BOOK REVIEWS

Wilkes County, Georgia, Tax Records, 1785-1805
compiled by Frank Parker Hudson

1996. 2 Volumes, 1520 pp. Hardcover
$50.00 postpaid [Georgia residents add $1.25 sales tax]
Mail to:
Georgia Genealogical Society
P.O. Box 550247
Atlanta, GA 30308-550247

All proceeds will benefit the preservation of the original county records - "loose records project".

This is the culmination of over thirty years' work for Mr. Hudson, who has been a friend to Georgia genealogy and to the Georgia Genealogical Society in many ways. He was presented GGS's Outstanding Achievement Award in the Field of Genealogy on December 6, 1997.

Included are over 47,000 tax returns for Wilkes County, which contained in 1790 over 45% of free persons living in Georgia. This project covers all extant tax returns for the period. All data of genealogical significance has been included. Included in the data is the microfilm roll number and frame number for easy location of the original tax list. Some of these lists had not been filmed previously. The Georgia Archives, with a grant form the Taylor Foundation, has filmed these and refilmed others to provide the frame numbers.

Appendices include unusual variant spellings of surnames; the counties in which watercourses were then found, identifying the principal river of which a creek was a tributary; and a list of militia captains for Wilkes from 1806-1830 to use for tracing later tax returns. In the back of each book is a page devoted to "Quick use of this book," which everyone should read before tackling the 1520 pages.

Maps are included and show locations of militia districts for 1785, 1790, 1793, 1797, 1804, and 1805, using current maps as backgrounds. An 1805 plat of the town of Washington is included. Notes identify the militia districts of counties taken out of Wilkes in which former residents of Wilkes may be located in the year following the creation of the new counties. The area encompassed by Wilkes County in the year 1785 includes all of the area now in Lincoln, Elbert, and Wilkes counties; most of the area of Oglethorpe, Madison, Taliaferro, and Warren counties; half of Hart County, and parts of Glascock, Clarke, Greene, Hancock, and McDuffie counties.

Mr. Hudson was aided greatly in the publication of these books by the Taylor Foundation. This work is an excellent example of the benefit this foundation has to genealogy in Georgia. Without this grant, the books would cost much more. Mr. Hudson is asking buyers to donate part of the cost of the book, the part that would eventually be profit for him, to preserve, film, and publish the "loose records" which are still in Georgia courthouses. This donation is the check which goes to the Georgia Genealogical Society, and should be a tax deduction for the purchaser.

Frank Hudson has once again benefitted Georgians and all who descend from Georgians by the publication, at great expense of his time, of this book. In addition, his donation of his profits for preservation of the original county records will benefit Georgians for generations to come.

Index to Georgia's Federal Naturalization Records to 1950 (Excluding Military Petitions)
by Linda Woodward Geiger, CGRS, and Meyer L. Frankel

221 pp. Softcover. $20 postpaid from Georgia Genealogical Society
P.O.Box 550247
Atlanta, GA 30308-550247

These records are taken from the federal courts in Georgia. The book contains the names of over 10,00 persons who filed a declaration of intention or a petition for naturalization before 1950. These documents are housed presently at the national Archives Southeast Branch, in East Point,Georgia. Although the index includes naturalizations from the early 1800s, until 1906 these declarations and petitions could be filed in any court, and therefore there are not as many filed in the federal court as after 1906. The book contains far more 20th century naturalizations, and is most useful for immigrants of the last hundred years.

The introduction is very informative on the progress of the naturalization process. It also details the process for finding and obtaining copies of these records. An appendix lists other federal naturalization records located at the National Archives, Southeast Region. petitions could be filed in any court, and therefore there are not as many filed in the federal court as after 1906. The book contains far more 20th century naturalizations, and is most useful for immigrants of the last hundred years.

The introduction is very informative on the progress of the naturalization process. It also details the process for finding and obtaining copies of these records. An appendix lists other federal naturalization records located at the National Archives, Southeast Region.