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| Site Map |
DeKalb
County was created in 1822 from portions of Henry, Gwinnett, and
Fayette Counties. After the Indian Springs Treaty of 1821
these areas of land were opened to settlers after the removal of the
Cherokee and Creeks. DeKalb County was the designated home
county of Atlanta until 1853, at that time Fulton County was
established. DeKalb County was originally settled by folks
from Virginia and the Carolinas with designated land allotments of
202-1/2 acres each. Charles Murphy Candler spoke of these
early settlers in the
Centennial Address of Nov. 9, 1922
stating that they were "plain people of English, Scotch and Irish
descent, coming directly and indirectly from Virginia and the
Carolinas. They were poor, not highly educated, generally
industrious and temperate. They were small farmers, owning
their homes, which were generally log cabins and owning a few
slaves, many of them none at all. I do not suppose there was
in the entire county a single land and slave owner, who because of
the size of his holdings or farm operations, could have been called
a planter, such as were known to the older East and Middle
Georgia Counties." DeKalb County was kept alive through farming
implementation innovations and the pioneering efforts of those that
were rugged and steadfast in their work of their crops.
Decatur became the county seat in 1823 when the GA State Legislature
chose a land lot for the county seat, and it was named for Commodore
Stephen Decatur, thus "Decatur" became the County Seat it was
incorporated and designed the county seat on Dec. 10, 1823.
Stephen was a naval war hero from the War of 1812. The log
cabin courthouse on the square was put up shortly thereafter the Act
of the Legislature. The location of the County Government
still remains the same even though there was a battle with the City
of Stone Mountain at one point in 1896 over the rights.
The Civil War brought Sherman to this beloved town, and the Battle
of Decatur has been written about in books and sang about in songs.
See the Table of Contents for More History & Links to
History of this County. |
| Things Researchers
should know: | The
Counties DeKalb was formed from (Henry, Gwinnett, Fayette)|Other areas to research besides the above four are Fulton, Milton and Campbell Counties. the latter two being defunct counties. 2. The Courthouse burned in 1842 and 1916, the fire in 1842 destroyed all but the Superior Court Records. The 1916 fire did not bother the records, they were not on premises. 3. Records Available for Dekalb are: Census 1830-1930. Estate Probate Records and Wills can be found at the DeKalb County Judge of Probate Court - Phone-404-371-2718- 556 McDonough Street, DeCatur, GA 30030. Other Records may be found at the DeKalb History Center - Old Courthouse on the Square, Decatur, GA 30030. 404-373-1088. www.dekalbhistory.org - The Georgia Archives are another wonderful source of information - 5800 Jonesboro Road, Morrow, GA 30260. 678-364-3700 - www.GeorgiaArchives.org (If you have questions, comments, or need assistance, please contact Gail DeLoach, Visual Materials Archivist, at 678-364-3787 or describe@sos.state.ga.us.) ![]() Also see Vanishing Georgia Photographic Collection - ![]() The photo on the left is a group of gentlemen in Dekalb. The photograph on the right is a detachment of Soldiers sent to maintain hospital. Chamblee, latter part of February. Detachment of soldiers ordered to the hospital in February, 1918 to care for daily maintenance of the facility. Commander was Lieutenant McMullan. Camp Gordon Base Hospital. There are 402 items in the Dekalb County Collection on the Vanishing GA Collection. Also don't forget to check out the Atlanta History Center - SAR Genealogy Collection; The Military History Collection (Beverly M. DuBose and Thomas S. Dickey resources on Civil War and Military Ordinance) along with their huge microfilm reading room and cemetery collections on microfilm. They specialize in Southern Collections - one not to be missed collection - Gone With The Girdle Exhibit. |
THIS SITE NEEDS MORE INFORMATION TO HELP RESEARCHERS,
IF YOU HAVE INFORMATION ON PEOPLE OF DEKALB, PLACES, BUILDINGS,
PLEASE SHARE THAT WITH THIS SITE SO THAT OTHERS MAY BENEFIT.
The two images above from the Vanishing Georgia collection.
All Rights Reserved
Copyright 2001 - 2002 - 2003 - 2004
Brenda Pierce - EMAIL Me @
ltlbit@mindspring.com
This page was updated: Monday, 10-Sep-2018 18:17:05 MDT