Research Guide
Many Liberty County records are abstracted or listed on this site and are searchable but this will teach you to find the original records online so you can browse them yourself.
indexed deed records
Courts created their own indexes to help them find records. Many are now digitized. Learn to find them in your county’s records, with a link to my finding aid for them in Liberty County.
probate indexes
Liberty County probate records have handwritten and typewritten indexes scattered throughout online but they are not easy to find. This is a list of all the probate records online with hyperlinks to the indexes.
visiting Liberty
Liberty County has a rich, complex history and some fascinating places. Make the Susie King Taylor Gullah Geechee Museum your first stop. Dorchester Academy and the Midway Museum are also fascinating historical sites.
last enslaver list
In U.S. Southern Claims Commission petitions, freedpeople named their last enslavers. Dr. Peggy Hargis created a list of 270+ Liberty County freedpeople with the names of their last enslaver based on the SCC petitions.
genealogy trails
This site’s creator also hosts the Genealogy Trails the Liberty County page. This contains non-slavery-related records for Liberty County (including indexes for widow’s support, estate inventories and probate records).
spelling of names
Enslaved people did not get to choose how their names were spelled. Learn to search for alternative spellings here.
names list
Find a list here of African American names used in Liberty County before Emancipation with alternative spellings.
slavery in the law
“Georgia’s Slave Population in Legal Records” by David E. Paterson is a wonderful treatment of records for the study of slavery.
slavery timeline
In 2004 Tara Fields compiled a “brief timeline of Georgia Laws Relating to Slaves, Nominal Slaves and Free Persons of Color.” Hosted on GlynnGen.com.
bibliography
Once you start studying Liberty County, you’ll want to read books, articles and other websites to learn more. Find a list of those here. I own or have access to many and will do look-ups.
plantations list
Plantation names were listed in many kinds of court records. While browsing records for this site, a list was kept of plantations mentioned. Not comprehensive but maybe useful.