Finding Your Folks: Byram property in Coweta and Campbell

When I first got into genealogy, it took me a while before I was able to get excited over land records but when it hit me — boy! I learned very quickly that you can really get a lot of information from them.

Land records should be studied with a good map of the area close by so you can find the districts and land lots mentioned in the deeds. You can get maps showing land lots and districts at the county tax assessor’s office. They are not expensive. I think I paid $5 for my Coweta map and the same for Meriwether.

To be honest, I never could have connected my Boyds with the Boyds of Bethany and Newberry without studying land records in Meriwether. When you got down to the nitty gritty, there they all were ... huddled together in the upper ninth district. Thick as thieves.

Last week I went to the Coweta Superior Court offices where all the old deeds and land records are kept and photocopied a bunch of deeds for the Byrams and other families that caught my eye (one Boyd, one Gross and a couple of Tidwells).

While I found six deeds where James Byram purchased land in Coweta, I only found one where he sold land (in January of 1845). I thought perhaps that since most of his land bordered Campbell County, some deeds might be there. But I checked the Campbell County grantor-grantee index and no Byram deeds were recorded there until 1908 (grantee) and 1901 (grantor). I was looking for 1858 to about 1870 or later when the children may have sold off some of the land they inherited.

By the way, the grantor-grantee book, “Campbell County, Georgia Superior Court Deeds and Mortgages, 1829-1931” is available through the Old Campbell County Historical Society.

By finding James’ first land purchase in Coweta, I was able to narrow the window of his arrival time here. He was in the 1830 census of Mecklenburg County, N.C. and made his first land purchase here on 7 Nov. 1831. Given that information, it is reasonable to assume he came straight from North Carolina to Coweta and didn’t stop and leave a paper trail somewhere along the way.

James seemed to put great stock in owning land and purchased many acres during his lifetime here in Coweta. In 1831, as mentioned above, he first purchased land lot 111 in the 8th district of Coweta which consisted of 202-1/2 acres.

James bought the land from George Stevens. The 8th district is in extreme northern Coweta just south of Palmetto.

In 1835, he purchased land lot 247 in the 5th district which adjoins the above lot on its south side. No acreage was given either in the index listing or in the actual deed itself, but an entire land lot was 202-1/2 acres. This particular lot was purchased from M.A. Keith who had won the land in the land lottery. (You get all these neat little details in these deeds.)

In 1840, James purchased the west half of land lot 110 in the 8th district from William Brock, his son-in-law’s father. This land was right on the Campbell County line and adjoined lot 111 on its north side. Again, no acreage was given but half of the lot would be 101-1/4 acres.

In 1844, he purchased land lot 252 in the 5th district through a sheriff’s sale. The land was owned by Nicholas Dyer, James’ daughter-in-law’s father. This was the first land James purchased that was not connected to the other land. This land consisted of 202-1/2 acres not far from the Chattahoochee River and west of the large tract he had put together from his other purchases. In 1845, he sold this land to Thomas G. Lang.

In 1850, James purchased from Daniel Wester the land mentioned in his will ... that which was “bought of the Westers ...” consisting of the southeast part of land lot 113 in the 8th district. No acreage is given and trees are noted as being corners and boundaries of the property — black gum, hickory and black oak, specifically. (I love those old descriptions.) I would guess that this “corner” consisted of about 50 acres, "more or less," as the deed books say. Lot 113 adjoins lot 110 which James already owned.

In 1851, James made his last land purchase, 101-1/4 acres in land lot 80 of the 8th district from his son-in-law Robert C. Mellon. This parcel, once again, was very near his other land south of Palmetto.

So, all total, at the time of his death in 1858, James owned about 650 acres of land, ... more or less. It’s hard to believe that the children hung on to it until the 1900s.

Tying up some loose ends from a previous week, I finally found Frances E. Robinson Williamson (daughter of Susan Byram and Robert R. Robinson) in Campbell County and in Texas. It appears that her first husband, John W. Williamson, died sometime before 1860, leaving Frances with two children, Tabitha and John W. Williamson. Frances remarried a neighbor, Jesse Carroll, in 1862 (he was five years younger than she) and they had three more children, William L., Sarah P., and Susan L. Carroll. They moved to McLennan County, Texas, where Frances (1911), Jesse (1913) and William L (1950) died, along with William’s wife, Ellen (1902). They are all buried in Lone Oak Cemetery outside Mart, McLennan County, Texas.

There were two granddaughters in the census but I’ll be darned if I could read their names. The census taker had serious penmanship problems.

Stories about your ancestors who lived in the south metro Atlanta area are most welcome. Send them to The Citizen, P.O. Drawer 1719, Fayetteville, Ga. 30214, or e-mail jkilgore@thecitizen.com or JodieK444@aol.com.

Until next week, happy hunting!