Arlene Eakle’s Tennessee Blog

For the past three days I have been searching Tennessee family files in several libraries.   Family files are vertical files stored in file cabinets or in loose leaf binders,arranged alphabetically by surname.  Some may be by subject or about one person.   Most public libraries have these vertical files.

And I want to share with you some of the great stuff I found…Like

__ family Bible pages

__photocopies of original, loose wills and estate settlements

__Revolutionary War pension files

__DAR membership applications

__militia pay vouchers

__family correspondence

__genealogies compiled by genealogists

__genealogies compiled by family members–especially by the men in your family

__genealogies  with handwritten corrections by family members

__land documents including tax receipts

__family data written in the margins of small paperback books

__maps, contemporary and modern, often with notes written on them

__newspaper clippings

__obituaries, copies from the newspapers and transcripts

__photographs–often without captions

__research notes and transcripts of records on assorted pieces of paper

Hundreds of pages of copies–

As fast,  as I could, I made photocopies of these materials–hundreds of pages of copies for analysis and documentation of the pedigree lines I am researching in East Tennessee.

Some libraries will also make photocopies of the contents of these family files by email and postal mail request.  Be sure you specify that you want the above materials copied.  And it is always a good idea to find out, in advance, how many files they  hold for each surname you have.  And what their page cost is–expect to pay 20 to 50 cents per page.  Libraries try to make a little extra income from their copy machine.

Using local family files leads you to greater success in tracing the correct lineage, especially when you find two or more persons share the same names.  Your favorite Tennessee genealogist, Arlene Eakle  http://arleneeakle.com

PS  I’m off to search the family files and periodicals in the East  Tennessee Historical Society library.  Stay tuned for more research tips and goodies.

Census records are missing in Tennessee until 1830, when for the first time, all of Tennessee is enumerated.  At least in theory.  So, Tennessee, perhaps more than any other state at the time of settlement, is subject to these census problems:

__missing schedules

__odd years

__duplicate entries

__multiple jurisdictions–local, district, territorial, state, and federal–making lists

__bad or incomplete transcriptions made available in print and online

__multiple copies available for some enumerations

__re-copied pages

__digital indexes to surviving census schedules read by non-English transcribers–paid by the name!

__substitute “census” data, collected from documents dated close to but not right on the date of the missing schedules

__extra information added to specific entries (and not transcribed in printed versions)

__missing people–people on the move are usually missed;  they may be enumerated twice before and after their move

__new immigrants arriving to mingle and mix with Americans who were already here–with same exact names

Add these challenges to other considerations:

__family traditions infused with incorrect details so they don’t match what the records say–by name, by place, by age, by number of members in the family

__family Bibles lost, gone West with migrating family members, or no longer diligently kept at all

__the whole country on the move before and after the Revolutionary War

__bounty awards granted for Revolutionary service could be and were sold

__lands could be granted to multiple owners, with boundaries that overlapped other settlers

__lands were granted in the same areas, to the same settlers and speculators, by multiple jurisdictions

Is it any wonder, that Tennessee research is so difficult? 

Stay tuned to this site.  The next few posts will include how to search existing Tennessee census records to get the full benefit from their evidence.  I have developed a whole series of checklists to aid your Tennessee research in census schedules.  Even the substitute lists can be less of a problem.  Your favorite Tennessee genealogist, Arlene Eakle http://arleneeakle.com

PS  I have discovered that Amazon.com has three screens of my books available for sale at very interesting prices.  You might want to check them out too.  Be alerted, some entries sell books no longer available.  Some entries sell books that no longer exist.  Some entries sell used copies of books that are now re-written and updated.  (These are bargains you can benefit from.)  Some entries sell books attributed to me that belong to other authors–who are often named.  (I make no comments on their works.)  This mess is probably of my own causing–I have not updated my list for Amazon for years.   Kathryn Bassett, my webmaster, and I will see that it is corrected.  The used copies will still be available at bargain prices.

By-pass some of the official record loss in Tennessee with church sources–Who are the officials of the church Congregation?  Who are the organizers of the Denomination your ancestors attended?

The officials and organizers of the church are the ones who created the records, keep the records, and are often responsible for their preservation.  As you research–in any record–looking for your ancestors, also watch for and make a running list of these important persons.

__Census enumerations where “pastor” or “minister of the gospel” is the occupation.

__County and local histories that list elders, deacons, and sometimes even  treasurers in biographical sketches and accounts of local churches.

__Heritage Books, especially those for southern counties, where descendants describe the part their church-going ancestors played in the local community.

__Ministers’ diaries, journals, account, and memo books.  The Family History Library has microfilmed hundreds of these records.  Check their Catalog for the places where your ancestors were connected.

__Publications of the churches themselves–annual reports, weekly or monthly periodicals.  The Methodist Church published 9 regional Christian Advocates which circulated to members every week, pages full of births, marriages, and deaths.  And the Roman Catholic Church issued weekly and monthly newspapers and news magazines on the American frontier as early as 1809 with death notices and obituaries. One of the largest collections of these self-published church materials is at Wright State University, Dayton OH.  The collection, amassed by a private collector, was without a home until Wright State agreed to house and manage the collection.

