Statesboro Regional Library
Contributed by Ann L. Sherman and Jane L. Splawn
Statesboro Regional Library
124 South Main Street
Statesboro, Georgia 30458
Telephone: (912) 7641340
Hours: MondayThursday, 9:00 a.m.8:00 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 9:00 a.m.6:00 p.m.
Web Site Address: www.srls.public.lib.ga.us/genealogy.html
Contact Person: Janice Strickland, Reference & Genealogy Librarian
Directions to and Parking at the Library
From I-16 take Exit 116 and go north on U.S. 25 approximately 11.5 miles. Turn right on East Grady Street and immediately turn left into the parking lot of the library, which is located at the corner of U.S. 25 (South Main Street) and East Grady Street. Handicap access is available.
History of the Area
Bulloch County was created in 1796 from Screven and Bryan Counties. It encompassed the area that had originally been Saint Phillip Parish, which was established in 1758. The county was named in honor of Archibald Bulloch, a native of Charleston, South Carolina, and owner of a large plantation on the Savannah River. Bulloch was active in the early efforts to organize the government of the new state of Georgia. He was elected one of its early governors but died before he could serve.
After the Revolutionary War the state, in an effort to attract new settlers, offered free land to all proven soldiers who served in the conflict for independence. Families from primarily Pennsylvania, Virginia, and the Carolinas came to Georgia, and many settled in Bulloch County.
In 1803 the Georgia Legislature passed an act to create the town of Statesborough as the county seat. Two hundred acres in the middle of the county were donated for the site by George Sibbald, a large landowner. Justices of the Inferior Court were appointed, and by 1806 a log courthouse was built. In 1866 Statesborough was renamed Statesboro. It is the only Statesboro in the United States, and the circumstances of its name selection are unknown.
Bulloch was an agricultural county, and cotton was it main crop. After the Civil War timber and turpentine became important industries. In 1906 Statesboro was selected as the site for the First District Agricultural School, which is now Georgia Southern University.
Location of Genealogical Materials
The genealogical collection of this beautiful library is housed in the Brannen Room, the adjacent Georgia History Room, and the Microfilm Workroom, all located to the right of the main entrance. Its focus is on Georgia and the Southeast and primarily on Bulloch County and southeastern Georgia.
Serendipity
All sorts of records of Bulloch County and the surrounding area have been abstracted and compiled primarily by volunteers. These books are for sale by the library. The library web site should be checked, as orders will be mailed.
Finding Aids and Internet Access
Inside the Microfilm Workroom are four computers, all with printing capabilities. Two of them provide Internet access, and two are for CD-Rom use only. The cost of copies is ten cents each and should be paid at the Reference Desk. One computer, located in the Georgia History Room, is for use of the library catalog only.
In the Brannen Room, to the left of its entrance, is a large surname file that indexes names found in the periodicals Family Puzzlers and Huxford Genealogical Society Magazine.
Books
A fine collection of approximately 7,000 books is arranged by the Dewey Decimal System. There are good sections on Georgia county records, military records, Georgia county census abstracts, family histories, and newspaper abstracts of births, marriages, and deaths of Bulloch, Candler, and Evans Counties. A dedicated group of volunteers, besides helping with general maintenance of the collection, has greatly contributed to the collection of county record and newspaper abstracts. Some books of interest are:
· DAR Lineage Books (128 volumes)
· Virginia Colonial Abstracts (3 volumes)
· Records of Onslow County, North Carolina, 17341850
· Encyclopedia of Quaker Genealogy (6 volumes)
· South Carolina Journal Petitions (5 volumes)
· Abstracts of Wills of South Carolina (3 volumes)
· Pennsylvania German Church Records (3 volumes)
· Pension Roll of 1835 (4 volumes)
· Land Plat Book A (17961890), Bulloch County, Georgia
· North Carolina Genealogies (5 volumes)
· Lineages of Members of the National Society of the Sons and Daughters of the
Pilgrims (3 volumes)
· The Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies (118 volumes)
· Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies (30 volumes with index)
· Bulloch County [Georgia] Cemeteries (7 volumes with index)
Periodicals
Current issues of several genealogical periodicals are on display in the Georgia History Room. A labeled section of bound periodicals for Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina is located in the Brannen Room on a back wall. Several other bound publications are shelved among the regular books. Included are:
· Georgia Genealogical Magazine (19611998)
· Central Georgia Genealogical Society Quarterly (19792003)
· Georgia Pioneers Genealogical Magazine (19641987)
· The North Carolinian (19551975)
· The South Carolina Magazine of Ancestral Research (19732004)
· Huxford Genealogical Society Magazine (19742004)
Unbound periodicals are housed in boxes labeled with the name of the publication but in some cases with no date-ranges shown. Included are the following periodicals:
· Genealogical Computing
· New England Historical & Genealogical Register (18471887)
· The Connecticut Nutmegger
· South Carolina Historical Magazine (19601989)
Maps
Located on the right side of the Brannen Room is a map filing cabinet that contains historical maps, some from the 19th century. Included in ten drawers are maps of Bulloch County; miscellaneous Georgia maps; United States, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia maps; additional miscellaneous maps; and large family charts.
