Partial list of former plantations in Chatham County:
Some plantations in Ogeechee River area: Beverly (Silk Hope - James Habersham, the elder owned 1775, lands also called Dean Forrest), Grove Point (Ralph Elliott), Mifflin, Wild Horn, Hermitage, Hopeton, Harveys, Litchfield, Drakie, Newton (owned by George Jones), Rockingham (owned by Ann Glen and Anthony Barclay) Vallambrosa, Rose Dew or Dhu, and Kensington.
Other Plantations: Wormsloe, Hermitage (another),
Plantation owners: Daniel Blake, planter on Ogeechee, Jonathan Bryan - rice planter, Miles Brewton - rice planter, Stephen & Ralph Elliott, Arthur Heyward - bought Elliott's rice plantation, (from S.C), John W. Houston - rice planter on Ogeechee, George W. Anderson - rice planter-Ogeechee, Langdon Cheves and Dr. John R. Cheves - rice planters - Ogeechee, Francis Harris- rice planter - partner of James Habersham, Andrew Holliday, Francis Henry McLeod - rice planter on Ogeechee, John Taylor- Little Ogeechee planter, Wm. B. Bulloch, M. H. McAllister, Henry Cook, Dillon, Gibbons, Newton, Marshall, Sheftall
(source: deeds, maps and death records)
(more to come!)
Some Savannah Place names: Curry Town, Frog Town, Tatemville.
Some Chatham Co. place names: "Hardwick" (lost town), was located on elbow of Ogeechee River, two miles from crossroads of Ogeechee bridge across river from present Chatham County, this became Bryan Co. in 1793. Joseph Stiles and William Clark were commissioners of Hardwick - became defunct by 1814. Black Ankle (off Pine Barren Road), Morgan’s bridge, Ogeecheeton, Cherokee Hill, Monteith, Pipe maker’s canal, Bethel, Gopher Ridge, Fort Argyll, White Bluff, Isle of Hope, Ossabaw, Montgomery, Vernonburg, Skidaway, White Marsh Island, Tybee, Wassaw, Dutch Island, Oatland Island, Wilmington Island, Skidaway Island, Hutchinson Island.
Some sources of genealogical data for Chatham County:
Savannah City Directories - Chatham Co. Library, Georgia Historical Society, Probate court, Savannah.
Savannah Newspapers - Indexes - some of these are located at the Chatham Effingham Co. Library, some at the Georgia Historical Society.
Savannah Death Records - Ga. Historical Soc. or library - check for interlibrary loan.
Georgia Historical Society’s mss collections and family files
Savannah Area Genealogical Association, P.O. Box 15385, Savannah, GA 31416.
Pooler area Methodist Church Records - copied by Ann R. Davis. (Look-up, 3 names only.)
National Gen. Society Quarterly, #5, 1916, P. 29-32: Marriages and Deaths from the Ga. Gazette & Sav'h Republican"
also, Nat. Gen. Soc., #69 (1981), P. 181-183.
A few of the Cemeteries in Chatham County:
Colonial Cemetery, Laurel Grove, Bonaventure, The Catholic Cemetery (record books for these are in Ga. Historical Society and Chatham-Effingham library)
White Bluff Presbyterian Ch. Cem. (record book in Thunderbolt Library).
Sheftall Cemetery, Forest Lawn, Newton Cemetery, Antioch Bapt. in Pooler, Ga.
Gravel Hill (former site of Alpha Methodist Church, Hwy 80, Bloomingdale)
Cherokee Hill
In Ogeechee River area:
Bethel,Wright, Ennis, Elkins, Brickyard, Hopeton Plantation,Wild Horn
Magnolia Memorial
Hester Family
*Salem Baptist
*Salem Church
*South Broad St.
