Key Facts

Snapshot:	farmer; slave owner
Parents:	320Abraham Geiger His mother's identity is uncertain.
Born:	circa 1794 Georgia
Died:	circa 1871 probably Effingham County, Georgia
Buried:	unknown

160Jeremiah Geiger was born in Georgia circa 1794.1-3 As explained below, his father is 320Abraham Geiger, but his mother's identity is uncertain.

Problem: Resolved Who is 160Jeremiah's father? 160Jeremiah's parentage is proven with near certainty by paper-trail evidence and further affirmed by DNA evidence. Both are described below. Paper-trail evidence 160Jeremiah was born in Georgia circa 1794.1-3 After marrying in Bulloch County in 1815,4 all subsequent records show that he resided in Effingham County, which is adjacent to Bulloch. Therefore, 160Jeremiah likely was born and raised in that area, and his father likely resided there when 160Jeremiah was born circa 1794. The book The Reconstructed 1790 Census of Georgia: Substitutes for Georgia's Lost 1790 Census gathers names from many different record types from the 1790's. From these many sources, we find only five Geiger men living in Effingham County at the time. (Recall that Bulloch County wasn't created until 1796, and that the vast majority of the county consists of land that had been part of Effingham County a few years prior.) Those five men are:     [320]Abraham Geiger     Cornelius Geiger     Etheldred Geiger     Felix Geiger/Gieger     Jno. Geiger All five names appear in a 1794 list of Effingham County militia,5 but I have found no other records whatsoever about Etheldred. Therefore, it's doubtful that he settled in the area longterm, and thus he probably isn't 160Jeremiah's father. In contrast, 320Abraham, Felix, and John also appear in a 1782 Effingham County militia list6 and were awarded land in the area in the 1790's.7 After we disregard Etheldred, we see that the other four men are brothers, as proven by an 1815 deed that reads in part, "Felix Geiger, [320]Abraham Geiger, Mary Hoofman, and Cornelius Geiger the legal Heirs of Ulrick Kegar (or Geiger) deceased [...] and John Geiger also a legal Heir of the said Ulrick Kegar." 8 Before we narrow down which of the four brothers is the most likely to be 160Jeremiah's father, let's next turn our attention to two other men who share some interesting similarities with 160Jeremiah: Jesse Geiger and David Geiger. A family Bible record shows that Jesse Geiger was born 20 March 1793. The same Bible also reports that 320Abraham Geiger was born 11 June 1761.9 Although the Bible record doesn't explicitly state that 320Abraham Geiger is Jesse's father, a father-son relationship is by far the most plausible conclusion. Jesse married in Bulloch County in 181310 but had moved to Mississippi by 1820.11,12 David Geiger was born 1 March 179513 and by 1815 had married and was residing in Bulloch County.14 A later deed describes him as the administrator of the estate of [320]Abraham Geiger, Senr.15 Although the deed doesn't explicitly state that 320Abraham is David's father, a father-son relationship seems likely, considering their relative ages (born in 1761 and 1795—a gap of 34 years, i.e., one generation). To review, the available evidence strongly insinuates that Jesse and David are sons of 320Abraham, shows that both had ties to Bulloch County early in their lives, that they were born 20 March 1793 and 1 March 1795, and that 160Jeremiah was probably born between them (circa 1794) and likewise had ties to Bulloch County. Although the evidence isn't entirely incontrovertible, it certainly suggests therefore that 320Abraham is 160Jeremiah's father. To help affirm our hypothesis, let's consider where 320Abraham and 160Jeremiah resided or owned property. On 8 March 1790 320Abraham received 100 acres on the south side of Pole Bridge Branch in Effingham County,16 and on 2 June 1794 he received another 100 acres bounded on one side by land that he already owned17 (presumably the 100 acres acquired in 1790). There is a stream named Pole Branch (coordinates: north end N32.3159 W81.5513, south end N32.2648 W81.5647), whose location was originally in Effingham County, became part of Bryan County on 16 December 1794, then became part of Bulloch County on 8 February 1796, and has remained part of Bulloch County since then. The land is approximately 7.1 miles from the border with Effingham County, where (as is shown in other sections of this profile) 160Jeremiah lived for much or all of his life. The longstanding proximity suggests a familial relationship between the two men. Although no evidence directly identifies 320Abraham as 160Jeremiah's father, the evidence does position the two men—by geography, age, and relative to other Geigers in the area—such that a father-son relationship seems unequivocal. DNA evidence An Ancestry.com autosomal DNA sample from my father shares 19 cM on two segments with a sample from Ancestry.com user MeadorBaldwinFam05,18 i.e. Vicki Meador Baldwin, daughter of Eddie Doyle Meador, a descendant of 320Abraham Geiger via his son Jesse, whom I discussed above in the paper-trail evidence section. I've prepared a sketch of Vicki's lineage, including links to some relevant evidence. Numerous relationships could explain 19 cM of shared autosomal DNA. According to DNA Painter's Shared cM Project tool v4.0, there's a 59% probability that the two samples are from 6th cousins (i.e., the relationship between Vicki and my father if 160Jeremiah is indeed a son of 320Abraham as proposed) or a similar relationship.

