The following genealogy resources include general information as well as resources for Sapelo Island families researching their roots. If you have information that you think should be included, please contact us, and we'll be happy to consider your suggestions. If you have questions about Sapelo Island genealogy, our volunteer family historian may be able to help.
Genealogical/Historical Societies and Networks | ||
- Behavior Cemetery Map and Grave Marker Information Table
- Find a Grave -- Behavior Cemetery
- GlynnGen Behavior Cemetery Site
- Research at Behavior Cemeter, Sapelo Island, Georgia
- Survey Report 2010
Databases, Websites and Blogs
- American Slave Narratives -- University of Virginia
- Ancestry Library Edition (only accessible at the library)
- Beginner's Guide to Genetice Genealogy (DNA)
- Carolina Kindred
- Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System / National Park Service
- Digital Archaeological Record of Sapelo Island
- Digital Library on American Slavery -- UNC Greensboro
- FamilySearch (LDS)
- Find a Grave
- Freemen's Bureau Online
- Georgia's Virtual Vault
- GlynnGen -- Sapelo Island Genealogy and History
- Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor Interactive Map
- HeritageQuest Online
- International Society of Genetic Genealogy (ISOGG / DNA testing info)
- Large Slaveholders of 1860 and African American Surname Matches from 1870
- Library of Congress American Memory -- African American History
- Library of Congress Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938
- Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Online Catalog
- Lorenzo Dow Turner, 1895-1972 (Smithsonian Institution)
- Lowcountry Africana
- National Archives
- National Archives African Americans - Reference Reports
- New Georgia Encyclopedia
- Patriots of Color Database
- Rosenwald School Database
- They Had Names: African Americans in Early Records of Liberty County, Georgia
- Voyages: Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database
- U.S. Colored Troops in the Civil War -- FamilySearch
- USGenWeb Obituary Project
- USGenWeb Project
Forms and Toolkits
Military Records
Sapelo Island: The Black Heritage - Civil War Pension File of Peter Maxwell, Sapelo Island, Ga.
- Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System / National Park Service
Research Guides / LibGuides
- Genealogy Resources (Coastal Pines Technical College)
- Georgia's Gullah-Geechee Heritage (College of Coastal Georgia)
- Georgia's Rosenwald School Legacy (College of Coastal Georgia)
- Muslims in Early Georgia (College of Coastal Georgia)
- Sweetgrass Baskets (College of Coastal Georgia)
(selected sections from the 1880-1984 genealogy)
- Sapelo Island: The Black Heritage Index (incomplete)
- A1 Preface
- A6 Chapter 1: Homecoming
- A8 African Ancestors
- A20 Bilali Appendix
- A23 Military Service
- A43 Voter Lists
- A53 Agricultural
- A61 Schools
- A64 Organizations
- A68 Church History
- A88 Behavior Cemetery
- B1 Numbering System
- B2 The 44 Families of Sapelo
- Corrections/Amendments for Sapelo Island: The Black Heritage
Video Recordings
- Video: 1928 -- Pres. Calvin Coolidge visits Sapelo Island. University of South Carolina This film shows Fred Johnson driving the first ox cart, and members of the Sapelo Island Glee Club (members included Sam Williams, Lawrence Jones, Ceasar Simmons and George Smith). Also, read Dr. Melissa Cooper's essay about the footage.
- Video: Georgia's African Heritage (GPB)
- Video: Ben Hall of Sapelo Island (PBS Learning Media)
Documents
Selected Articles
- Archaeology in a Geechee Graveyard. Honerkamp, Nicholas; Crook, Ray. Southeastern Archaeology. Summer 2012, Vol. 31 Issue 1, p103-114. 12p.
- African Sounds in Gullah Geechee and on Middle Caicos. Klein, T. B. (2011). Black Scholar, 41(1), 22-31.
- An African Island in Georgia. Hendry, E. R. (2011). Smithsonian, 41(11), 22.
- Gullah Geechee Culture: Respected, Understood and Striving: Sixty Years after Lorenzo Dow Turner's Masterpiece, Africanisms in the Gullah DialectCampbell, E. S. (2011). Black Scholar, 41(1), 77-84.
- Life-everlasting: Nature and Culture on Sapelo Island. Hussman, M. (2006). Southern Cultures, 12(1), 7-32.
- Mother Tongues and Captive Identities: Celebrating and "Disappearing" the Gullah/Geechee Coast. Hamilton, K. (2012). Mississippi Quarterly, 65(1), 51-68.
- Property Rights and Possession in "Daughters of the Dust" Wright, N. E. (2008). Melus, 33(3), 11-25.
- The relationship of the Gullah-speaking people of coastal South Carolina and Georgia to their African Ancestors. Pollitzer, W. S. (1993). Historical Methods, 26(2), 53.