Valdosta State University Archives map and plat collections now available online

Three map and plat collections 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. 

These resources belong to Valdosta State University Archives. They have been made available online thanks in part to the DLG’s Competitive Digitization grant program, a funding opportunity intended to broaden DLG partner participation for statewide historic digitization projects. 

The three digital collections are:

  • Deeds and Plats, Georgia, available at dlg.usg.edu/collection/valdosta_ms18, 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, available at dlg.usg.edu/collection/valdosta_ms21, which includes 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, available at dlg.usg.edu/collection/valdosta_ms165, a land grant dated June 1767 assigned 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.

Digitization, description, and online access to these collections provide historical value to Georgia genealogists, and researchers of South Georgia and its development. 

John G. Crowley, associate professor in the department of history at Valdosta State University notes: “Materials such as these are invaluable to genealogists and historians. They reveal patterns of land use, settlement, industrial development, and those involved in such enterprises. For the genealogist, land records are a source of general background information on individuals and families, establish patterns of movement and employment, and often reveal family relationships otherwise unknown or unproven. Southern historians, local historians, and genealogists both amateur and professional will profit enormously from improved access to this material.”

Chris Meyers, professor of history at Valdosta State University states: “The collections to be digitized represent what a genealogist would consider a prized find. Deed records fill significant gaps in genealogical research and making these records available to all, through digitization, represents a significant service to all genealogists.” 

Link to featured image:

Royal Land Grant, St. Matthews Parish, Georgia, 1767/ Treutlen land grant/ Treutlen Deed

hdl.handle.net/10428/3946 

Land grant dated June 1767 assigned by King George III of England conveying four hundred acres of land in the parish of Saint Matthew, Georgia to John Adam Treutlen. Treutlen became Georgia’s first governor in 1777.

Royal Land Grant, St. Matthews Parish, Georgia, 1767/ Treutlen land grant/ Treutlen Deed, page 1
Royal Land Grant, St. Matthews Parish, Georgia, 1767/ Treutlen land grant/ Treutlen Deed, page 2

About Valdosta State University Archives and Special Collections

 The VSU Archives and Special Collections supports the University’s commitment to scholarly and creative work, enhances instructional effectiveness, encourages faculty scholarly pursuits, and supports research in selective areas of institutional strength focused on regional need by collecting, preserving, and providing access to records of enduring historical value documenting the history and development of VSU and the surrounding South Georgia region and in support of VSU curriculum. Visit valdosta.edu/academics/library/depts/archives-and-special-collections/

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Resources related to the historic role of the Presbyterian Church in Georgia now freely available online

ATHENS, Ga. — Three new collections featuring historical resources related to the Presbyterian Church, Presbyterian educators, and their role in Georgia history are now available through the Digital Library of Georgia. 

Housed at Columbia Theological Seminary, the resources are freely available online thanks, in part, to the DLG’s competitive digitization grant program, a funding opportunity intended to broaden DLG partner participation in statewide historic digitization projects.

The three digital collections are:

  • Joseph R. Wilson papers, from the late 1800s, including the sermons of Presbyterian minister and educator Joseph Ruggles Wilson dating 1858 to 1893. View at dlg.usg.edu/collection/gcl_wilson.

Wilson served as pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Augusta, Ga., and at First Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, N.C. He also taught at Columbia Theological Seminary and Southwestern Presbyterian University and was the father of President Woodrow Wilson.

  • John Newton Waddel papers, 1821‐1881, including manuscripts and print material belonging to John Newton Waddel (1812-1895) and Moses Waddel (1770-1840). The father and son were Presbyterian ministers and educators in Georgia and Mississippi. View at dlg.usg.edu/collection/gcl_waddel.

Moses Waddel served as the fifth president of the University of Georgia. John Newton Waddel served as president of Presbyterian Synodical College in LaGrange, Tenn., and as chancellor of the University of Mississippi. 

  • Presbyterian Church in the U.S. Presbytery of Hopewell minutes, 1797‐1866, the official minutes of the Presbytery of Hopewell, the first Presbytery in the state of Georgia. View at dlg.usg.edu/collection/gcl_hopewell.

The Hopewell minutes provide descriptions of early missionary efforts among Native Americans, deliberations about slavery, and other collective decisions that offer perspectives from the state of Georgia between the Revolutionary War through the Civil War. Special thanks to the Northeast Georgia Presbytery for permitting the digitization of these records.

Erskine Clarke, professor emeritus of U.S. religious history at Columbia Theological Seminary, describes the research significance of these three collections: 

“The Wilson sermons will have interest for anyone wishing to probe the religious life of Woodrow Wilson. In addition, they will provide insight into the theological assumptions and rhetorical and homiletical strategies of an influential nineteenth-century Georgia pastor. 

“Presbytery minutes are rich resources for cultural and religious history, and the years of the Hopewell minutes (1797-1866) will be of great interest to historians working in that period of Georgia history. 

“The links with the University of Georgia presidents are astonishing. The Waddel papers are even more exciting…To have these important documents available online will be a great gift to those who in the future explore the history of Georgia.”

About Columbia Theological Seminary

Columbia Theological Seminary exists to educate and nurture faithful, imaginative, and effective leaders for the sake of the church and the world. It is an educational institution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and a community of theological inquiry, leadership development, and formation for ministry in the service of the church of Jesus Christ. Visit ctsnet.edu.

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