City Directories
The only directories available are for Statesboro, 1959present.
Telephone Directories
Miscellaneous directories for Statesboro from 1920 to the present are available only through a staff member.
Manuscripts
At the entry to the Brannen Room is a filing cabinet of material pertaining to Statesboro and the surrounding area. It is arranged by subject area.
Four additional filing cabinets contain family files arranged alphabetically by surname. These vertical files contain various manuscripts, newspaper clippings, and the like. Newspaper sources are given. All libraries in the system have collections unique to the different areas served.
The Leonardo Andrea Collection is shelved in the book area under the call number 929.2A.
The Obit File houses newspaper obituary notices from various area towns. Newspaper sources are given. The file was started in the late 1970s but also contains some obituaries prior to 1970.
Copying Machines
One copier is located in the main part of the library, just outside the Georgia History Room. Copies are ten cents each. Other copying machines are located near the front entrance of the library.
Microfilm
Microforms are located in the Microfilm Workroom, accessed through a door on the right side of the Georgia History Room and then through a second door to the left. The microfilm collection includes:
· Bulloch County court records, 17961969
· Miscellaneous court records from other Georgia counties
· Various newspapers with incomplete runs for Statesboro (19081999), Sandersville (18521903), Louisville (17991900), and Waynesville (18591900)
· Various newspapers for other Southeast Georgia towns
· Georgia census records, 18201920; Georgia Soundex with sporadic rolls for 1880 and 1910; Georgia mortality records, 1880 only; slave schedules for a number of Georgia counties; 1850 and 1860; and 1930 census for part of Chatham County through Madison County
· Various Florida census schedules for 18301900 with two rolls of its 1880 Soundex
· Leon Hollingsworth Genealogical Card File, AZ
· Miscellaneous collection for several Georgia counties of church records, court records, agriculture and manufacturing schedules, and soldiers of WWI
· Georgia Confederate Service Records and Georgia Adjutant General Militia Enrollment Lists, 1864
· Index to North Carolina Death Certificates, 19091934
Microfiche
The collection includes
· Georgia Marriage Register, 19641998
· Georgia Death Index, 19191998
· Miscellaneous group of IGI records and Everton published computerized family files and group sheets.
CD-Rom Collection
Available are CDs from Family Tree Maker; World Family Tree (WFT), 152; other records in the WFT Automated Archives Collection; the Family Search Collection including IGI records and records from miscellaneous other countries; the SAR Patriot Index; and the War Graves Register. CDs from Ancestry and PERSI are available but may not be as up-to-date as information found on the Internet.
Microform Reader-Copiers
Four microform reader-copiers are available. Copying is ten cents per page.
Other Area Attractions
The Averitt Center for the Arts at 33 East Main Street is operated by the Statesboro Arts Council. It provides a venue for community art exhibits and performances and is housed in the building of the old Bank of Statesboro, which operated from 1895 to 1932.
The Jaeckel Hotel, which opened in 1905, was famous for its fine accommodations and for the many celebrities who stayed there. Henry Ford, William Jennings Bryan, and Cornelius Vanderbilt were among its visitors. The building is used today as the Statesboro City Hall.
The Georgia Southern Botanical Garden at 1505 Bland Avenue had its beginning as a farm over eighty years ago and features artifacts from the Bland Farm and native flora of the southeastern coastal plain. Free tours are given. Call (912) 8711149.
Georgia Southern Museum on Sweetheart Circle on the Georgia Southern University campus features a Hall of Natural History, a fossil collection, and rotating exhibits. The forty million-year-old Vogtile Whale fossil, which is the oldest one discovered in North America, is found here.
The Raptor and Wildlife Education Center, also located on the GSU campus, has six different habitat displays for eleven species of birds of prey. Included are an old-growth forest, a wetlands area, and a mountain display. Self-guided tours are available. Call (912) 6810831.
| 
