As recipients of a service grant awarded earlier in 2021, the Greater Clarks Hill Regional Library System has worked in partnership with the Digital Library of Georgia to release court records dating back to the 1700s and funeral home records from the mid-twentieth century available online.
These courthouse and funeral home records will serve genealogical researchers looking for information about ancestors from east-central Georgia, a historically underdocumented region of the state, and will provide information about Lincoln County residents dating back to the eighteenth century, and as far forward as the mid-twentieth century.
The first collection, Lincoln County Courthouse Records, includes court documents that cover a variety of areas such as court cases, assault charges, writs of fieri facias (FIFAs), cases against the state of Georgia, power of attorney documents (POAs), bench warrants, petitions, summons, slander charges, illegitimate children cases, affidavits, animal appraisals, CASAs, debt collections, evictions, and plats) dating from 1700-2020.
The next collection, Rees Funeral Home Records, includes obituaries and other funeral arrangement details for some residents or former residents of Lincoln County, with dates ranging from the 1940s to the 1960s.
Mallory Harris, a librarian at the Columbia County Librarian, describes the importance of these collections to Georgia residents:
“The Rees Funeral Home Funeral Records collection contains obituaries from a Lincoln County funeral home. We selected these obituaries because they contain family background and general information about people with ties to the Lincoln County area and can especially help genealogists with discovering research leads.
The Lincoln County Courthouse Records contain legal information from affidavits to summons dating back to the 1700s. We also chose to include the courthouse records because they are excellent primary sources that discuss many kinds of legal proceedings which took place in Lincoln County history and could serve as great evidence in historical research for that area.”
Kathleen Reichl, the staff coordinator for the Columbia County Library Genealogy Club emphasizes:
“As a genealogist myself, I have personally used these records, as have many of my patrons and genealogy club members. We find them invaluable.”
View the entire Rees Funeral Home Funeral Records collection online
View the entire Lincoln County Courthouse Records collection online
About the Greater Clarks Hill Regional Library System
The Greater Clarks Hill Regional Library System aims to provide quality library services and materials to children and adults in the community in order to meet their informational, recreational, and educational reading needs. Visit gchrl.org/.
Selected images from the collections:
Title (image shown above): Letters, Court Strays-B1-1797-1799, Lincoln County Courthouse records.
Description: Recorded on the front page: 1797 12 April Stray Ware John 1797 11 March Gray James Ware Robert.
Title: Rees Funeral Home Records. Obituaries. Late 1940, 1950, 1960. Surnames A-C, Rees Funeral Home Funeral Records collection.Description: Rees Funeral home records and obituaries dating from the late 1940s to the 1960s, including the surnames A-C.