Problem: Unresolved Who is 160Jeremiah's mother? A family Bible record states that the wife of 320Abraham Geiger is Mercy ___ (maiden name not stated), born 24 April 1771.9 Mercy is likely the father of 160Jeremiah, but since this is somewhat uncertain (Hypothetically, 320Abraham could have had another, earlier wife who died at a young age, and this hypothetical wife could have been the mother of some of 320Abraham's earlier-born children, e.g. 160Jeremiah.), I have not assigned Mercy an ahnentafel number.

160Jeremiah married 161Elizabeth Evers in Bulloch County, Georgia on 27 December 1815.4

Above: 160Jeremiah's and 161Elizabeth Evers' marriage certificate. Full page.4

The 1820 census shows 160Jeremiah's young family in nearby Effingham County with a son and two daughters. (The numbers below represent: 1 boy under age 10, 1 man age 26-44, 2 girls under age 10, 1 woman age 26-44, with 1 person working in agriculture).19

1820: 160Jeremiah's family in the 1820 census. Full page.19

160Jeremiah won land in Georgia's 1821 land lottery (specifically, Monroe County, section 8, lot 226),20 but I don't know what he did with his winnings. All other records show that he seems to have remained in Effingham County for the rest of his life.

1830: 160Jeremiah's family in Effingham County, Georgia. Full page.21

1840: 160Jeremiah's family still in Effingham County. Full page.22

By 1850 160Jeremiah had acquired two slaves.23 His farm that year consisted of 60 acres (plus 485 of unfarmed land), $15 of farm equipment, 1 horse, 2 milk cows, 5 other cattle, 20 swine, and had produced 200 bushels of Indian corn in the past year.24

1850: 160Jeremiah's family in Effingham County, Georgia. Full pages: 1, 2.1

1850: 160Jeremiah's slaves. Full page.23

An undated record indicates that 160Jeremiah marked his livestock with "a swallow fork and upper split in the ear and upper square in the other." 25 A "swallow fork" involves removing a triangle-shaped piece of the upper ear.

A description of 160Jeremiah's livestock mark25

By 1860 his farm output had grown considerably. He had over 100 animals, produced hundreds of pounds of wool, and produced a lot of crops, including Indian corn, sweet potatoes, and honey. (You can see his farm schedule entry here: 1, 2.26)

1860: 160Jeremiah's household in Effingham County, Georgia. F. Elkins presumably was a boarder. Full page.2

1860: 160Jeremiah's two slaves. Full page.27

In 1867 the U.S. Congress passed several Reconstruction Acts. These Acts divided the former Confederacy into several military occupation zones, which were ruled by Union military commanders. The Acts also directed the commanding officers to register Southerners who wanted to vote in upcoming elections. One registration requirement was to swear an oath of loyalty to the United States; the obvious intent was to disfranchise any lingering Confederate resistance. 160Jeremiah signed his oath on 15 August 1867.28

1867: 160Jeremiah's Reconstruction-era voter registration oath.28

The 1870 census shows 160Jeremiah and his wife alone in Effingham County except for a 17 year-old black male field-hand who lived with them.3 They still owned ~85 animals and were producing Indian corn, sweet potatoes, wool, and molasses. (You can see the farm schedule entry here: 11a, 11b).29

1870: 160Jeremiah's household in Effingham County, Georgia. Full page.3

160Jeremiah died in 1871. (His wife's obituary, published 13 November 1873, mentions that her husband had died two years prior.30) I didn't find any relevant probate records in:

