Emanuel County Land Plat Index, Book A, 1813

EMANUEL COUNTY LAND PLAT BOOK A, 1813-1829

Part of the GAGenWeb & USGenWeb Projects

Emanuel County was created by an act of the legislature passed December 10, 1812, its territory being carved out of the older counties of Bulloch and Montgomery. In this book are recorded copies of plats of surveys made under the earliest land warrants issued by the land courts of Emanuel County. This book does not, however, contain the earliest land grant records for Emanuel County since many grants had already been issued while the area was still a part of Bulloch and Montgomery Counties.

Almost all of the plats recorded herein were certified by Travis Thigpin, the first county surveyor. A few were certified by Reuben Neel and John Chason, later county surveyors. On page 84 appears the plat of the tract laid off for the county seat in pursuance of the legislative acts of December 6, 1813 and November 18, 1814 (Lucius Q. C. Lamar, A Compilation of the Laws of the State of Georgia, Augusta, 1821, pages 204-06 and 210). The central portion of the city of Swainsboro stands on this site today.

Many pages in this book are missing and the numbers of some of the pages in the front of the book could not be determined. Those page numbers that could not be determined are designated by a "---" in the index. Copies of the missing plats can be obtained from the Surveyor General Department, Secretary of State, Atlanta, Georgia.

Under the headright system of land granting, which was in effect over much of Georgia in the early 1800's, each head of a family was entitled to a grant of two hundred acres plus fifty additional acres for each family member or slave. To obtain the grant the applicant would appear before the land court in the county in which the land he desired was located and take a simple, oral oath attestingto the fact that he was entitled to a grant. The land courts were made up of three justices of the peace, the one with the senior commission presiding.. If the land court approved, the applicant was issued a warrant: for a survey which described, as far as possible, the tract desired. The applicant presented the warrant to the county surveyor who had the responsibility of laying the tract off, making a plat of it, and then transmitting the warrant and plat to the state surveyor general. In addition the county surveyor was required to advertise the survey for three months after it was performed. Upon receiving the warrant and plat the surveyor general made out a grant which he and the governor signed. The grant was then sent to the county Surveyor who recorded it and delivered it to the grantee. For all of this the applicant paid for the survey, the paper work, and a nominal fee for the land.

Farris W. Cadle

Ann C. Farrar

Swainsboro, Ga.

October,1980

| Alman - Claxton | Covanah - Driggers | Duglass - Gregory |