West Georgia newspapers online at UGA site

These new western Georgia additions will certainly give researchers a lot more sources to check. Newspapers after the Civil War included news from most of the surrounding towns in the county, as well as nearby counties.

So, besides checking the county seat newspaper where your ancestors lived, check those of the adjoining counties. My ancestors in the Columbus area lived so far out in the county that many deaths were reported in the Butler paper, a good distance away.

To access, check dlg.galileo.usg.edu/wgnewspapers or search for "Digital Library of Georgia," then "media."

The site already includes newspapers from Athens, Atlanta, Columbus, Macon, Milledgeville and Savannah, as well as collections from North Georgia and South Georgia. This is a free site and we are lucky that we have so many Georgia newspapers accessible online.

Germans in Georgia

Discovering German Roots in Georgia is a website managed by Edward Weintraut of Mercer University. He includes on this site a great deal of research about the Salzburgers in Effingham County, who arrived in 1734. Check it out at georgia.aatg.org/germanroots/welcome.html.

This is a project of the American Association of Teachers of German. It’s free and well worth a visit by genealogists, historians and teachers. Under “sources” see links to many online articles, books and archaeological reports. Another section is just for teachers.

Lafayette as a family name

“Lafayette” as a part of one’s name does not, of course, mean you are a descendant of the Marquis de Lafayette (nee Gilbert du Motier, 1757-1834).

It most likely harks back to his famous visit to the United States in 1824-25, a very long “state visit.” He went through most major American cities, and in Georgia came to Savannah, Augusta, Milledgeville and Macon, before moving on to Alabama.

My ancestral uncle, Elias Lafayette King, born March 1828 in Wilkinson County, reflected the family’s remembrance of that visit. Check similar names in your family with Lafayette’s route.