Old plat from Baldwin County

[westcobbdog]

Found this in the Ga Archives Virtual Vault, showing where my Ancestor James Thomas got 100 acres in 1760. Note the property lines are refenced by trees. he must of been friendly with the Indians as he was well beyond any sort of safe buffer zone for settlers.

 

[westcobbdog]

Here's the whole document.

 

[Buck70]

Cool

 

[westcobbdog]

Anybody decipher the verbiage?
I can't read a lot of it. Like what's written inside the rectangular shaped boundary lines under "100 Acres"

 

[SarahFair]

Land records are my FAVORITE type of historical records to do genealogical research. They are FULL of information.
Colonial writing can be a little harder to decipher, it's sometimes still mixed with old English and they are still using different symbols to express different letters, and I haven't stayed practices in awhile, but I believe under the 100 acres within the boundary lines reads, "mixed land"
Meaning it could be a mix of resources like hardwood and pine.

I believe the rest of it reads, "Pursuant to the anexed* warrant the above tract of 100 acres of land situated in the parish St. Matthews was surveyed for James Thomas bounded as expressed in the plat certified the 27th day of July 1760."

It says his neighbor was John Davis and the property was located on the Savannah River at a place called Poor Mob*ns? (page crease) Bluff

 

[westcobbdog]

Thanks Sarah. I incorrectly thought James Thomas arrived in the Baldwin / Hancock area in 1760 but now after reading your comments realize he was more in the Colonial protection / buffer zone closer to the Ga SC line. Maybe Liberty or McIntosh Counties perhaps.
James Thomas is buried on his land in the Butts Thomas family cemetery in extreme north Baldwin at the Hancock line. Same cemetery where later the Thomas' started marrying into the Butts family, thus Wally's Dad and a few others are buried there too.

 

[westcobbdog]

Btw, found the above plat / deed in the "Georgia Archives virtual vault" under the heading of Colonial Dicuments for anyone wanting to do some research.

 

[SarahFair]

Thanks Sarah. I incorrectly thought James Thomas arrived in the Baldwin / Hancock area in 1760 but now after reading your comments realize he was more in the Colonial protection / buffer zone closer to the Ga SC line. Maybe Liberty or McIntosh Counties perhaps.
James Thomas is buried on his land in the Butts Thomas family cemetery in extreme north Baldwin at the Hancock line. Same cemetery where later the Thomas' started marrying into the Butts family, thus Wally's Dad and a few others are buried there too.

He probably came in through what would become Effingham and Burke Co, that's where my ancestors entered through on the 1780s (Burke and Screven Co). They came south from North Carolina after the Revolutionary War.

There are a TON of old records available online. I'm almost certain you can tract his movements through his land records and see when he sold and bought land. (Depending on the county and the records they have made available online)
Baldwin Co wasn't "officially" formed until 1805 and was apart of the land lottery in 1827.
He could have won his land from that, maybe bought land from someone who won, or bid on it at auction from people who didn't pay their taxes on it..

If you know where is cemetery is pretty good to pick it out on a map, you can look up old lottery maps, the district and lot numbers are still the same today, but you can also use this to search in newspapers and double check your records to make sure you are on the right person and property

If you want to look up the records, join familysearch.org (free) and search their catalog under the specific counties.
Land littery winners can also be searched in the newspaper archives

https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/search/advanced/

 

[westcobbdog]

I knew James Thomas came from Va with his wife Martha Walker ( now I know about 1760 ) and went first to Liberty or McIntosh County I think along the Savannah River then later migrated to I think Washington County which then became Baldwin and or perhaps Hancock in between. James was a patriot and fighting near Sgt. Jasper when he fell at the battle of Savannah. James was awarded a sword for bravery. Later his Garndson or G Grandson gave that sword away as a gift to someone who helped him land the new post as Super of Dalton City schools, maybe 1867. His name was Bryan Morel Thomas, Brg. Gen CSA.
He had married Gen Withers daughter and that may have helped him make Brig.!
Great info Sarah. Let me know if you ever do Gen. research for a fee!

 

[ClemsonRangers]

Anybody decipher the verbiage?
I can't read a lot of it. Like what's written inside the rectangular shaped boundary lines under "100 Acres"

Wetland