Your Site Hostess for this Site is Brenda Pierce.
You may email me @ [email protected] with questions re site.

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 [email protected].)   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 - 130 West Paces Ferry Road NW, Atlanta, Georgia 30305-1366  Phone: (404) 814-4000  |  Fax: (404) 814-2041  |  E-mail: [email protected] Collections include the 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.

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Brenda Pierce - EMAIL Me @ [email protected]
This page was updated: Monday, 10-Sep-2018 18:17:05 MDT