While to each of the other counties was accorded a representation of ten members, fourteen were allowed to Liberty in consideration of its extent and importance. Sunbury was permitted two special and additional members to represent the trade of the place. The land was held by the Creek Indians prior to the creation of the parishes. The county was named in honor of Button Gwinnett and Lyman Hall, both of Midway, who were Georgia's first delegates to the Continental Congress. They were also signers of the Declaration of Independence.

Lyman Hall moved to present day Liberty County where he served as a physician to the early citizens of the county. Elected Governor of Georgia in 1783, he became the first in that office to exercise strong executive leadership. An advocate of public schools, Hall helped to charter the University of Georgia. The county's historical sites include the Midway Museum, located in a typical 18th-century house; the Dorchester Church built in 1854; and Fort Morris. Naturalist, mathematician and scholar Louis LeConte, for whom the LeConte pear was named, resided in Liberty County. His home is now the site of the LeConte Botanical Gardens. Button Gwinnett, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, was from St. Catherine's Island in Liberty County.

During 1789, the state legislature took land from Liberty County to enlarge Glynn County. The Legislature created McIntosh County (1793) and Long County (1920) from Liberty County. And between 1794 and 1871, there were a number of acts shifting small amounts of land between Liberty and McIntosh counties.

Today, Liberty's neighboring counties are: Long, Tatnall, Evans, Bryan and McIntosh. To research a GAGenWeb county site outside the Liberty county area, visit the GAGenWeb counties portal.

Items marked with * are links to USGenWeb Archives or the USGenWeb Census Projects data pages and are not searched by the search engine on this page. Be sure to visit the archives to search those files.

Census Records

1850 Federal Census Index *
1860 Federal Census Images *
1860 Mortality Schedules
1880 Federal Census*
1880 Mortality Schedules *
1910 Federal Census *
1920 Federal Census *
1930 Federal Census*

Cemetery Records

Bethel Church *
Brannen Family *
Cypress Slash Congregational Church *
Daniel Family *
Deloach Family *
Elders Family *
Fleming Family *
Gaulding Family *
Golden Family *
Hendry Family *
Midway *
Parker-Sapp Family *
Pinholster Family *
Pleasant Grove AME Church *
Poppell-Wells Family *
Porter Family *
James Osgood Rahn Family *
Rimes (Strum Bay Methodist Church) *
South Salem Church *
St. Peters Church *
Strum Bay - Stewart Town *
Taylor's Creek Methodist Church *
Old Taylor's Creek *
Thomas Hill Methodist Church *
Tom's Creek *
Trinity Church *
Unamed *
Walthourville Presbyterian Church *
Warnell *
Well's Family *
Zoucks Family *

Biographical Records

Moses Allen Biography
Augustus Octavius Bacon Biography
Augustus O. Bacon Biography
William Munford Baker Biography
Daniel Marcus Bradley, M.D. Biography
Walter Edward Bradley Biography
May Belle Bradwell Obituary: 1891
Nathan Brownson Biography
David Fleming Chapman Biography
Walter Scott Chisolm Obituary: 1890
James Hamilton Couper Biography
John Couper Biography
John W. Dukes Biography
Jacob H. Dunham Biography
Elizabeth Dunwody Biography: 1876
John Elliott Biography
Rev. Charles S. Gaulden *
Francis Robert Goulding Biography
Button Gwinnett *
Dr. Lyman Hall Newspaper Article *
Dr. Lyman Hall Biography
Lyman Hall Biography
Thomas Hutson Harden Biography
William Harden Biography
Stephen Nathan Harris Biography
John McKinstry Hendry Biography
Reuben Hitchcock Biography
David Hope *
Joseph Jones *
Samuel Spry Law Biography
Joseph LeConte Obituary: 1901
Lewis LeConte Death Notice: 1851
Thomas Lewis Biography
Mrs. Ann McIntosh Obituary
Maria Jane McIntosh Obituary and Notes
Rev. William McWhir Biography
Henry Mitchell Biography
Joseph Way Moody DDS Biography
Newton J. Norman Biography
Dwight Rogers Biography
Charles O. Screven Biography
John Stevens Biography
Col. James Oglethorpe Varnedoe Biography
George Walton *
Cyrus West Obituary: 1889
John Winn Biography
Frederick H. Winston Obituary: 1904
Joseph Wood Biography
Distinguished Persons of Liberty County

