Georgia Resource

Georgia's Virtual Vault can be helpful when you have ancestors in the state of Georgia. You may be able to fill in several blanks in your genealogy with this website. Death certificates are available for select years. Some are not indexed so you will have to put in the death year and find your ancestor on the index, then go back to search their certificate number. Death certificates can give you information on the individual's date and place of birth; date, place and cause of death; occupation; spouse; name and birthplace of parents; and place of burial or cremation.

Marriage records are also available on the site. You select the county and then the book that contains the correct year range. Depending on the county, you will either have to scroll through the entire book until you find the correct marriage or use the index. For the ones that you have to scroll through, they are often in order by date so if you know your ancestor was married the early part of a certain year, it is a little easier to skip pages until you get close to the date.

If using the index, you will find your ancestors name, which will be listed with a page number. You then go to the page number the index gave you to view the certificate. Be sure to look at the entire page. Sometimes more than one certificate is on a page. For the most part, the indexes are accurate, although I did have one couple that the index failed me on. After scrolling through around 200 pages, I finally found their certificate.

Other information of interest to those using the site to trace their genealogy includes colonial wills, Confederate enlistment oaths and discharges, Confederate pension applications and supplements, county tax digests, headright and bounty plats, militia enrollment lists from 1864 and Spanish-American War service summary cards. Keep in mind that information isn't available from every county depending on the database.

You may also want to check the General Name File. It is sometimes hit and miss because only a limited number of people are found in it. For those individuals found in the name file, their card will include information which may include documents or books they are named in, offices held, military service and in rare cases mention of family members. Not every card will contain all the information.