Between 1805 and 1833, Georgia held eight land lotteries to distribute land. This was the largest held in the United States.
The General Assembly passed an act authorizing the land lottery. This act also explained who would be eligible to participate, along with the grant fees for the land. The eligible land for distribution was surveyed and laid out in districts and lots. The people who were eligible to one ticket in the drawing for the land were bachelors who were 18 and up, U.S. citizens with 3 years residence in Georgia, families or minor orphans, the child or children of a convict, children who were insane, deaf, dumb, or blind. Families of one or two illegitimate children were given one ticket, and families of three or more illegitimate children were given two tickets. Those given special consideration were veterans of the Revolution, along with widows and children of the veterans killed in one of the wars.
The 1827 Land Lottery was the fifth land lottery held. This land lottery wasIt was held in Milledgeville, Georgia, where people registered for a chance to win land from the Coweta, Lee, Troup, or Muscogee counties. There were 16 land districts in the original limits of the county distributed at this land lottery. All of the fractional lots were withheld from the lottery, but they were later sold at public auctions or drawn fraudulently. An area around McIntosh's home at Lockchau Talofau was one of these lots withheld from the lottery but later sold. From the earliest records, it is evident that few of those who were successful in the drawing actually moved to Carroll County. Many sold their lots for cheap or sometimes exchanged their lots for things such as rifles, cows, or dogs.
This transcription project, is focused on the 1827 Land Lottery in Georgia, was completed by Curtis L. Spivey in 2022 and edited by Pat Gunnells and Casey Stewart. A printed copy of the Section 5 land lottery drawing, covering Carroll County, was given by Curtis L. Spivey to Ingram Library's Special Collections in June 2022.