Probate Records
James Andrew *
Henry Austin *
Joseph Austin *
Mary Austin *
Sarah Ann Austin *
Nathaniel Hawthorne *
Clayborn Hinson *
Parmenas Way *

Property Records

Town of Sunbury Lot Owners: 1770s
Survey Records: 1802 *
1827 Georgia Lottery: Liberty Residents *
Index to Land Grants: L *
John Andrews Land Grant *
James Andrew Land Grant *
Coddington-Rees Conveyence *
Deed Book F: L *
Head Right Grants 1789 - 1802 *
Samuel Jones Land Grant *
Edmond Lankford Land Grant *
Lankford-Coleman Deed *
1821 Georgia Land Lottery: Liberty Fortunates
1827 Georgia Land Lottery: Liberty Fortunates
Gainey Family Deed: 1803
John Stevens to Midway Congregation Deed: 1766
Old Midway Article and Deed
St. Catherine's Island Deeds: 1758-60
Revolutionary War Bounty Land List

Church Records

Midway Presbyterian Church History
Taylor's Creek Methodist Church *
Walthourville Presbyterian Church *
Midway Church Birth Records: 1746-1863
Midway Church Baptism Records: 1754-1863
Midway Church Marriage Records: 1753-1858
Midway Church Death Records: 1752-1858
Officers of Midway Church: 1735-1867

General Liberty County History

The Sunbury Settlement *
Taylor's Creek Lodge No. 96 *
Sunbury Town and Cemetery *
Liberty County History: 1854
Notes on Early Liberty County History
A History of Midway Community
Early Settlers of Liberty County
The Sunbury Academy
The Old Courthouse Cannon
Travels in St. John's Parish: 1773
Screven-Stewart Monument Dedication: 1915
The Oldest Church in Georgia

Liberty County Research Directory

Be sure to visit the Liberty County GAGenWeb Research Directory. This page gives contact information for various Liberty County and Georgia state governmental agencies, libraries and newspapers. Also included on this page is expanded information on Liberty County research source material.

What's New

If you are a repeat visitor to the Liberty County GAGenWeb, the data update page is an excellent source to show you what new data has been added to the site since your last visit. Data files are listed in reverse chronological order.

Digital Image Collection

Historical Maps of Liberty County
Archival Photographs of Liberty County
Early Map of Fort Morris
Archival Photographs of Midway Church
1794 Coastal Georgia Parish Map

Marriage Records

Liberty County Marriages: 1785-1860
Brownson-McLean Marriage Contract

Military Records

1813 Sea Coast Defense Legislation *
Civil War: Liberty Guards Roster *
Civil War: Liberty Independent Troop Roster *
Civil War: Liberty Volunteers Roster *
Civil War: Altamaha Scouts Roster *
Liberty County Militia Districts
15th District Liberty County Petition: 1862
Georgia Freedmen Meeting: Savannah, 1865
Liberty County Reserve Militia Letter: 1864
Atlantic Blockading: St. Catherine's Island: 1863
Capture of the Sloop Annie Thompson: 1864
Jones Civil War Journal: December 1861
A History of the Liberty Independent Troop

Newspaper Records

St. John's Parish Advertisements: 1763-1769
Liberty County Newspaper Articles: 1786-1829
Liberty County Advertisements: 1799
Liberty County Newspaper Articles: 1868-1885
Liberty County Newspaper Articles: 1886-1901
Liberty County Newspaper Articles: 1902-1916

Miscellaneous Records

Liberty County Manumission Records *
Midway Committee Letter to George Washington
Continental Congress Journal: 1775
Georgia Constitutional Convention: 1788
Senate and House Items: 1794-1850
Superior Court Grand Jurors: 1783
John Jones Family Letters: 1779
George W. Walthour Letter: 1851
Williamsburg Church Immigrants
The Great 1898 Hurricane
Dorchester Academy Graduation: 1896
Henry B. Steuart Letter from Liberia: 1853
Colonel Quarterman Estate Sale: 1872
Rory McIntosh Visit to Sunbury
Quarterman Silver Goblet Returned: 1885
The Murder of Richmond H. Peacock: 1881
Darien Committee Resolution: 1775
New Inverness Petition: 1739
Sunbury Academy Student List: 1807
A British Spy in Liberty County: 1812
Scholars in Liberty: July 4, 1888
Resolution: August, 1870
The Cornerstone Relaid: 1889
The Rudolph-Ney Mystery

