British Colonial Office Georgia Records Finding
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David Library of the American Revolution Finding Aid on Georgia including the British Colonial Office Papers (CO5)—Georgia DLAR Microfilm Set 701 Prepared by David Swain, Volunteer Researcher, June 2018 Summary Contents Note: The CO5 British Colonial Office Papers for Georgia owned on microfilm by the David Library of the American Revolution include the documents contained in Volumes 648-665 and 676-680. Reel numbers refer to the microfilmed Georgia colonial papers owned by DLAR. Their general contents are as follows: Volumes 648-652 Board of Trade correspondence (incoming) 1760-1782 (Reels 1, 2, (BT numbers E through I in Volumes 648-652 respectively; for 3 begin) incoming correspondence from 1734 to 1760, see Volumes 636 to 647 below in list of microfilmed documents not owned by DLAR.) Volume 653 Board of Trade correspondence (drafts of outgoing) 1754-1758 (Reel 3 end) Note: The Board of Trade, unlike the Secretary of State office, did not distinguish “official” and other correspondence in its filing system. Many but not all of the documents in the Board of Trade incoming correspondence are what the Secretary of State office would file as “official.” Board of Trade outgoing correspondence microfilmed here dates from only the years 1754 to 1758 and consists of drafts of official correspondence. For additional outgoing correspondence between 1752 and 1781, see Volumes 672 to 674 in list of microfilmed documents not owned by DLAR. Volumes 654-665 Secretary of State official correspondence (incoming) 1735-1780 (Reels 4 to 8) (except that Volume 657 contains other, mostly not official correspondence, including documents, memorials, etc., out of sequence with previous and next Volumes, dated 1733 to 1783) Volumes 676-677 Secretary of State official correspondence (outgoing) 1766-1782 (Reel 9) (copies in letterbooks) Volumes 678-680 Secretary of State summaries of official 1767-1781 (Reel 10) correspondence (incoming) in letterbooks, mostly summaries of incoming letters, mostly from the Governor of Georgia to the Secretary of State, letters that also (almost but not all) appear as original, copy, or duplicate documents elsewhere in the Colonial Georgia Papers Note: The Secretary of State office, unlike the Board of Trade, made a distinction between “official” and other, in both incoming and outgoing correspondence. In practice, “official” correspondence refers to letters by or to (especially between) colonial governors and secretaries of state, along with other correspondence from other governmental officials and from other Secretary of State officials, including attachments to such letters, which might be but were not necessarily “official” documents. Any correspondence not filed as “official” correspondence is identified here as “other” correspondence. The general contents of Volumes of Georgia Colonial Papers not owned on microfilm by the David Library are as follows: Volumes 636-647 Board of Trade correspondence (incoming) 1734-1760 (BT numbers A to D in Volumes 644 to 647 respectively) Volumes 666-669 Letters from Trustees establishing the colony etc. 1732-1752 Volumes 670-671 Grants of land, instructions, petitions etc. 1732-1752 Volumes 672-674 Letters from Board of Trade (outgoing) 1752-1781 (BT numbers A to C in Volumes 672 to 674 respectively) Volume 675 Abstracts of grants of land 1760-1768 Volumes 681-685 Acts of Georgia colonial government 1732-1781 Volumes 686-688 Sessional Papers: Journal of Trustees 1732-1752 Volumes 689-691 Sessional Papers: Minutes of Trustee Council 1732-1752 Volumes 692-708 Sessional Papers: Minutes of Council and Assembly 1741-1780 Volumes 709-710 Shipping Returns 1752-1767 Volume 711 Miscellaneous: Account of the progress of the colony 1732-1740 Volume 712 Miscellaneous: Answer to the charges against the 1756 Rev. T. Bosomworth concerning the Indian war in 1749 Summary Contents of DLAR Microfilmed Papers by Reel and Volume Reel 1 Volume 648 Board of Trade Correspondence (incoming), begin May 29, 1749 to July 17, 1764 Documents 1 to 99 [Frames 1 to 315] Reel 2 Volume 649 Board of Trade Correspondence (incoming), continued March 25, 1764 to June 30, 1767 Documents 1 to 114 [Frames 1 to 285] Volume 650 Board of Trade Correspondence (incoming), continued November 18, 1765 to January 20, 1770 Documents 115 to 170 [Frames 1 to 139] Reel 3 Volume 651 Board of Trade Correspondence (incoming), continued August 15, 1769 to June 19, 1772 Documents 1 to 85 [Frames 1 to 215] Volume 652 Board of Trade Correspondence (incoming), end October 31, 1772 to December 7, 1782 Documents 86 to 105 [Frames 1 to 49] Volume 653 Board of Trade Correspondence (outgoing), Drafts June 21, 1754 to June 29, 1758 Documents 106 to 134 [Frames 1 to 115] Reel 4 Volume 654 [not itemized in this finding aid] Secretary of State Official Correspondence (incoming), begin August 13, 1735 to December 12, 1741 Documents 1 to 217 [Frames 1 to 410] Volume 655 [not itemized in this finding aid] Secretary of State Official Correspondence (incoming), continued January 13, 1742 to May 18, 1747 Documents 218 to 399 [Frames 1 to 343] Reel 5 Volume 656 [not itemized in this finding aid] Secretary of State Official Correspondence (incoming), continued August 18, 1747 to August 28, 1751 Documents 1 to 178 [Frames 1 to 242] Volume 657 Secretary of State Other Correspondence, (Board of Trade correspondence to Secretary of State and other, not official documents), continued November 21, 1733 to February 2, 1785 Documents 179 to 279 [Frames 1 to 289] Reel 6 Volume 658 Secretary of State Official Correspondence (incoming), continued October 17, 1761 to November 14, 1767 Documents 1 to 117 [Frames 1 to 282] Volume 659 Secretary of State Official Correspondence, (incoming), continued November 18, 1765 to December 10, 1768 Documents 118 to 161 [Frames 1 to 108] Volume 660 Secretary of State Official Correspondence, (incoming), continued November 15, 1768 to December 11, 1770 Documents 162 to 226 [Frames 1 to 153] Volume 661 Secretary of State Official Correspondence, (incoming), continued October 2, 1770 to December 12, 1772 Documents 227 to 287 [Frames 1 to 227] Reel 7 Volume 662 Secretary of State Official Correspondence (incoming), continued December 16, 1772 to October 28, 1773 Documents 1 to 29 [Frames 1 to 78] Volume 663 Secretary of State Official Correspondence (incoming), continued March 3, 1773 to December 10, 1774 Documents 30 to 112 [Frames 1 to 184] Volume 664 Secretary of State Official Correspondence (incoming), continued September 14, 1774 to December 23, 1775 Documents 113 to 221 [Frames 1 to 251] Reel 8 Volume 665 Secretary of State Official Correspondence (incoming), end June 27, 1775 to December 7, 1780 Documents 1 to 146 [Frames 1 to 343] Reel 9 Volume 676 Secretary of State Official Correspondence (outgoing), begin August 8, 1766 to November 14, 1767 Document 1 [Frames 1 to 5] Volume 677 Secretary of State Official Correspondence (outgoing), end February 4, 1768 to June 27, 1782 Documents 2 to 5 [Frames –/1 to 107/218] Reel 10 Volume 678 Secretary of State Summaries of Official Correspondence (incoming), begin February 15, 1762 to March 30, 1772 Documents 1 to 100 [Frames 1 to 132] Volume 679 Secretary of State Summaries of Official Correspondence (incoming), continued April 24, 1772 to August 17, 1780 Documents 101 to 227 [Frames 1 to 178] Volume 680 Secretary of State Summaries of Official Correspondence (incoming), end August 20, 1780 to December 31, 1781 Documents 228 to 265 [Frames 1 to 30] Introduction Xxdraft 2-21-2018xx This introduction is divided into two main parts, a thematic timeline of colonial Georgia history and a series of thematic sections. Both provide contextual information that goes beyond what is found in the Georgia Colonial Office papers as available microfilmed in the David Library of the American Revolution. The thematic timeline is organized around dates, while the thematic sections are organized around aspects of historical significance that relate to documents in the microfilmed papers. The themes tend, at the same time, to be both discreet and interconnected. This introduction is not a fully researched, academic article. Rather, it is contains reactions to the documents— contextual observations, stories, and interpretation to help guide interested researchers in a few possibly fruitful directions for future inquiry. Much of the specific information contained in this introduction is not found in detail in the microfilmed papers of colonial Georgia. The information selected provides context and helps to tell the larger historical story in which the microfilmed papers are embedded. Some of this information appears, in bits and pieces, in notes that follow specific document entries in the annotated contents. Where a useful connection can be made between the contextual information and particular microfilmed documents, references are included here. The documents of colonial Georgia’s government and governing naturally reflect the British perspective on the subject, including the use of terminology. To preserve this sense of perspective, the introduction uses British terminology in relation to the great conflict that led to creation of the United States of America. For the British, the conflict was a “rebellion” (not a “revolution”). And for them, the people involved on the two sides of the conflict were “loyalists” on the right side and “rebels” on the wrong side, (not “loyalists,” or “royalists” on the wrong side and “patriots” on the right side). In addition, the colonial British in North America referred to the Native Americans, whom they found when they arrived in Georgia and lived among in an uneasy relationship, Indians, reflecting the geographic confusion of Christopher Columbus in 1492. This introduction uses the persisting British (and latter-day American) term, despite the fact that it had been proven inaccurate long before Georgia was settled. Also, organized groups of interrelated Indians are today commonly called tribes, based on the category of social and governing structure they are perceived to have maintained.