaned up, sorted by surname and converted to web pages.  We have attempted (wherever possible) to convert all dates into the MM/DD/YYYY format.  Admittedly, this is a somewhat non-standard format, but suits us American old fogeys quite well.  Besides, any other format would have required a massive translation effort, as most dates were already in the MM/DD/YYYY format (although often with only a two digit year).  The completed web pages are linked below.

Allen Family
Angus Ferguson Family
Ayers-Stovall Family
Baggett Family
Basket Creek Baptist Church
Bearden Church of Christ
Believers Church
Benson
Beulah Baptist Church
Bowden-Mozley Family
Bowen Family
Bright Star
Butler/Bright Star
Central Baptist Church
Chapel Hill Baptist Church
Chapman Family
Cool Springs
County Line Baptist Church
Dingler Family
Douglas Chapel Church of God
Douglasville City
Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church
Enterkin-Winn Family
Enterkin Family
Ergle-Hix Family
Ephesus_Baptist_Church
Fairfield A.M.E Church
Faith Baptist Church
Friendship Baptist Church
Giles Family
Friendship Baptist Church
Hembree Family
Henley-Bullard Family
Hildebrand Family
Historic Heritage Garden
Holly Springs
Hudson-Dobbs Family Cemetery
Huff Grave
James Family
Kennedy-Brittain Family
Liberty Grove
Love Family
McLarty Family
Moss Brothers
Mount Zion Baptist Church
New River Community Church
Old Mount Carmel Church
Pleasant Grove Baptist Church
Prays Mill Baptist Church
Rice Family
Stewart
Stone Family
Strickland-Smallwood Family
Tranquil A.M.E. Church
Union Grove Christian Church
Vansant Family
Winn-Watson Family

Completed Projects

Historical U.S. Flags - A DCGS Web Master personal project, this page has an image of all historical U. S. flags, and the year adopted (in chronological order).  There are also images of several possible designs for future flags, when other states are admitted.  Puerto Rico?  Guam?  Virgin Islands?  Who knows what the future may hold!

It finishes off with a copy of the Flag Code.  While the Flag Code is Federal Law, there are no specified penalties, except for a few specific violations listed in § 3, and those only apply for offenses committed within the District of Columbia, so relax - you aren't likely to go to jail.

Current State Flags - Another DCGS Web Master personal project, this page contains an image of all the current state flags (in alphabetical order), along with each states date of entry into the union and it's place in the order of joining, along with a few (a very few) historical notes.

U. S. Presidents - Yet another DCGS Web Master personal project, this page contains an image of all the U.S. Presidents (in chronological order), along with the names of their First Lady (and relationship, if not his wife) and Vice-President, along with a brief biography.

Current Projects

Projects in Work - This page contains a description of any projects currently in process by DCGS.

DCGS Programs

Below are links to a few program resources that have been captured and preserved.  Prior to the acquisition of a video camera in May of 2018, little effort was made to preserve our presentations.  What you see here is what we have.  We promise to do better in the future.  

What you will find here are files of various types.  They may be video files (MP4 - caution, these are HUGE, from about 1 to 2 gigabytes each).  I must apologize for the quality (it's not the camera, it's the operator), I'm still learning.  They may also be text files (plain text, Word or other word processor files, pdfs) or images (mostly jpg) or, possibly, some other file type.  You may view them in your browser or download them to your computer.  We leave it to you, the user, to locate and acquire the appropriate viewing software.

This currently consists of, primarily, photos taken during the presentation.  We understand that while the actual presentation material would be both more interesting and more valuable, unfortunately we have no access to those materials.  Every effort Will be made to include such material in the future, but understand it may not always be available, as some presenters use material they have previously developed and copyrighted.

