Tracing Past Owners-Georgia Land Lottery

In an earlier post, I introduced you to the concept of identifying the past owners (chain of title) for a property originally granted through the 1832 Georgia land lottery (and gold lottery).   In this post, I will show you the process for tracing the chain of title for such a property.

How to trace the chain of ownership

  1. Locate the deed “room” for the county where the property is located. This may be in the courthouse, or an annex or similar building nearby.  And, although property records are usually maintained by the Clerk of Superior Court, it’s usually just easier to ask, “Where are the deeds?”
  2. With the current deed in hand, note who the grantor is (the first or “from” party). Then, find him in the most recent grantee index.  This at first may seem confusing, but remember, you want to find the deed where the current grantor received the property earlier – or the deed where he is the grantee.   Once found, verify that the entry is for the property you’re searching for (since the grantor may have more properties).  This is either done from the description in the index or by locating the deed itself in the appropriate Deed Book and Page shown in the index.  If the appropriate grantor/property is not in the index, search the next most recent grantee index book and so on until located.
  3. From the index or deed make a note of who the “new” grantor is – the next link in the chain. Repeat Step #2 for that grantor.
  4. Continue this process until the last grantor found in the chain cannot be found in the earliest grantee book. At this point you may have reached the original grantee of the land lot or just as far back as existing records will allow.  Or, the property may not have changed owners since the current county was created.  In this case, you would need to continue the process in the earlier county it was formed from.
  5. If you were not able to trace ownership back to the original owner, and the county has a numerical index, check it for any deed earlier than the earliest one you found it Step #4. It’s possible a deed was missed (by you or the clerk at the time) in the grantee index.
  6. If you were still not able to trace ownership back to the original owner, but you have the name of the original owner, reverse the process above. Search forward through time from the original owner instead of back through time from the current owner.  This time you will try to locate the original owner in the earliest grantor index.  If found, you then have the name of a “new” grantee who you will then try to locate in the grantor index and so forth. This works great until you find the land lot is divided or only part of it transferred.  At this point, you would have to trace each “chain” forward every time the property is split – something most likely not a good use of your time!Doc - 8-11-16, 4-51 PM

Although this process has focused on the 1832 Georgia land lottery, it is very similar to tracing the chain of title in any area in Georgia that was distributed by a land lottery (1832 were the last ones).  One difference is that the 1832 lotteries were the only ones whose legal descriptions contain a section.  All of the others are described with land lots and districts within a county.  Also, the land lots are not necessarily the same size in each lottery.

In a later post, I will describe how to find the name of the original “fortunate drawer” and/or owner of a land lot in the 1832 Georgia land lottery.

16 Comments

  1. I hope that you help me in pinpointing where the land is today that my ancestor received in the 1832 land lottery. I can’t find too much information on her and am hoping it will give me some new leads.

    It was in the 5th district 2nd section (Gilmer county) lot 93 Mary Linzey, w., 395th, Emanuel

    Any info will be appreciated. Thank you

  2. My ancestor won a land lottery in 1827. Sec 2 dist 20 lot 260 James B Broughton Residence Dekalb Capt. Dist Brown’s County Muscogee County. Where is this land? How can I discover if he ever lived on the land or what happened to the land? How can I find more information on this ancestor. I am mostly looking for internet sources at this time as it is difficult to travel due to Covid and I live in NC. Thanks

  3. My G-G-G-Grandfather won land in the lottery as well.
    It was 9th District 4th Section. Number 33
    Ephraim Simpson, Hampton’s Newton
    I would love to know if he immediately sold the land or lived on it.
    I believe it was granted on the 12th of December 1832.

    • This land lot is in extreme north Walker county, not far from the Tennessee line. Normally, you would look in county property records to see what happened to the land after the lottery, but unfortunately, the Walker County courthouse burned in 1883 and all records before then are most likely lost. You could still look in property records to see if the land was still in the family after 1883. Also, you could look in U.S. census records, starting in 1840, for an Ephraim Simpson living in Walker County. If not found, he possibly sold the property, but he could still have owned the property, just didn’t live there which is all the censuses would tell. I did a quick check for you and didn’t find an Ephraim Simpsons in either the 1840 or 1850 Walker census. I did find an Ephraim Simpson in the 1840 Newton County census. He likely sold his “prize,” possibly without ever seeing it.

      Hope this helps.

      DeepRoots

      • Was Dade County Court Records burned too? At one time Walker and Dade were the same county, I believe. Is there a way to check who may have remained behind on land after the Removal? I am trying to find possible graves etc. for an Cherokee town called Squirreltown by Lookout Creek/Mountain

    • Jay, how were you able to find out where the plat of land was or all the information you have? I know my 3xgrandfather had land as well. Please let me know.
      Georgia Cherokee Land Lottery, 1832 No Image
      Name: Peter Flowers
      Number: 113
      District: SEVENTEENTH DISTRICT, FIRST SECTION, CHEROKEE
      Residence: Hughes’s
      County: Habersham

  4. Thank you so much for starting me on the wonderful adventure for the history of the land I purchased last year. I am in my “twilight” years and have a most wonderful 3 .5 beautiful acres in northern Georgia near Ellijay. Will keep you abreast of what I find.

  5. I searched Smith’s “The 1832 Cherokee Land Lottery of Georgia” for Joseph Summerlin. A Joseph Summerlin actually drew land lot 239 of the 7th district, 4th section. It lists him as registering for the lottery in Head’s district of Butts County.

    The Summerlin you refer to at land lot 1 of the 6th district 1st section is actually the name of the militia district in Bulloch County where the fortunate drawer of that lot (Arthur Turner) was from. This most likely had nothing to do with the Joseph who drew the land lot from Butts County.

  6. Hello,

    I’m looking for more information on Joseph Summerlin, who is listed as receiving land lottery grants within the Sixth District, First Section, Cherokee. Appears to be land lot #1 in the map that Smith provides in his book, The Cherokee Land Lottery.

    Many thanks,

    michael

  7. I have an index where my 3x great grandmother received a land lottery in Clarke County, GA. This index doesn’t have a date. Her name on the index is Ann E Williamson. I am hoping to get a copy of this application. I am in hopes she indicates her husband’s Revolutionary War service. If it does then I will be able to prove his Revolutionary War service. Our family has been trying to prove his service since 1910. Her son Thomas E Williamson files for her land lottery draw after her death in 1833 in the county of Clarke, Georgia. Any assistance in locating this application, as I live in NC.

  8. looking for info on my relative James Fulcher who was in the 1827 Muscogee Land Lottery and his land was in sec 2,dist 6, lot 82.can I get more information on this,as I am doing geneology research on my grandmothers relative the Fulchers, and she was a member of the DAR in Oklahoma. thank YOU!!

  9. I am looking for the land grants awarded to Josiah Burgess. He received two Cherokee Land Lottery grants there in 1832. the deeds being dated April 29th 1833. For my genealogy research on the Burgess family.

    • He did receive two grants. He was listed as a revolutionary soldier living, at the time of the grants, in 373d. Jasper The grants were 9-1-313 and
      5-33-159 Both grants indicate to have been granted prior to 1 Jan 1838

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