Mitchell County Genealogy Lookup

Mitchell County genealogy records date back to 1857, when the county was created from Baker County in southwest Georgia. The Probate Court in Camilla maintains marriage licenses, wills, estate inventories, and guardianship files. The Superior Court Clerk holds land deeds, divorce records, and court cases. Mitchell County sits in the Flint River basin, an area settled by farming families in the mid-1800s. Researchers can trace family lines through more than 160 years of court, land, and vital records stored at the courthouse in Camilla.

Mitchell County Probate Court Records

The Mitchell County Probate Court in Camilla is the primary source for marriage and estate records used in genealogy. Marriage licenses date to 1857. The court also holds wills, letters of administration, guardianship papers, and estate inventories. Under O.C.G.A. § 15-9-30, the Probate Court has full jurisdiction over these record types in Mitchell County.

Visit the courthouse at 11 W. Broad Street in Camilla to search records. Staff are there to help. Mail requests are accepted with a search fee. Include the names and dates you are looking for. Regular copies work fine for genealogy. Certified copies cost more but are needed for legal matters. Call the court first to check fees and hours.

Estate records from Mitchell County are particularly useful. Wills name heirs and sometimes spell out family relationships. Inventories list personal property and real estate. Annual returns show how estates were managed over time. These details fill gaps that vital records alone cannot cover.

Note: Pre-1900 Mitchell County records are on microfilm at the Georgia Archives in Morrow for researchers who cannot visit Camilla.

Mitchell County Superior Court Genealogy

The Superior Court Clerk holds land records, divorce files, and civil and criminal court cases from 1857 to the present. Deed books and plat maps track property in Mitchell County over time. These records show who owned land, who sold it, and who bought it next.

Divorce records can be very helpful for genealogy. They often name children, list property, and include ages or birth dates. Under O.C.G.A. § 50-18-70, most court records are open to the public. You can get copies at the courthouse or by mail. Tax digests held at the courthouse and the Georgia Archives list property owners each year. For years when census data is missing, these tax lists serve as an alternative. Georgia lost the 1890 federal census along with the 1790, 1800, and 1810 censuses, making tax digests especially important for Mitchell County research.

Vital Records for Mitchell County Genealogy

Georgia started statewide birth and death registration in 1919 under O.C.G.A. § 31-10-9. The Mitchell County Health Department issues certificates from 1919 onward. Before that date, few official vital records exist.

The Virtual Vault has death certificates from 1919 to 1943 online at no charge. FamilySearch has indexed Georgia death records from 1914 to 1943 for free. Under O.C.G.A. § 31-10-26, certified birth certificates are restricted to the person named, parents, grandparents, adult children, adult siblings, spouses, and legal guardians. Death certificates are available more broadly, which makes them a better starting point for genealogy.

For Mitchell County ancestors before 1919, look at church records, cemetery transcriptions, estate files, and marriage licenses. These sources often contain birth and death dates that are not found elsewhere.

Note: Marriage records from 1952 to 1996 were filed with both the county and the Georgia Department of Public Health.

Mitchell County GAGenWeb Genealogy

The Mitchell County GAGenWeb page is a free volunteer-run resource for genealogy. It has cemetery records, census data, family histories, and other documents shared by researchers working on Mitchell County families.

Volunteers post records from courthouses, libraries, and archives. You can submit your own research too. This site is a good way to connect with others working on the same Mitchell County lines.

Other free resources include FamilySearch with Georgia marriages from 1754 to 1960, probate records from 1742 to 1990, and death records from 1914 to 1943. The Georgia Historic Newspapers archive has over a million pages with obituaries and legal notices useful for Mitchell County genealogy.

Genealogy Tips for Mitchell County

Begin with what you know and work backward. Census records are a strong next step. Federal census data from 1860 to 1940 is available at the Georgia Archives through Ancestry.com (free in the search room). Mitchell County first appears in the 1860 census.

Mitchell County was created from Baker County in 1857. For ancestors before that date, check Baker County records. Parts of Mitchell County later became Colquitt County, so if your family disappears from Mitchell County at some point, they may have ended up in Colquitt County without moving. Georgia has 159 counties, and borders shifted often. The Virtual Vault has "Georgia Counties: Their Changing Boundaries" to help sort out jurisdictions over time.

• Check cemetery records when vital records are not available
• Search church records for baptisms, marriages, and burials
• Look at estate records when other sources fall short
• Use tax digests to fill the gaps left by destroyed census years
• Review Family Bible records on microfilm at the Georgia Archives

The Georgia Archives is at 5800 Jonesboro Road, Morrow, GA 30260. Hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Under O.C.G.A. § 50-18-71, standard copy fees are capped at 10 cents per page for public records.

Cities in Mitchell County

Mitchell County includes Camilla, Pelham, Baconton, and Sale City. All genealogy records for these communities are maintained at the Mitchell County Probate Court and Superior Court Clerk in Camilla. No cities in this county meet the population threshold for individual pages.

Nearby Counties

These counties border Mitchell County. Check neighboring records if your ancestors lived near county lines or moved within southwest Georgia.