•	Effingham County's Inventories & Appraisements Book 5 (1866-1909)
•	Effingham County's Wills Book 4 (1866-1898)

Sources Cited:

1: 1850 U.S. Federal Census (Population Schedule). District 26, Effingham County, Georgia. Page 356 [There are two pages not numbered separately.], dwelling 251, family 251, Jeremiah Gigger household. NARA microfilm publication M432, roll 68. Internet Archive, <https://archive.org/details/7thcensus0056unit/page/n238/mode/1up> (page 356a) and <https://archive.org/details/7thcensus0056unit/page/n239/mode/1up> (page 356b), accessed 11 September 2023.

2: 1860 U.S. Federal Census (Population Schedule). Militia district 9, Effingham County, Georgia. Page 38, dwelling 271, family 271, J. Giger household. NARA microfilm publication M653, roll 120. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9Y1H-9Z1Q?i=10&cc=1473181>, accessed 27 January 2018.

3: 1870 U.S. Federal Census (Population Schedule). Effingham County, Georgia. Page 56, dwelling 440, family 445, J. Geiger household. NARA microfilm publication M593, roll 148. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-64L9-HT3?i=53&cc=1438024>, accessed 27 January 2018.

4: Bulloch County, Georgia. Marriages book 2A, page 8, marriage of Jeremiah Geiger and Elizabeth Evers. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-893G-F97V-H?i=148&cc=1999178&cat=335052>.

5: Marie de Lamar and Elisabeth Rothstein, The Reconstructed 1790 Census of Georgia: Substitutes for Georgia's Lost 1790 Census (reprinted by the Genealogical Publishing Company, 1985), page 72.

6: Allen Daniel Candler, ed., The Revolutionary Records of the State of Georgia, Volume III (Franklin-Turner Company, 1908), page 169.

7: Lamar and Rothstein, op. cit., page 68.

8: Bulloch County, Georgia. Deed book AAA (1814-1818), page 289a. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS4K-KSJB-8?i=289&cat=155333>. Confusingly, there are three consecutive pages all numbered 289, but the relevant record is on the first such page.

9: Cemetery and Bible Records, Volume II (Mississippi Genealogical Society, 1955), pages 77-78. Claiming that the transcription contains numerous errors, researcher Gerald Geiger published his own transcription online.

10: Bulloch County, Georgia. Marriage book 1A (1809-1816), page 174, marriage of Jesse Geiger and Tabitha Martin. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-893G-F97G-H?i=107&wc=9SY1-W36%3A267649901%2C267685001&cc=1999178>.

11: 1820 U.S. Federal Census (Population Schedule). Covington County, Mississippi. Page 19, Jesse Gigger household. NARA microfilm publication M33, roll 58. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHG6-RDW>, accessed 2018.

12: 1850 U.S. Federal Census (Population Schedule). Covington County, Mississippi. Page 297, dwelling 142, family 142, Jessee Geiger household. NARA microfilm publication M432, roll 371. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-6QD8-R9?i=22&cc=1401638>. I'm citing this record because it shows Jesse's state of birth and his wife's name, so it confirms the identity of family in the 1820 census cited above.

13: Charles H. Davis, Bryan County, Ga. Cemeteries (Sea Griffin Publishing, 2000), page 201.

14: Bulloch County, Georgia. Deed book AAA (1814-1818), page 301 left-side. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS4K-KSJB-W?i=302&cat=155333>. In the deed, which is dated 8 July 1815, William Bennett gifts 400 acres to his "loving son-in-law David Geiger" of Bulloch County.

15: Bryan County, Georgia. Deed book E (1830-1840), pages 86-88. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS4K-VSK3-F?i=49&cat=170200>, et seq, accessed 19 August 2019.

16: Effingham County, Georgia. Plat book A, page 389. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSLZ-BPHV?i=239&cat=168358>, accessed 31 March 2018.

17: Effingham County, Georgia. Plat book B, page 331. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSLZ-BG2C?i=496&cat=168358>, accessed 31 March 2018.

18: For privacy reasons, I won't share further details of the DNA match here. This PGP-encrypted file contains those details.

