D&C Research Group was created in 2001 by lead researcher Dawn Watson. Ms. Watson has more than 25 years of experience working with the records and families of Northeast Georgia, Western North Carolina, and Upstate South Carolina. Her experience includes creating and maintaining a web site for the Rabun County Historical Society; three years as a staff member of the Rabun County Public Library in Clayton, GA, during which time she assisted in updating and expanding the genealogy and Georgia history sections, and was responsible for assisting researchers and answering genealogical and historical queries to the library; and creating and maintaining free genealogy sites for Rabun County, Georgia, and Macon County, North Carolina. The latter are part of a larger web site consisting of several hundred pages of documents transcribed by Ms. Watson and others and placed online, free for any researcher's use.

We are located in the foothills of the Appalachians in the most northeastern county in Georgia, adjoining both North and South Carolina. Our emphasis is on research at the local level where the records were created rather than in regional or state repositories or Family History Centers (operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints). Once the records at the local level have been exhausted, we will gladly direct our clients to reputable researchers who have access to non-local repositories housing state- and federally-mandated records, manuscript collections, and other record sets not found on the local level.

Research at the local level is critical as there are many records held by local agencies that have not been microfilmed or of which copies have not been made (e.g. probate packets). These original records often provide the key evidence needed to solve genealogical problems. In North Carolina, many of the original county records have been removed to the North Carolina State Archives in Raleigh. This does not circumvent the need for research on the local level, where many other records and manuscript collections remain. (See The Importance of Local Research.)

Professional and Organizational Affiliations:
Association of Professional Genealogists
National Genealogical Society