DATE	PROGRAM MATERIAL
January 2014	"The History of the Pony Club" and "The 100 day War," by the author, Ray Henderson: Photo of presenter.
January 2015	"Ghost towns and mills in the Atlanta area," by Robert Jones: Photo of presenter.
October 2015	"Record setting presentation of First Family Certificates" Photo of presentation. "The Historical Costumes with Artifacts" by Villa Rica Civil War re-enactors. Photo of presenters.
June 2016	“The Drake Town Tragedy” by the author, Elaine Bailey. Photo of presenter (in costume).
October 2016	"Women’s Work: About thread and cloth and how it was produced down through the century," by Karen Flagg. Photo of presenter, demonstrating hand spinning. The presenters materials. The presenter in action. Antique and modern spinning wheels belonging to presenter.
January 2018	"Unmarried Ancestors: Illegitimacy Research," by Ken Thomas, genealogy writer for Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper. Photo of presenter.
July 2018	"Conditions of Southern States in 1865," by Elaine Steere  As a Word document.  As a PDF document.
October 2018	"The Evolution of Research Terminology," by Elaine Steere  As a Word document.  As a PDF document.
January 2019	"Researching in Foreign Nations," by Norm Brazel: Norwegian Research PowerPoint presentation.
April 2019	"Genetic Geanealogy," by Dr. Walter J. Freeman:  As a Word document.  As a PDF document. Photo of presenter.

Maps

The Society is slowly gathering digital maps, and links to digital maps, that may be of interest to researchers. From time to time new maps will be added here.  The maps stored locally are organized by city, county, state, regional and national.  NOTE: Each map will open in a new window or tab, depending on your browser settings.

University of Georgia Archives

County Maps - A University of Georgia project, the County Map File consists of maps of Georgia's 161 (now 159) counties collected by the Office of Surveyor General.  Many of the maps in this collection were produced under the direction of the state between 1866 - 1935, including those created by Acts of the General Assembly and the State Highway Department; some maps were created in conjunction with the United States Post Office Department and the Department of Agriculture.  The several types of county maps show cities, towns, roads and highways, watercourses, and other geographic and topographic features.  Just select the county of interest from the drop-down list and click on the Search button.  Or, you can click on the Browse button and view a list that can be sorted, in ascending or descending order, by Title, Year, Publisher or Record ID.  Please feel free to explore.

Galileo - Another University of Georgia project, this is an excellent source for historical maps.  Many of our previous map links were to this site.  Unfortunately, they seem to reorganize their web site frequently, so we are now providing only a single link to their maps (easier to keep it accurate and up to date that way).  Again, feel free to explore.

Digital Library of Georgia - Yet another University of Georgia project which is an excellent source for historical and genealogical data of all types.  It contains Census Records, Church Records, Court Records and a large assortment of city, county and organizational Directories and Registers, from the 1800s onward.  Once again, feel free to explore.

Valdosta State University Archives

Here are three map and plat collections, from the Valdosta State University Archives, featuring historical maps, plats, deeds, records, and correspondence pertaining to South Georgia land holdings dating from 1767 to 1899 are now available in the Digital Library of Georgia.

The three collections are:

Deeds and Plats, Georgia - Consisting of residential and commercial deeds, plats, maps, and other documents from counties and towns, mostly in southeast Georgia, dating from 1767 to 1899.

Deeds, Camden County, Georgia - Including deeds, plats, land grants, and legal documents dating from 1833 to 1899 regarding land in Camden County, Georgia, and northern Florida.

John Adam Treutlen, June 1767 - A land grant, dated June 1767 and signed by King George III of England, conveying four hundred acres of land in the parish of Saint Matthew, Georgia to John Adam Treutlen, Georgia's first elected governor.

Other Map Links

Douglas County - A very detailed and expandable map, converts to an aerial view as you zoom in closer.  Provided by the GIS department of Douglas County.

Locally Served Maps

Map of Douglas County Cemeteries - Cheerfully created and provided by Kimberleigh Marchant, GIS Analyst with the Douglas County GIS Department, completely gratis.  Thank you, Kimberleigh!  Note: This is a PDF file and is very detailed.  It may take several moments to fully download, render and display (at least it does on my steam powered laptop).  Since it is in pdf format, it is also downloadable, allowing you to have your own copy.  Right click on the link and select "Save Link As..." (in Firefox) or whatever the equivalent may be in your browser of choice.

There are links below to those maps we have migrated to our web site for safekeeping! Meaning that, No one will move them around and break the links without our knowledge.  We will continue to slowly migrate any relevant images to our web site, as they become available and links will be added here.  Please be aware, this is only possible with items known to be in the Public Domain.  Otherwise, we will just link to them and you should be aware that the link may break at any time.