*Douglas
* Collection Georgia Dept. of Archives - ML #10-66, ML #10 -67)
To obtain a county map which will show most cemeteries in Chatham outside of Savannah, contact Ga. Dept of Transportation, #2 Capitol Square, SW, Atlanta, GA
30334-1002
Sources for Research:
The bad news: The Federal Census of 1790-1810, and 1890 for Chatham County was destroyed.
The good news: Besides the Federal census, try the 1845 Georgia State census of Chatham County, and the 1850 and 1860 Agriculture schedule which tells the name of the farmer, amount of acreage and stock. The Agriculture Schedule is on microfilm at the Georgia Archives, and the originals are at Duke University, Perkins Library.
GEORGIA PASSENGER LISTS:
"Passenger and Immigration Lists Index" (3 vols.) P. William Filby & Mary K. Meyer, Detroit, Mich., Gale Publishing Co., 1981
"Scottish and English Immigrants to the Georgia Frontier, 1774-1775", National Genealogical Society Quarterly 70 (1982), 190-196
"Georgia Genealogist" - see: Colonial Records
"Bonded Passengers to America" (9 vols) Baltimore, Genealogical Publ. Co. 1983
"Ships Passenger Lists, The South, 1638-1825", by Carl Boyer III, Family Tree Publications
"British Deportees to America" (1974) Clifford Neal Smith
"Emigrants from England to Georgia, 1774-1775", Georgia Genealogical Society Quarterly, 21 (1985), 222-226
For Immigrants 1785-1789: Georgia Genealogy Society Quarterly, 6 (1970) 219-220
Chatham County's immigration naturalization records (index) can be found at the Georgia State Archives (microfilm)
AT THE ATLANTA BRANCH OF THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES, 1557 St. Joseph Ave., East Point, GA 30344, hrs: 7:30 - 4:30 Mon.- Fri., 9:00 - 5:00 2nd Saturday of
each month:
Passengers on vessels arriving at Savannah, 1906: Microf. roll #T493
After 1906 immigrants were naturalized in Federal Courts - The Atlanta branch has some records from Federal Courts in the SE 1790 - 1945.
FIRST SETTLERS SENT TO GEORGIA:
Passenger list of the ANNE by Capt. Thomas 
16 Dec 2023
BOOKS:
For anyone just beginning genealogy in Georgia, I HIGHLY recommend the "Georgia Genealogical Workbook", by Ted O. Brooke and Robert S. Davis, Jr., pub. by The Georgia Genealogical Society, P.O. Box 38066, Atlanta, GA 30334
For those of you who have a German ancestor who might have come from this area of Georgia, try these books by George Fenwick Jones: "The Salzburger
Saga", Athens: University of GA Press, 1983 and "The Germans of Colonial Georgia 1733-1783" (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1986) "Ebenezer Record Book 1754-1781, Births, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials of Jerusalem Evangelical Lutheran Church of Effingham......," by George F. Jones & Sheryl Exley
For Jewish Ancestors of our area, try Saul Jacob Rubin’s "Third to None: The Saga of Savannah Jewry, 1733-1983" (Savannah, the Author, 1983)
Some Sephardic Jews emigrated to Charleston, SC as early as the late 1600’s, soon German Jews joined them. They settled in both Charleston and Savannah by 1750. Some of their names: Solomon, Levy, de la Motta, Sheftall, de Olivera, Hart, Minis, Cohen, Abrahams
"Index to Probate Records of Colonial Georgia, 1733-1778", R.J. Taylor, Jr. Foundation (1983, The Reprint Co., Spartanburg, SC) The original records are in the Georgia Archives and Special Collections, University of Georgia Libraries.