Query Boards and Mailings Lists

Liberty County GAGenWeb Queries, Surname Registry and Lookups Page
Liberty County GenForum Board
Liberty County Ancestry Board
Liberty County Ancestry Mailing List
Georgia GenForum Board
Georgia Ancestry Board
Miscellaneous Georgia Mailing List

African Ancestral Genealogy Links

AfriGeneas 
African American Cemeteries Online
Cyndi's List: African-American
African-American Genealogy on the Web
About.com: African-American Genealogy
Sankofa's African Slave Genealogy
The Freedmen's Bureau Online
Library of Congress: African American Perspectives
Genforum: African American Forum
 

American Civil War Research Links 

The United States Civil War Center
Confederate Regimental History Links
Union Regimental History Links
American Civil War Portal 

Excellent Research Links

The Fort Stewart Cemeteries database is now available in a searchable form on the web. This excellent site contains a full transcription of many old Liberty County cemeteries.

The Tombstone Transcription Project lists cemeteries for Liberty County and includes those that are found within county lines on Fort Stewart property.

The Historical Atlas of Georgia Counties, created by Carl Vinson Institute of Government, The University of Georgia, has many historical maps of Liberty County. Also located at the Carl Vinson Institute of Government is the Georgia Historical Markers project, which includes a transcript of and photographs of historical markers in Liberty County.

The Georgia 1885 Atlas and Gazetteer contains a listing of all Georgia towns and communities in 1885 as well as links to Georgia county maps from the Cram's Unrivaled Family Atlas of the World from 1885.

The Vanishing Georgia Photographic Collection of over 18,000 images is the result of a Georgia Archives project begun in the mid-1970s to locate and copy historically significant photographs held by individuals throughout Georgia. Vanishing Georgia's historical photographs document the economic, social, cultural, and political history of the state. The project visited 66 counties and includes images from almost all of Georgia's counties including Liberty County. Be sure to visit this excellent site! 

The 1880 US Federal Census  located at the LDS Family Search site is an excellent resource! Be sure to look for your Liberty County ancestors in this massive database of the entire US 1880 Federal Census. 

The National Register of Historic Places Liberty County Inventory page contains interesting information about historic sites in Liberty County. 

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Family History Library Catalog Liberty County listings gives detailed information on what is available pertaining to Liberty County. 

The Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System is an excellent resource from the US National Park Service. This system includes a computerized database containing basic facts about servicemen who served during the Civil War. The database currently contains approximately 2.7 million soldier names from over 30 states and territories.

Documenting the American South is an electronic collection sponsored by the Academic Affairs Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It provides access to digitized primary materials that offer Southern perspectives on American history and culture. It supplies teachers, students, and researchers at every educational level with a wide array of titles they can use for reference, studying, teaching, and research. 

Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet: US - Georgia, contains an abundance of excellent links to various internet sites dealing with Georgia genealogy and history. 

The Online Books Page History: United States (Regional), and the Americas Section, contains links to scores of valuable 19th century and earlier regional histories, biographies and other works.

Making of America, (MoA) is a digital library of primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction. The collection is particularly strong in the subject areas of education, psychology, American history, sociology, religion, and science and technology. The collection currently contains approximately 8,500 books and 50,000 journal articles with 19th century imprints. 

Looking for a location in Liberty County? If so try the USGS GNIS database. Contains information on cemeteries, creeks, post offices and much more! 

The Political Graveyard Liberty County page contains several valuable links pertaining to Liberty County as well as links to biographies of politicians who were either born in, or were residents of  Liberty County. 

An excellent contemporary map of Liberty County is the Georgia Department of Transportation map. This detailed map shows roads, creeks, communities and much more. This map is in PDF format.

Learn About Liberty County

The Liberty County site at Georgia.gov has many interesting facts about Liberty County.

The Liberty County Chamber of Commerce site offers all types of information about the county, including many sites of interest.

The Official Site of the  County of Liberty contains detailed information about the county.

The Historic Liberty Trail is a unique driving tour offering a diverse experience integrating the history, culture, and ecology of Liberty County.

The Liberty County Development Authority site contains detailed information about the county, including population statistics and community information.

For additional source material relating to Liberty County, please visit the USGenWeb Archives Liberty County site.