Rockdale County GaArchives History .....Rockdale County Genealogical Society-Newsletter May 2004 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Larry C. Knowles http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00012.html#0002854 March 20, 2009, 5:08 pm JEANS & GENES Rockdale County Genealogical Society Publication-May 2004 _____________________________________________________ Agenda For Future Meetings **John Vogt, Owner of Iberian Publishing ? In costume, speaking on Colonial VA, Migrations in and out of VA, & Finding Your Relatives in VA John will bring books to sell at the request of the Program Committee. MAY 16, 2004 ** Share Day ? Researchers? genealogy. Bring books of documents/source information and family history compilations; a time to ?show off?. JUNE 13, 2004 ** Robert Davis, Jr., Director Family & Regional History Program, Wallace State College, Hanceville, AL.Mr.. Davis will be continuing his very informative talk: Resources for GA Research. JULY 11, 2004 ** Bertha Little ? Early Settlers Along the GA Coast AUGUST 8, 2004 ** David Lineweber ? Civil War music with instruments SEPTEMBER 12, 2004 ** Martha Brown - Sailing Ships OCTOBER 10, 2004 **Celebration, Reflection, & Refreshments ? Beginnings, Accomplishments, & Vision NOVEMBER 14, 2004 -Gerre Byrd , Program Cochairman ________________________________________________________________ Library Researchers Provide Research Information Clement Brown, Conyers, Ga., 30012, Researching information on Judges in Georgia. R. G. Mitchell, Conyers, Ga. Researching Mitchell. (He made two visits) Gary N. Saxton, 2261 Briarwood Cir., SW, Conyers, Ga. 30094. Researching Saxons in Ohio and Michigan especially Monroe and Washterew County Michigan. Phillip Colbert, Covington, Ga. Researching cemetery information. Willie G. Green, 329 Glenn Rd., Conyers, Ga. Researching genealogy. Dennis Garrett, 3836 Panola Rd., Lithonia, Ga. 30038. Researching Wallace, Peek, Bradford, Duncan, and Graham. Trudy Eastman, P. O. Box 577, Tulelake, CA., 96134. Researching Moore and Patrick. P. J. Satterfield, 180 Lake Side Dr., Covington, Ga. Researching Scott and Bailey. Travis Cresswell, Conyers, Ga. Researching history of Conyers. Evelyn and J. B. Mays, Jr., 1800 Fate Conn Rd., Canton, Ga., 30014. Researching Mays, Miners, and McCarts. D. Joiner, Conyers, Ga. No names given. Dorothy and Priscilla Shelton, Conyers, Ga. Researching information for Henry Lett. Shannon Costley, 301 Hightower Tr. Rd., Conyers, Ga. 30012. No names given. ______________________________________________________________ Books Placed on Shelves for Ethridge and Read Donated to the Nancy Guinn Memorial Library by the Rockdale County Genealogical Society in memory of Linda Smith Ethridge: “Smith Wills-Deeds & Family Histories, Vol. 1, compiled by Linda G. Cheek. The book is located on the shelves at: GA R 929.2097 CHE V.1. Donated to the Nancy Guinn Memorial Library by the Rockdale County Genealogical Society in memory of Mr. Charles Read: “Obituaries from Tennessee Newspapers” by Jill L. Garrett. The book is located on the shelves at: GA R 976.8293 GAR. Linda Smith Ethridge was first president of the Rockdale County Genealogical Society. Charles Read was Treasurer for nine years. Both of these individuals were dedicated genealogists who worked tirelessly to promote and encourage genealogical research. _______________________________________________________________ Bonner Talk on GWTW of Interest Peter Bonner was our speaker at the February meeting. He spoke about “Gone With The Wind”. He is uniquely qualified to talk on this subject since he routinely conducts tours at the Jonesboro train depot which display period costumes and relics of the civil war era. One of the interesting aspects of the talk was his remark that all of the incidents in the book are true. Margaret Mitchell indicated this in a letter dated July 11, 1936. Mr. Bonner conducts tours Monday through Saturday at 1:00 p.m. at the Jonesboro depot. His talk was very interesting and informative. He praised genealogists and encouraged them to continue to dig up facts which are essential to historians. “Keep doing it”, he admonished the audience. Mr. Bonner has a web site about his tours at: http://www.peterbonner.com _______________________________________________________________ Rockdale's Gone With The Wind Connection Margaret Mitchell’s father, Eugene Muse Mitchell, was a noted lawyer and leader in the cultural development of Atlanta. He was born in Atlanta, son of Russell Crawford Mitchell (1837-1905). Russell was a prominent lumber dealer in Atlanta. He was born in Madison County, Georgia, a son of Isaac Green Mitchell (1810-1881), a Methodist minister. Russell Crawford Mitchell is buried in Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta. The first to settle in the area that became Rockdale County was William Mitchell (1777-1859). William, the father of Isaac G. Mitchell, moved in 1834 or 1835 to a farm on