Search Morgan County Genealogy Records

Morgan County genealogy records date to 1807, the year the county was carved from Baldwin County in the Georgia Piedmont region. The Probate Court in Madison holds marriage licenses, wills, estate files, and guardianship papers going back to the county's founding. Land deeds, court cases, and divorce files are kept at the Superior Court Clerk office. Madison is one of Georgia's best-preserved antebellum towns, and its courthouse records reflect over two centuries of family life in this part of the state. Researchers working on Morgan County lines will find a solid collection of primary documents at the courthouse.

Morgan County Probate Court Records

The Morgan County Probate Court is the main source for marriage and estate records. Marriage licenses date to 1807. Wills, letters of administration, guardianship records, and estate inventories are all held here. Under O.C.G.A. § 15-9-30, the Probate Court has jurisdiction over wills, estates, guardianships, conservatorships, and marriage licenses in Morgan County.

You can visit the courthouse at 149 E. Jefferson Street in Madison to search records in person. The phone number is 706-342-0725. For mail requests, include the full name, approximate dates, and a check or money order for the search fee. Staff can check for specific names and give you a cost estimate. Certified copies cost more than plain copies but are needed for legal purposes. Call ahead to ask about current fees.

Estate records are among the best genealogy sources in Morgan County. Wills name heirs. Inventories list property and sometimes name enslaved people in pre-Civil War records. Annual returns track how estates were managed over the years. For the early 1800s, these files often hold family details you will not find in any other record type.

Note: The Court of Ordinary handled these records before 1974. All older files were transferred to the Probate Court when that office took over.

Morgan County Superior Court Genealogy

The Superior Court Clerk holds land records, divorce files, and court cases from 1807 to the present. Deed books show who owned land and when it changed hands. Plat maps give exact locations of parcels. These records help you place your ancestors on the landscape of Morgan County.

Divorce files often list children, property, ages, and birth dates. That kind of detail helps confirm family connections when other records fall short. Under O.C.G.A. § 50-18-70, most court records in Morgan County are open to the public. You can request copies in person or by mail. The clerk charges a per-page fee for copies.

Tax digests are another strong source. They list property owners each year along with the value of their holdings. Georgia lost the 1790, 1800, 1810, and 1890 federal census records, so tax digests fill a real gap for those years. Morgan County tax records are at the courthouse and on microfilm at the Georgia Archives.

Vital Records for Morgan County Genealogy

Georgia began statewide vital records in 1919 under O.C.G.A. § 31-10-9. Birth and death certificates from that year forward are available from the Morgan County Probate Court or the Georgia Department of Public Health. Certified copies cost $25 for the first one and $5 for each extra.

Under O.C.G.A. § 31-10-26, certified birth certificates are restricted to the person named, parents, grandparents, adult siblings, adult children, spouses, or legal guardians. Death certificates have fewer restrictions. They are easier to get for genealogy work. For records before 1919, check the Probate Court, church records, cemetery inscriptions, or Family Bible records.

The Georgia Virtual Vault has death certificates from 1919 to 1943 online for free. FamilySearch also has Georgia death records from 1914 to 1943 indexed at no cost. These free databases are good starting points for Morgan County genealogy.

Morgan County GAGenWeb Genealogy

The Morgan County GAGenWeb page is a free volunteer-run genealogy resource with cemetery transcriptions, census data, family trees, and records shared by researchers working on Morgan County families.

Volunteers post records from courthouses, libraries, and archives around the state. You can submit your own research too. The site connects people working on the same Morgan County family 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 one million pages of old newspapers with obituaries and legal notices for Morgan County research.

State Resources for Morgan County

The Georgia Archives at 5800 Jonesboro Road, Morrow, GA 30260 holds pre-1900 Morgan County records on microfilm. Hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Free access to Ancestry.com, FamilySearch.org, and Fold3 is available in the search room.

You can also search Morgan County genealogy records through the state's E-Access to Court Records system. Registration is free. Basic case data is available at no charge. If you need actual documents, the first page costs $2.50 and each page after that is $1.00.

• Check cemetery records when vital records are missing
• Search church records for baptisms, marriages, and burials
• Review Family Bible records on microfilm at the Georgia Archives
• Use the Vanishing Georgia photo collection for historical images
• Look at estate and guardianship records for family details

Morgan County boundary changes matter for genealogy. The county was formed from Baldwin County in 1807. Under O.C.G.A. § 50-18-71, the Open Records Act caps copy fees at 10 cents per page for standard documents from public agencies. The Virtual Vault has "Georgia Counties: Their Changing Boundaries" to help track where your family was counted.

Cities in Morgan County

Morgan County includes Madison, Bostwick, Buckhead, and Rutledge. All genealogy records are maintained at the Morgan County Probate Court and Superior Court Clerk in Madison. No cities in this county meet the population threshold for individual pages.

Nearby Counties

These counties border Morgan County. If your ancestors lived near county lines, check neighboring records too. Boundary changes mean a family could show up in different counties over time.