Find Rabun County Genealogy Records

Rabun County genealogy records go back to 1819, when the county was formed from Cherokee lands in Georgia's northeast mountain region. The Probate Court in Clayton holds marriage licenses, wills, estate inventories, and guardianship papers from that year. Land deeds, court cases, and divorce files are at the Superior Court Clerk office. Rabun County sits in the Blue Ridge Mountains at the North Carolina and South Carolina borders, and its courthouse records document the mountain families who settled this remote area in the early 1800s. If you have roots in northeast Georgia, Rabun County records are a key research source.

Rabun County Probate Court Records

The Rabun County Probate Court is the main source for marriage and estate records. Marriage licenses date to 1819. Wills, letters of administration, guardianship papers, and estate inventories are held at the courthouse. Under O.C.G.A. § 15-9-30, the Probate Court has jurisdiction over wills, estates, guardianships, conservatorships, and marriage licenses.

You can visit the courthouse at 25 Courthouse Square in Clayton. The phone number is 706-782-3615. For mail requests, include names, approximate dates, and a check or money order for the search fee. Certified copies cost more than regular copies. Call ahead to check fees and hours.

Mountain families in Rabun County often had fewer formal records than people in larger towns. Estate files are one of the best sources for these families. Wills name heirs. Inventories list livestock, tools, and household items. These details can paint a picture of daily life for your ancestors in the Georgia mountains.

Note: The Court of Ordinary managed probate matters before 1974. All older records were transferred to the Probate Court.

Rabun County Superior Court Genealogy

The Superior Court Clerk holds land records, divorce files, and court cases from 1819 to the present. Deed books track property changes over time. In mountainous Rabun County, land grants and early deeds can reveal where families homesteaded and how property passed from one generation to the next.

Divorce records often list children, property, ages, and birth dates. Under O.C.G.A. § 50-18-70, most court records are open to the public. Civil case files can also help. Lawsuits, estate disputes, and guardianship cases often name multiple family members.

Tax digests list property owners each year. Georgia lost the 1790, 1800, 1810, and 1890 censuses. For Rabun County, tax records help fill those gaps. The Georgia Archives has microfilm copies of early tax digests.

Vital Records for Rabun County Genealogy

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

Under O.C.G.A. § 31-10-26, certified birth certificates are restricted to close family members. Death certificates are more widely available. For records before 1919, try church records, cemetery inscriptions, or Family Bible entries. Mountain churches often kept baptism and burial records that serve as informal vital records.

The Virtual Vault has death certificates from 1919 to 1943 online for free. FamilySearch has Georgia death records from 1914 to 1943 at no cost. These are solid starting points for Rabun County genealogy.

Rabun County GAGenWeb Genealogy

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

Volunteers post records from courthouses, libraries, and archives. You can submit your own research too. This site connects people tracing the same Rabun 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 one million pages of old Georgia newspapers with obituaries and legal notices.

Research Tips for Rabun County

Start with what you know. Write down names, dates, and places. Then work backward. Census records from 1820 to 1940 cover Rabun County and are at the Georgia Archives through Ancestry.com (free in the search room).

Rabun County borders both North Carolina and South Carolina. Mountain families crossed state lines often. Check records in Macon County, NC and Oconee County, SC if your ancestors seem to disappear from Rabun County records. The Virtual Vault has "Georgia Counties: Their Changing Boundaries" for tracking county jurisdictions over time.

The Georgia Archives is at 5800 Jonesboro Road, Morrow, GA 30260. Hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM. You can also use the E-Access to Court Records system to search from home. Under O.C.G.A. § 50-18-71, copy fees are capped at 10 cents per page.

• Check cemetery records in remote mountain cemeteries
• Search church records for baptisms, marriages, and burials
• Look at Family Bible records on microfilm at the Georgia Archives
• Use tax digests for years when census records were destroyed
• Check North Carolina and South Carolina border county records

Cities in Rabun County

Rabun County includes Clayton, Mountain City, Dillard, and Tiger. All genealogy records are maintained at the Rabun County Probate Court and Superior Court Clerk in Clayton. No cities in this county meet the population threshold for individual pages.

Nearby Counties

These counties border Rabun County in Georgia. If your ancestors lived near county lines, check neighboring records. Rabun County also borders North Carolina and South Carolina.