McDuffie County Wills, Estates, Church Records, Maps, 1870 Residents
McDuffie County is the home of the first Quaker settlement in Georgia, called Wrightsboro. However, this region originally fell into Richmond and Columbia Counties and those records should also be researched for quaker ancestors. McDuffie County was created from Columbia and Warren counties on Oct. 18, 1870, and was named for George McDuffie (1790-1851), the former South Carolina Governor, Congressman, and U.S. Senator. Thomson is the county seat and the location of the old Quaker Village known as Wrightsboro (formerly Columbia County, now McDuffie). The ” Friends” came from North Carolina in 1770 and settled along Germany Creek. Early Settlers: Judge E. S. Harrison, Dr. William Andrew Martin, Charles Washington Matthews, Dr. William Marion Pitts, and Colonel John Allen Wilkerson.
Indexes to Probate Records
- Index to McDuffie County Will Book A
- Index to McDuffie County Inventories, Sales, Appraisements, Years’ Support (1871-1927)<
Miscellaneous
- McDuffie County 1870 Residents
Maps
- Map of McDuffie County
Map of old Wrightsboro Township
Church Records
- Quaker Church Records, Baptisms, Births, Marriages, Deaths from Wrightsboro Meeting House
Images of McDuffie County Wills (1872-1885)
Testators: Ansley, Elam; Bacon, Nicholas C.; Barton, Willoughby; Bolton, Benjamin F.; Cason, John F.;Collins, Louisa;Davis, Elisha;Dozier, James F.;Faucett, Anderson;Gerald, Mary;Goins, Nancy;Hamilton, Thomas;Hampton, Henry;Hampton, Preston;Holzendorf, George H.;Ivie, James A.;Johnson, Amos;Lazenby, John M.;May, John;McGehee, Samuel; McKinney, Henry;McLean, William;Neal, James; Odum, Margaret;Paschall, Short;Printup, Jacob;Watson, Thomas;West. Eliza.
McDuffie County Wills (abstracts) 1886 to 1930
Traced Genealogies:
McDuffie County Families
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Quakers into Georgia
Most of the Quakers who settled in Wrightsboro came from Virginia and North Carolina. As families moved about, they went from one Meeting House to another. Some just seemed to follow their families into new territory. Such was the case of Richard Austin of Pittsylvania County, Virginia who joined his friends in Wrightsboro about 1770. This was during the year during which the Quakers were formulating in Georgia. For those researching Quakers, it is necessary to peruse all of the volumes of the Encyclopedia of Quaker Genealogy by Hinshaw because this great work includes those who went from Meeting House to Meeting House and State to State and it is a record their births, deaths, and baptisms. The to boundary changes, the records of Wrightsboro are found in Richmond, Columbia, and McDuffie Counties. Today, that area is known as Thomson, Georgia. If you follow the deed descriptions with particular attention to the creeks and rivers as well as the names of the adjoining landowners, it is easy to discern the neighborhood.
Oldest Stone House in Georgia
The Register of Historical Places in Georgia puts the home built by Thomas Ansley as the oldest stone house in the State. New York and New Jersey had their Society of Friends organizations, and Ansley came down from Monmouth County passing through North Carolina to Wrightsboro where he finally settled with the other families settling the area during the early 18th century.
Wrightsboro Meeting House, Thomson, Georgia ca 1810
Hickory Hill Plantation (on the National Register)
