A View of Decatur Square with its
variety of quaint shops and restaurants:
Credits: AJC/Renee'Hannans/AJC Photograph

Hard copy of records can be found at the Clerk of Superior Court for Land Records from 1842 - Present & Court Records 1842 - Present.

Hard Copy Probate and Marriage Records are available at the Probate Court Clerk's Office from 1842. (Phone: 404-371-2718)

You may order birth/marriage/death records from Vital Records - http://www.vitalrecords.com or Contact the Public Health Dept at Vital Records Dept. Room 217-H - 47 Trinity St. SW Atlanta, GA 30334 - Phone - 404-656-4750 or Email them: mailto:[email protected]

Addresses of Note:

Historical Society - Dekalb County - 101 E. Court Sq. - Decatur, GA 30030 (404) 373-1088 Phone

GA State Archives - 5800 Jonesboro Road - Morrow, GA 30260 Phone: 678-364-3710


Decatur Library (DeKalb County Public Library System-Main Branch)
215 Sycamore Street, Decatur, GA 30030
Telephone: (404) 370-3070
Hours: Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m.-9 p.m.; Friday-Saturday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sunday, 1 p.m.-5 p.m.
Website: http://www.dekalb.public.lib.ga.us

Selected Holdings: The following list does not include all microform records but is intended to give researchers a representation of the items available in this area of the Decatur Library.

Census Records:
Federal - 1790-1850 for various states
1820-1920 for Georgia
No Soundex; some census indexes
Decatur Cemetery Records for 1837-1979
DeKalb County Sunday School Association, 1866-1883, 1975
Minutes and other records
Family Registry Index (microfiche)
Georgia:
Marriage Register, 1964-1994 (1972 missing)
Death Index, 1920-1994
Divorce Register, 1965-1994 (1972 missing)
Georgia Genealogical Society Quarterly Index, 1964-1980
Leon S. Hollingsworth Genealogical Card File Collection (12 reels)
Margaret Davis Cate Collection (microfilm reels #3170-3189)
Newspapers:
Atlanta Constitution, 17 June 1868-present
Atlanta Journal, 24 February 1883-present
New York Times, September 1851-present
Southern Confederacy Newspaper, February 12, 1861-February 8, 1865 (seven reels)
Some local, state, and area newspapers also included
North Carolina Land Grants in Tennessee, 1778-1791
Passenger Lists:
Ports in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, early 1880s-1924
Savannah, 1906-1945 (4 reels)
Revolutionary War
Rolls for Georgia, (M246, Roll 332)
Index to Compiled Service Records for Georgia (M1051, roll #10)
Compiled Service Records for Georgia (M888, roll #332)
Register of Land Warrants, Military District of Ohio, 1799-1805

An Article in the AJC from 7/24/2003
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: 7/24/2003 ]

ABOUT DEKALB COUNTY

DeKalb County
'Plain' days gone as mix turns trendy

Formed: In 1822 from parts of Henry, Gwinnett and Fayette counties.

Named for: Baron Johann DeKalb, who accompanied Lafayette to America and served as a major general in the Continental Army.

Population: 676,996, second of 159 counties in Georgia; only Fulton has more (2002 Census Bureau estimate).

Area: 271 square miles.

Top employers (nongovernmental; listed alphabetically):

BellSouth Telecommunications

DeKalb Medical Center

Emory University

General Motors Corp.

United Parcel Service

Sales tax: 7 percent.

County millage: 37.81.

Municipalities:

Atlanta

Avondale Estates

Chamblee

Clarkston

Decatur

Doraville

Lithonia

Pine Lake

Stone Mountain

Did you know?

At one time, DeKalb contained all of Atlanta and much of what is now Fulton County.

The images of Confederate heroes Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson are carved on Stone Mountain. Work began in 1923, but the carving wasn't completed until 1972.

For more about the county

DeKalb Chamber of Commerce. 750 Commerce Drive No. 201, Decatur 30030. 404-378-8000; fax: 404-378-3397; www.dekalbchamber.org

DeKalb County official Web site: www.co.dekalb.ga.us.

Sources: Georgia Department of Community Affairs, Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia, Census Bureau, Georgia Department of Labor, staff research.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: 7/24/2003 ]

'Plain' days gone as mix turns trendy

By BEN SMITH
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The place is named after a fake nobleman from Europe who probably never set foot here before getting killed in the American Revolution.

The "DeKalb" name has seemed an odd fit for a county that for most of its 181 years has not been particularly pretentious. Its roads are more pockmarked, its neighborhoods older and quainter and its government buildings and malls generally less flashy than those of surrounding suburbs.

But all that's changing. And it's not just because of the new Mall at Stonecrest in the southeastern corner of the county or the completion of a seven-story courthouse annex at the county seat in Decatur.

Setting the tone is county Chief Executive Officer Vernon Jones, a savvy pol who, midway through his first term, began working to raise DeKalb's national profile. "We're not Mayberry anymore," Jones said.

Jones has taken numerous trips to Washington to lobby on behalf of the county.

And the feds are paying more attention to DeKalb. The county is home to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, whose profile has grown since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

As the county's first elected African-American CEO, Jones is seen by some observers as a rival to Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin as a voice for the metro area's black population. But Jones may have future political rivals of his own -- among them U.S. Rep. Denise Majette (D-Ga.), who stunned pundits with her upset primary defeat of former Rep. Cynthia McKinney.

DeKalb is home to the largest Democratic constituency in Georgia, key to any Democratic presidential candidate's aspirations to carry the state.

When those candidates come to the county named after Baron Johann DeKalb (he added the "Baron" to become a military officer), they won't find a county anything like the place a historian once described as inhabited by "plain people . . . poor, not highly educated."

Instead they will find an urbanized county of nearly 700,000 people, the most diverse county in Georgia, with ethnic Asians and Latinos as well as one of the most prosperous black middle-class communities in the nation.

Baron DeKalb, who aspired to greatness, likely would be pleased.

Note: Permission requested to post the information so that future readers here may find this article of historical and genealogical information -

Go to: GeorgiaGenWeb Dekalb County