Abandoned home find!

[Ryanblood1]

I’m hoping someone might have some insight on pre revolutionary letters/documents. The pictures are just a few of the thousands of a waist high stack of very old papers dating from early 1700s to the end of WW2 that I can across tucked away in a attic of a old home just before it was demolished. It’s mostly all legal documents and some have notes and info indicating to me the person who had all this was a attorney or someone in the legal department and possibly this was all the “old” stuff in a filing cabinet they were going to toss and someone had the sense to take it all home and put it away. This house hadn’t been Lived in since the mid 1940s. Which fits with the 1940 Chicago democratic national convention tickets and The Central Vice President of the Boy Scouts of American member ID cards I came across mixed in with these files. Theres a lot of Civil war era documents, personal letters between soldiers and family during the civil war, GA militia Headmaster office forms and CSA headmasters forms, etc. Theres a lot of 1770s documents to the state of Georgia, petitions, living wills and testimonies, etc. These photos are a few of the things I’ve read through and include a document that has a list of names that were named by king George and the number of acres of land He was giving them that was taken from the creek and Cherokee Indians. Another is a list of estate owners belongings after his death, and has upward of 60 slaves, their name, a one to three word description of each and a dollar value of each.











I’m not sure on how well these pictures will turn out but the 4th picture down, the document with the red wax seal is dated March 18th 1756. Majority of the older docs. are very large pieces of paper and have different water marks, some are simple from a small fleur da lis to Large and very elaborate crest or coat of arms. I’m not handling any of this with bare hands or attempting to look through it all for a fear of doing any of it damage. Any info, how to, where to look, or questions will be helpful. Thanks for looking.

 

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[scott9050]

I will say, this is an incredible find. I would probably seek advice from your local museum or historical society but some others here would know more about this.

 

[Ryanblood1]

Thanks. Yeah the more i started looking through some of this stuff I realized I was in over my head. It’s hard to believe that stuff like this gets left behind and gets chalked up to trash. The guy in charge of the demo asked me if I wanted any of the old wood out of the house. I told him there were 3 suitcases up stairs and he said that is was mail and old newspapers and that they were heavy so they were just left. By the end of that same day they would have been destroyed, taken to a landfill, or burned up. I glanced in one bag and noticed only the age of the paper so I took a chance and took all three bags home. I was pretty shocked at the stuff inside.

 

[Wildcat1750]

You have save a valuable piece of history!
It's heartbreaking how much of this has been thrown away in the trash in the past and continues to do so... most folks just don't seem to care.

 

[scott9050]

https://www.georgiaarchives.org/

I would place a call to them to see what you need to do.

 

[islamoradamark]

Id say those documents are very valuable that's a pile of history. you need to talk to a lady name Rebecca that appears on that show Pawn Stars

 

[GoldieLocks]

There are collectors and family descendents they may love to see or purchase these.

 

[Ryanblood1]

Cool I’ll do that. Thanks

 

[Ryanblood1]

Id be happy giving the letters to the families if there was a easy way to find them. Thought about talking to some of the Sons and Daughters of the Confederacy members to see him they could track down members by the last names.

 

[Molewacker]

Gobsmacked - totally in awe of your find! Found this hint online - and of course super clean hands!

ran into some pages that were so tightly stuck together that I couldn't get them apart short of tearing them, which I didn't want to. So I asked the person in charge of these old documents if she knew how to get them apart without damaging them. She took a sheet of acid-free paper and "see-sawed" it gently between the two sheets of the document; they came apart without much effort. She stated that the sheet of paper had to be acid-free or it wouldn't work. I've tried it since then and it has worked every time for me.

 

[SlateBeltDigger]

I come here for the metal detecting info, but I stay for things like this. Awesome stuff right there. I should branch out!!!

 

[gemee]

Thanks. Yeah the more i started looking through some of this stuff I realized I was in over my head. It’s hard to believe that stuff like this gets left behind and gets chalked up to trash. The guy in charge of the demo asked me if I wanted any of the old wood out of the house. I told him there were 3 suitcases up stairs and he said that is was mail and old newspapers and that they were heavy so they were just left. By the end of that same day they would have been destroyed, taken to a landfill, or burned up. I glanced in one bag and noticed only the age of the paper so I took a chance and took all three bags home. I was pretty shocked at the stuff inside.

Jeeez,..makes you wonder what else was left in there! In the walls,..hidden away, etc. Has the home already been demolished?

 

[gemee]

Id say those documents are very valuable that's a pile of history. you need to talk to a lady name Rebecca that appears on that show Pawn Stars

I doubt that this is Rebecca's field, as she deals more with books.

 

[gemee]

Ryan, you've got a rare GOLDMINE! Proceed very slowly and have each paper checked. Good chance you have some sigs of historical people on a few papers.

 

[Ryanblood1]

Jeeez,..makes you wonder what else was left in there! In the walls,..hidden away, etc. Has the home already been demolished?

I thought the same but as I was looking around the downstairs it was empty! No light fixtures, doors, even the hand rail going up stairs was already taken. That’s why when I went upstairs the suitcases looked so out of place because that was literally all there was. They are old deteriorating leather bags and they had some mold. I manhandled those bags out to the car and thought I’m gonna get home and open these open and wish I had left them were they sat. Who knew. All the documents are filed in folders and loosely laying around are out black and white catalog pages so I’m assuming at first glance the guy saw that assumed it was all the same and didn’t wanna carry them down rickety stairs with no had rail.

 

[Ryanblood1]

Gobsmacked - totally in awe of your find! Found this hint online - and of course super clean hands!

ran into some pages that were so tightly stuck together that I couldn't get them apart short of tearing them, which I didn't want to. So I asked the person in charge of these old documents if she knew how to get them apart without damaging them. She took a sheet of acid-free paper and "see-sawed" it gently between the two sheets of the document; they came apart without much effort. She stated that the sheet of paper had to be acid-free or it wouldn't work. I've tried it since then and it has worked every time for me.

I’ll keep that in mind. Luckily nothing has been stuck together. Biggest problem I’m seeing is that this paper being such large sizes was folded 2-4 times and with its age It’s wanting the come apart where it was folded 250 years ago. I’m amazed at how Much the English language changes in such a short amount of time. There are a couple times I’ve noticed they would use the letter F in place of a S and words with two “s” next to each other they would use a different cursive symbol instead of the 2 “s”. Its like being in grammar school learning to read and write all over again.

 

[bradyboy]

wow, what a find
donate to the local library town historical society
they may still belong to the previous homeowners
Brady

 

[uglymailman]

I'd say it's a great find. Some of them may be of value. Civil war letters anyway. You might even find something like mineral or timber rights everyone has forgotten about. Good luck.

 

[Honest Samuel]

You did good, think about what you are going to do about these items before you take actions.

 

[Kray Gelder]

Personally, I would take the time to examine every item, before handing them to anyone. Any good stuff may disappear. Know what you have before contacting professional. Some of those papers may sell for hundreds. Each.