The wedding in London April 29 of Catherine Middleton to Prince William will reflect links to Georgia and other former British colonies in that many of his royal ancestors' names are still being used here.
Georgia was named in 1732 for King George II, a direct ancestor of Prince William. Augusta and Frederica (now a dead town marked by Fort Frederica on St. Simons Island) were named for an earlier Prince and Princess of Wales.
Cumberland Island and Amelia Island (the latter in Florida) were named for other children of George II by James Edward Oglethorpe, the founder of Georgia.
Brunswick, founded in 1771, was named for the royal house at the time. While most histories refer to it as the House of Hanover, it was also called Brunswick. Many of the streets in Brunswick still have the names of British royalty and nobility.
There are places named for the royal family in other former colonies. Prince William County, Va., was created in 1731 and was named for William, Duke of Cumberland, son of George II. Charlotte was named for the wife of George III.
Georgia history online
If you want to brush up on Georgia history, you can check the Digital Library of Georgia to find full-text PDF versions of nearly 50 important histories published by or in conjunction with the University of Georgia Press.
Included are many works by Kenneth Coleman, E. Merton Coulter and Albert Berry Saye, including their seminal work "A List of the Early Settlers of Georgia." Also available are books on the Confederacy and biographies of Crawford W. Long, George Foster Peabody, James Jackson, John Forsyth and Atlanta Mayor William B. Hartsfield, among others.
The books cover all eras of Georgia history and others will be added in the future. To access these, go to http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu and then search under "collections," then under "U" for the University of Georgia Press Georgia History Ebook Project.
You can also search Google with the collection name in quotes to find it.
We relate
Most researchers have a favorite website where they have had good luck finding things. I recently have started checking Ancestry.com's Public Member Trees, where it seems a lot of people have posted their ancestors -- maybe those you are looking for.
A friend said he stumbled on www.werelate.org, a free site, and found a good amount of information to help his research project.
So give both a try.
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