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Contributed by Ann L. Sherman and Jane L. Splawn
To help family researchers make better use of genealogical resources in Georgia, this series of articles will focus on several libraries with good genealogical collections and thus provide guidelines as to what can be found in different areas of the state. If there is a particular library that you would like to see reviewed, please provide the contributors with the name, address, and telephone number of the library and the name of the librarian to contact.
Remarks that are high-lighted indicate revisions provided by Ellen Payne Odom Genealogy Library on 14 March 2007.
Ellen Payne Odom Genealogy Library
204 5th Street
Moultrie, Georgia 31768
Telephone: (229) 985-6540
Fax: (229) 985-0936
Hours: Monday-Saturday, 8:30 a.m.– 5:30 p.m.
Contact Person: Irene Godwin, Genealogist
We are fortunate that our entire library is undergoing renovation. We are very excited that the physical space for the Odom Library will almost double. Of course, new carpet, fresh paint and additional work space always improve the atmosphere of any area but we are especially pleased with the addition of more shelving that will allow access to many more resources for patrons. Wireless Internet access for patrons is another positive feature of the renovation.
Directions to and Parking at the Library
The Ellen Payne Odom Genealogy Library is in the same building as the Moultrie/Colquitt County Library, located at the corner of Fifth Street and First Avenue. Parking is to the side of the building with handicap access through the side door.
History of the Area
From the land of the Creek and Seminole Indians, Colquitt County was created in 1856 from a part of Thomas County that had originally been in Irwin County. It was named for Walter T. Colquitt, a Virginian by birth who came as a child to Hancock County, Georgia, with his parents. He was a member of the Georgia State Senate, later a member of the United States House of Representatives and Senate, and a local Methodist minister.
Moultrie, the county seat, was incorporated in 1859. Its original name was Ocklockney because it is located on the river of that name. In 1857 its name was changed to Moultrie in honor of General William Moultrie, veteran of the Revolutionary War and governor of South Carolina.
The chief industry in Colquitt County is farming. Principal crops are cotton, peanuts, pecans and vegetables. Moultrie is called “South Georgia Market Place.”
Location of Genealogical Materials
The Ellen Payne Odom Genealogy Library is in a separate area of the main library building. From the side-door entry, it is located on the left side. The library has, in addition to its general collection, a room devoted to information on over one hundred Scottish clans. Its free publication, Family Tree, is issued bi-monthly and contains much information about current activities.
Finding Aids and Internet Access
A notebook on top of microfilm cabinet lists what is available on film except newspapers. This notebook is full of valuable tips and help to the researcher.
A card catalog contains the original listings of books but is being put into the library Internet System via the Dewey Decimal System as a part of the Georgia Pines System. Anyone in the state of Georgia with a Pines Library card can participate in this system. (See the heading below for information on Internet access.)
Books
An outstanding collection is shelved using a modified Dewey Decimal System. Over five hundred family histories from New England and the South are in a group. In addition, there are county histories, church records, county court records, UDC/DAR/Colonial Dames records, Georgia land lottery records, area high school and college yearbooks, records of many other states, newspaper abstracts, and records on numerous Scottish clans.
Some interesting books are:
Periodicals
A good collection of periodicals is shelved with Georgia publications as a group, but other-state publications are shelved with each individual state. Newsletters are in four file drawers. On top of this cabinet is a loose-leaf notebook listing available periodicals and newsletters. Some selected periodicals are:
Maps
The map cabinet (in the Scot Room) contains some of the most unique items that the writers have seen anywhere in Georgia. On top of this cabinet is a notebook listing the contents of each drawer. Following is a brief summary of the contents:
City Directories/Telephone Directories
City directories include Moultrie from 1937–1988 and are found under Colquitt County. Other city directories may be found and are filed within each county.
Telephone directories are found for Moultrie from 1950–present. Telephone directories for other cities and or towns are found (if available) within each county.
Manuscripts
Vertical files: In back corner of main library room is a filing cabinet labeled Colquitt County containing a collection of various items from A Z. Two filing cabinets contain the family of Virginia and Cliff Power and allied families. A notebook on top of cabinet lists entire collection including many maps, family histories and Bible records. Five filing cabinets (twenty drawers) contain the family files. Collections include:
Microfilm
CD-Rom Collection
Contributions make up two-thirds of the eighty-two CDs in this collection with one-third purchased by friends of the library. From Canada to Florida, from Scotland to the Mississippi River, there is a wide variety of CDs of interest to the family historian.
Computers
Two computers have Internet Access with GALILEO including AncestryPlus. Included on the Internet (the only one in Georgia) is access to Burke’s Peerage and Gentry, a definitive guide to British aristocracy. Here researchers have access to thousands of records containing the genealogical lineages of Britain’s titled and landed gentry who have shaped global history and the nation’s development. Professional genealogists continue to thoroughly research each record to ensure its accuracy and authority
Copying machine(s)Two copiers are located in the Scot Clan room. Copies are 10 cents for 81/2 by 11, 15 cents for legal size, and 20 cents for 11 x 15.
Microform Reader–Copiers
1 microfilm/fiche reader printer
5 microfilm readers
1 microfiche reader/printer
2 microfiche readersOne 20/20+ Optelec reader provides for the enlargement of documents, written or printed. This is especially good for the enlargement of those materials that are difficult to read or see with just the naked eye.
Other Area Attractions
The Museum of Colquitt County History, located at the intersection of 4th Avenue and 5th Street, Southeast, has exhibits ranging from Native American artifacts to Civil War memorabilia.
The Scottish Weekend, sponsored by the Odom Library on the third weekend of February each year. Provides a meeting place for all the Scottish clans. Seminars on Scottish heritage and a gala Ceilidh’ banquet are held.
There is a magnificent old magnolia tree on the courthouse square. It was planted in 1845 and is huge.
An early settler of the area who had three wives and thirty-two children built the Henry Tucker log house in 1818, believed to be the oldest building in the county. The house is located approximately two miles to the west of Moultrie on the Rossman Diary Road, which turns to the right off State Highway 37 to Camilla.
*Ann L. Sherman, 507 Birkdale Blvd., Carrollton, GA 30116, (770) 830-6684, E-mail: alsherman@bellsouth.net
Jane L. Splawn, 5280 Dunroven Way, Dawsonville, GA 30534-4862, (770) 781-5551, E-mail: jsplawn@attglobal.net(This article appeared in the Georgia Genealogical Society Quarterly, Vol. 41, No. 2)
©2006 by The Georgia Genealogical Society