South River, below Flat Shoals, or Panola, in Henry, now Rockdale County about 12 miles southeast of Decatur, Georgia. He and his son, Isaac G. Mitchell in additon to some other members of the family, are buried in a family cemetery on this farm. Much of the land is now part of Little Mountain Golf Course. There is a subdivision with houses on a street which runs by the cemetery. This cemetery lies in Rockdale County very close to the Henry County line within sight of Panola Mountain. It is on record as the Mitchell Cemetery. There are only three marked graves. The others are in unmarked graves. Margaret Mitchell’s maternal ancestors lived in Fayetteville, Georgia and are buried in the town cemetery in Fayetteville. It is this locale that is generally credited with being the locations used in the book,”Gone With The Wind”. We wonder, though, if the plantation used in the book may have been the farm that now is in Rockdale. We must note that it was a farm and not a plantation for neither of the elder Mitchells, William or Isaac, owned slaves. John T. Mitchell was a brother to Isaac G. Mitchell, both of whom were sons of William Mitchell. John T. was the father of A. P. Mitchell who served as sheriff of Rockdale County from 1881 to 1883. Rockdale County can lay claim to a part of the heritage of ”Gone With The Wind” since the Mitchell Family is part of the history of Rockdale County. We can almost hear Scarlet after the all-night ride to escape from Atlanta saying to Melanie, “Don’t worry, Melly; we’ll be home soon.” The Mitchell Family is covered extensively in “Atlanta And Environs” by Franklin M. Garrett. The book is on the shelves of the Nancy Guinn Memorial Library at GA R 975.82 GAR. _____________________________________________________________ Web Site On-line About Milstead I’m really excited about all the contributions to the Milstead site! There are a few new pages.... Check out the military heroes - we have some additional tributes there - including the Robinsons, Galen Foster, Larry Hancock, and a tribute to Danny Dean McGee, a Milstead resident killed in the Vietnam War. http://www.rootsweb.com/~gacmils/military_heros.htm There are also a couple of new pages with pictures of the men’s and women’s volleyball teams - probably from 1953. (courtesy of Vanishing Georgia) http://www.rootsweb.com/~gacmils/womens_volleyball_1953.htm http://www.rootsweb.com/~gacmils/mens_volleyball_1953.htm I also ripped-off an email that my mother sent about ‘washing clothes’ in the ‘old days’ That might be of some interest to some of you. http://www.rootsweb.com/~gacmils/washing_clothes.htm Several people have helped identify some of the baseball players in the baseball picture and some of the participants in the covered dish picture - so be sure to check out the additions to those pages. One last thing - several people have asked me about genealogical information about people from Milstead. I’m going to try to add some of that to the site as time allows. In particular - I’ve had a few people ask about the family history of Frank Milstead who founded Callaway Mills in Milstead. If anyone has any information on that I’d be happy to pass that on and post it on the site. Thanks everybody! Beth _______________________________________________________________ Information for on-line Research I’m just getting started in researching the family trees for both my husband and myself. Is it worth it to subscribe to Genealogy.com or Ancestry.com search programs? What is the best way to go? I could probably do most of the searching I need in just a couple months--how easy is it to unsubscribe? Pat applepckr@aol.com (Pat) The first thing to keep in mind is that most (not all) information on the web consists of indexes, not original data, and must be verified from the original documents (because of transcription and other errors). As to subscribing to an online database, you may want to check with your local public library. My library has Ancestry.com free from its computers and HeritageQuest free from one’s home computer if one has a library card. As to whether it’s worth it, I personally have found Ancestry.com of limited utility, but HeritageQuest of immense help. Others may be able to answer your questions about subscription issues. Kathy ------- End of Forwarded Message Kathy Lenerz HeritageQuest appears to just have CDs for sale, or am I missing something. It looks a little pricey if you have much searching to do. Pat ------- End of Forwarded Message pempson181@aol.com (PEmpson181) No, you’re missing something. They used to sell CDs but now their data is available only through libraries. Genealogy.com uses the Heritage Quest database for their censuses. My local library does not offer Heritage Quest (only Ancestry and that only in the library, no access from home), however both my sister and mother’s libraries offer HQ at home. If you’re interested in HQ and your library doesn’t offer it, try http://www.godfrey.org/ which is the Godfrey Library in Middletown, CT. You can join it for $35 a year and have access to all their databases. -- Pam http://www.pamsgenealogy.net “Pam” ...Or try a neighboring town’s library that has low or no non-resident fees that does offer access to Heritage Quest databases via the internet. I recently ran into this problem and found a library about 20 miles away that doesn’t charge non-resident fees and gave me access to the HQ databases the same day. -- Barb Orange County, Indiana, Marriage Record Index: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~woodhousegenealogy/ “Barb Wise” No, HeritageQuestONLINE has almost ALL US census information on-line and with searchable indexes! Have a ‘brickwall’? I did and searched for the (pretty unique) first name ONLY, and found they had changed the spelling of the name! I am a BIG fan of HeritageQuestOnLine - you can get free access through a library. Write me for more details. - RM Rick Merrill First I would do everything I could through your local library, court house, genealogy club or organization and or local LDS library. Then it would depend on how far back you want to go. It also depends on if you want to find out about aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. And also how into the information you want to go. Do you want to find out birth / death / marriage / immigration / records / adoptions / funeral information / newspaper information, were there any pictures / awards / survivor benefit papers / did they work for the railroad / gvt agencies / in the military? Visit some of the free sites on the internet such as; http://www.rootsweb.com/ or maybe the Mormon/LDS site http://www.familyhistory.com/ or http://www.familysearch.com/ just to see what they have. I started out with just my Father and Mother and their parents and not much of anything. I also had to have openheart surgery many years ago so I wanted to find out about the health history of my family. I now have 12 full to overstuffed 3 ring binders of pictures, newspaper items, birth / marriage / death records, citizenship papers, awards, funeral information, civil war, WWI, WWII, war of 1812, and so forth. I have gained many many new friends, family and can go back to my 17th great grandfather on one side. And yes, on several sides there is a prevalence of heart problems and I was the one that got the double whammy. So, - Yes, once you get into the family history you are seeking by all means pay for like 1 month of either kindred connections, ancestry.com or genealogy.com. To begin with start with what you know and write it all down, get a genealogy book from the library or go to RootsWeb or http://www.cyndis.com/ and look for beginning help and go from there. Bj “barbara” HeritageQuest Online is accessed from your home, through your local county public library website using your library card #. That is IF your library has subscribed to it.....it is around $2,000 a year cost to the library. HeritageQuest Online has US CENSUS, SEARCHABLE GENEALOGICAL BOOKS,( HISTORIES, JOURNALS) (every word searchable), and now PERSI. Persi is an index to Genealogical Societies periodicals and the societies’ different projects that are published. I understand soon HeritageQuest Online will have the complete Persi articles online with every word searchable. If your public library is not subscribed, talk with them about it OR log onto www.godfrey.org ....which is a public library (of which I can not remember where at this moment), and you can join to get a library card and # from them (for $35.00 a year ) with which to use through their library website to access HeritageQuest Online from your home.Godfrey Memorial Library website has other searchable genealogical info you can access with their library card #. Hopes this helps, cj “C. J. Lloyd” cjlloyd@redrock.net ______________________________________________________________________ JEANS & GENES is a publication of the Rockdale County Genealogical Society % Nancy Guinn Memorial Library, 864 Green St. SW, Conyers, Ga. 30012 President: Bill Freese V. President: Judy Bond Treasurer: Jackie Smith Secretary: Bertha Little Program Co-Chairmen: Gerre Byrd and Norma Owens Newsletter Editor: Marion T. Farmer 1500 A. Pine Log Rd. NE Conyers, Ga. 30012 mtf@mindspring.com http://mtf.home.mindspring.com _______________________________________________ Additional comments: This back issue of the Rockdale County Genealogical Society newsletter has been copied with permission from the personal website of editor, Marion Farmer, as his website is nearing capacity. For simplicity the few photos or graphics have not been included here. Websites previously linked from Marion’s site will not be operative here. Sites that are still active may be found by entering their listed URLs. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/rockdale/history/other/rockdale104nms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/gafiles/ File size: 15.3 Kb