Echols County, Georgia was established by an act of the Georgia General Assembly on 13 December 1858 from portions of Clinch County and Lowndes County. The portions from Lowndes was from West of the Alapaha River. Unfortunately for those doing research for people from Echols County, a number of courthouse fires have destroyed many records.

On 31 December 1897, a fire destroyed Echols County Courthouse and many records were destroyed. Deed Books A, C, D, F, G, H, I, and J were among those destroyed. They covered a period from 1860-March 1867, March 1876-early 1888, and most of the 1890s prior to the fire. The only deed books to survive the fire were B, E, and K. Following the courthouse fire, many deeds were re-recorded in Book K; however, a careful study of the deeds compared to surviving early tax lists and survey books will show that many deeds were never re-recorded and have been lost to time.

The courthouse fire on 22 June 1858 at Troupville, Lowndes County, Georgia, the courthouse fire in 1856 at Magnolia, Clinch County Georgia, and the courthouse fire in 1867 at Homerville, Clinch County, Georgia all destroyed many of the records related to Echols County before it creation.

Most of Echols in acreage was part of what was originally Appling County in 1820; however, nearly all of Echols County east of Statenville was unpopulated and continues to remain underpopulated to this day. The land in Old Appling land districts 12 and 13 was sold off in bulk by the state of Georgia in the 1840s and 1850s after the people who had won those lots in the land lottery failed to claim it and pay the fee. Joseph McRee of Lumpkin County, Georgia and Thomas Taylor of Bibb County, Georgia (and later of New York) owned several 1000 acres of land in LD 12 and LD 13.

The only populated area of Echols County east of Statenville was near Blount's Ferry on the Suwanee River near the Florida-Georgia line. Most of the population in Echols County settled in what had originally been land districts 11 and 16 of Irwin County.

In the spreadsheet below, the column labelled C will have the code for whatever original county the land district is in. An I will be for land that was in Old Irwin County, and an A will be for land that was in Old Appling County. A diligent effort was made to search for deeds that were later re-recorded. Every pre-1870 Echols County deed that was later recorded in deed books up to mid 1930s appears in spreadsheet below.

A map showing the land lots and land districts of Echols County is available from the Georgia archives here.