19: 1820 U.S. Federal Census (Population Schedule). Effingham County, Georgia. Page 81, Jereh Gigar household. NARA microfilm publication M33, roll 7. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9YBC-W5Q?i=8&cc=1803955>, accessed 27 January 2018.

20: Silas Emmett Lucas, The Third and Fourth or 1820 and 1821 Land Lotteries of Georgia (reprinted by Southern Historical Press, 1973) section 2, page 91.

21: 1830 U.S. Federal Census. Effingham County, Georgia. Page 114, Jeremiah Geiger household. NARA microfilm publication M19, roll 17. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GYTL-947N?i=20&cc=1803958>, etc., accessed 27 January 2018.

22: 1840 U.S. Federal Census. Effingham County, Georgia. Page 135, Jeremiah Gieger household. NARA microfilm publication M704, roll 40. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9YY5-3SD?i=4&cc=1786457>, etc., accessed 27 January 2018.

23: 1850 U.S. Federal Census (Population Slave Schedule). Effingham County, Georgia. Page "335" [The page itself isn't numbered, but the immediately preceding page is 333, and the immediately following is 337. The writer seems to have skipped even numbers altogether.], lines 12-13, slave owner Jeremiah Gigger. NARA microfilm publication M432, roll 90. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-63J3-YT6?i=7&cc=1420440>, accessed 27 January 2018.

24: 1850 U.S. Federal Census (Agriculture Schedule). Effingham County, Georgia. Pages 5 and 6 [The pages aren't explicitly numbered. I counted forward from page 1. The first name on page 5 is Paul Dugger.], sixth line from the bottom, Jeremiah Geiger farm. NARA microfilm publication T1137, roll 2. Copied from microfilm 2653, Genealogical & Historical Room, Washington Memorial Library, Macon, Georgia. Images: pages 5 and 6. The headings are cropped from the image, so a blank template is useful to deduce them.

25: Effingham County, Georgia. Marks and brands volume 1 (1790-1903), page 15. Georgia Archives microfilm 64/72.

26: 1860 U.S. Federal Census (Agriculture Schedule). Effingham County, Georgia. Page 7, entry 1, J. Giger farm. NARA microfilm publication T1137, roll 4. Images: pages 7a and 7b. A blank template is useful to help read the headings. He was farming 75 acres and had $27 of equipment. He owned 2 horses, 10 milk cows, 24 other cattle, 85 sheep, 60 swine. In the past year he had produced 300 bushels of Indian corn, 225[?] pounds of wool, 4 bushels of peas/beans, 200 bushels of sweet potatoes, 75 pounds of butter, 2 tons of hay, 12 gallons of molasses, 20 pounds of honey, and had slaughtered $125 worth of animals.

27: 1860 U.S. Federal Census (Population Slave Schedule). 11th district, Effingham County, Georgia. Page 20, lines 22-23, slave owner J. Giger. NARA microfilm publication M653, roll 145. Internet Archive, <https://archive.org/stream/populationschedu145unit#page/n235/mode/1up>.

28: Georgia's 1867-1868 Voter Registration Oath Books. Volume 12 (Effingham County Book 1), page 303, entry 600, Jeremigh Geiger. Ancestry.com ("Georgia, U.S., Returns of Qualified Voters and Reconstruction Oath Books, 1867-1869" / Oath Book / Effingham / 1 / image 308 of 380), accessed 26 October 2021. The corresponding microfilm at the Georgia Archives is microfilm 296/17.

29: 1870 U.S. Federal Census (Agriculture Schedule). Effingham County, Georgia. Page 11, entry 11, J. Geiger farm. NARA microfilm publication T1137, roll 7. Images: pages 11a and 11b. The headings are poorly legible, so a blank template is useful to deduce them. The entry shows that their 50-acre farm consisted of 1 horse, 15 milk cows, 30 other cattle, 20 sheep, and 20 pigs. In the preceding year the farm had produced 100 bushels of Indian corn, 20 pounds of wool, 50 pounds of sweet potatoes, 14 gallons of molasses, and had slaughtered (or sold for slaughtering) $50 worth of livestock.

30: "OBITUARIES," The Christian Index (Atlanta, Georgia), 13 November 1873, page 8, columns 1-2. The obituary describes 161Elizabeth as a "relict of [160]Jeremiah Geiger of Effingham county, Georgia. Two years ago the husband was called to the rest that remaineth for the people of God [...]."