"An Index to Georgia Colonial Conveyances and Confiscated Estates Land Records, 1750-1804", R.J. Taylor, Jr. Foundation (1981, The Reprint Co., Spartanburg, SC)
"Colonial Georgia Genealogical Data, 1748-1783" (National Genealogical Society, Washington, DC., Special Publications #36, 1976)
"Reminiscences and Recollections of Old Savannah" by Charles Senton Henry Hardee
"Life and Labor on Argyle Island - Letters and Documents of a Savannah River Rice Plantation 1833-1867" edited by James M. Clifton, pub. by BeeHive Press, Savannah. Letters of Charles Manigault and son, Louis Manigault of Charleston who operated "Gowrie" and "East Hermitage" plantations on Argyle Island in the Savannah River.
The Road to Revolution in Colonial Georgia - Weeks, Carl Solana - Summer House Press, Columbia, S.C.
The Early Settlers of Georgia: A List of the File Headings of the Loose Headright and Bounty Land Grants in the Georgia Department of Archives and History - Davis, Robert Scott, Jr., editor, Boyd Pub. Co., Milledgeville, GA. 1997 $25 paper.
Georgians Past: Special Files of Georgia Settlers and Citizens, Subjects and Counties, 1733 - 1970s, Davis, Robert Scott, Jr. (Milledgeville, GA. Boyd Pub. Co., 1997, $25 paper)
In Care of Yellow River: The Complete Civil War Letters of Pvt. Eli Pinson Landers to his Mother - Roberson, Elizabeth Whitley, editor - Pelican Publ., Gretna, ca. 1997, $11.95 paper
Weep Not for Me, Dear Mother - Roberson, Elizabeth Whitley, editor, Pelican Pub., P.O. Box 3110, Gretna, La, 70054 1997, $19.95 paper,
Confederate soldier of Gwinnett Co., GA Savannah Duels and Duellists - Gamble, Thomas - Oglethorpe Press, 1998, $25
Dead Towns of Georgia - Jones, C.C., Jr. - Oglethorpe Press, 1998, $25 Oglethorpe Press - 912-231-9900, fax: 912-234-7258
Online Resources
GA Salzburger Society ---
http://www.georgiasalzburgers.com/
Although Ebenezer, the Salzburger colony, was located in neighboring Effingham County, we include this informative link with names of the settlers, because so many Chatham countians have Salzburger ancestors.
Where to obtain Birth, Death, Marriage, Death, Divorce records anywhere in US:
Savannah Surnames researchers ---
Wylly
Georgia History ---
http://www.ngeorgia.com/history/histpre.html
Austin's GA Bible Records
Savannah online
Live Oak Public Libraries
After clicking on Genealogy, users will find two special options near the top of the screen: E-Archives and Obituaries. The E-Archives are scanned images from Georgia-related (many Savannah and Chatham County subjects) scrapbooks in our collection. The Obituary link takes the researcher to two indexes to obituaries found in the Savannah Morning News. We now have over 100,000 obituaries and funeral notices in the two lists. Under the Ask-A-Librarian home page link, by phone, or by mail the public can request copies for a small fee.
Georgia Birth and Death records were not kept before Jan. 1, 1919
To Request a Georgia Birth Record
To Request a Georgia Death Record
Georgia Historical Society, Savannah, GA.
The Savannah & Ogeechee Canal Museum:
Everything you ever wanted to know about Georgia's founder, James Edward Oglethorpe
Books on Oglethorpe
The English Roots of James Edward Oglethorpe
Georgia County information - Good site! Check out History, and county information
UGA Rare Map Collection
Search Library of Congress Catalogs
On Line CSA Records
Ga. Confederate Pension Applications
Family History Research Register - Search and submit surnames worldwide
Ellen Payne Odum Library Family Tree online
Civil War Units file at American Civil War page
Go to Savannah News online and search for "Obituaries" for recent deaths
Nassau Cemetery record for those whose ancestor went to the Bahamas 16 Dec 2023
Genealogy by Ken Thomas
Ancestry's social security death index for city of Savannah.
Ancestry's social security death index Chatham county
1850 Census Books for sale for Chatham county
SOUTHERN GENEALOGY - Richardson & allied lines
©2003-2023 Tim Stowell
