This series contains original birth, death and marriage returns of the Court of Ordinary of Walton county. Generally speaking, the contents of the records have the (1) person's name, (2) date of birth, (3) place of birth, (4) residence, either state or country; (5) race, (6) occupation, (7) marital status, (8) father's name and (9) mother's maiden name. More specifically, the birth certificates ask for such facts as the (1) utero gestation period if there was a miscarriage, (2) cause of the miscarriage, (3) condition of the mother prior to the miscarriage and (4) whether or not the father was illegitimate. The death certificates ask how long a person lived in the locality if a foreigner and whether the cause of the death was primary or secondary. The marriage returns have a space for the bride's maiden name if she was a widow. The records are related only to the black population of Walton county. Between the years 1875 and 1877, Georgia had a vital records section in the various counties which handled such functions. This section was abolished around 1877 or 1878. Later in 1903, the law was revised and the responsibility of keeping vital records for the state was vested in the Department of Human Resources. Today such records are highly confidential and may be seen only through the department of Human Resources. However, the records in this series, being of their early time period, are open to researchers.