To find these wonderful record treasures, consult the Family History Library Catalog by locality and name of official.  Then check the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections in print and online; Worldcat from the Library of Congress to identify collections by name and locality.  And finally, use Google and other online browsers and search engines to find these records online and in other repositories.

Reading annual reports of the Congregational and Baptist faiths, I tracked a minister from colonial Connecticut, across New York, into Ohio where his theology, declared heretical by succeeding congregations, meshed with that of the Mormons.  He joined the LDS Church and migrated to Utah.  Here he established his new home, a bank that operated successfully for over a hundred years, and a posterity of thousands.  And from here he missionaried in Tennessee, convincing key southerners to cast their lot with him and his new church.

Most surviving annual reports before about 1825 are available on microfiche as a part of the Evans early American Imprints.  This was a make-work project through the WPA to identify and preserve what America had printed.  Some have been microfilmed by the Family History Library.  Many deposited in libraries and archives across the country.

Break your Tennessee losing streak.  Baptists do not record births and christenings, because they believe adults can commit themselves to God.  So genealogists often overlook their wonderful, black-bordered death notices and their collections of obituaries–remembrances of lives that may not be found elsewhere.

Your favorite Tennessee Genealogist, Arlene Eakle    http://arleneeakle.com

PS  The FGS Conference is being held in Knoxville the middle of August 2010.  Are you coming?  Have you registered?  The Federation of Genealogical Societies invites you and I invite you to come and check out the East Tennessee  archives and libraries before and after the conference.

At last, all 166 pages  of the new edition of  Tennessee Research are fiinished and at the printer!  Copies will be available at Jamboree 2010 (Burbank CA 10-13 June) and the Colorado Family History EXPO (Loveland CO 25-26 June 2010). 

Pre-paid copies can also be picked up at the events or will be shipped immediately following. 

If you ordered your copy already–you will be among the first to search the Preliminary Version of the “1790 Census” for Tennessee.  It is an awesome list–people you did not know were present in Tennessee during that time frame–1787-1791.

If you haven’t got your order in–you can still order at the $29.00 pre-publication price–whether you attend the June events or not.  PROVIDED… you get your order in before 10 June 2010–the official publication date.

Afton, Linda, and I are so excited about the quality of the book this time around!  And you will be too.

See you soon, your favorite Tennessee genealogist, Arlene Eakle     http://arleneeakle.com

PS   You cannot place pre-publication orders online–the new bookstore shopping cart on my home page only posts and collects the regular price $40.00.  Order by phone–435-579-1743 or FAX–435-553-4585 or by postal mail to Arlene Eakle, PO Box 129, Tremonton UT 84337-0129 . 

The official “Census Report Returned to the United States Congress” by William Blount, dated 19 Sept 1791, is all that appears to survive of the original schedules submitted by the local militia captains.  It is a summary of the total population in 7 counties (Washington, Greene, Sullivan, Hawkins, Davidson, Sumner, and Tennessee) and 1 district (South of  French Broad River)–35, 691:

1. Free white males of 21 years and upwards, including heads of families–6,271
2. Free white males under 21 years–10,277
3. Free white females, including heads of families–15,365
4. All other free persons, 361
5. Slaves, 3,417

Blount noted that there were several captains who had not yet returned their schedules–three in Greene County, one in Davidson County, and one district from South of the French Broad River*.  (See Territorial Papers of the United States, Volume IV:  Territory South of the River Ohio, 1790-1796, compiled and edited by Clarence Edwin Carter.  US Government Printing Office, 1936, p. 81.)

To reconstruct the missing census entries, we use contemporary lists–tax lists, militia rolls, land grants and deeds, claims for pre-emption lands, names recorded in diaries and journals.  And numerous histories compiled by local historians from records that we have not seen or read ourselves.

There are many pitfalls in using name lists as evidence of residence.

Tennessee in 1790 was on the frontier’s edge:

__Indians were literally fighting for their lives against the encroachments of new settlers, as well as their lands.

__Politicians, at odds with each other, tried to merge the pressures of special interests, highly positioned men juggling for preferment, and specific agendas of their own.

__Organized groups of speculators petitioned for lands to uncertain jurisdictions, often re-granting and re-selling lands they had not legally received title to– some speculators had NEVER lived there and had no intention of ever settling those lands. And those they sold their lands to may NOT ever locate on those lands.

__Military installations included soldiers and paid mercenaries who served and then went home.   Local men and volunteers also served tours within a day’s ride of the fort–it was their day job.  Were they enumerated at all?

__Trading posts and inns were maintained by agents for absentee owners.  Serving travelers and emigrants on their way to someplace else.

__Stations, established for the protection of settlers were established, wiped out or abandoned during Indian uprisings, re-activated over and over.

__Long Hunters came for furs and skins, foraged in the rich wilderness for 6-8 months at a time, then returned to their homes in other states.

__Men dominate these lists–males under 21 may be referenced, women rarely.  Widows caught between marriages may also be referenced without naming any of their husbands.

So I am wrestling with all these quantifiers as I amass a “census” of persons residing in Tennessee, 1787-1791.  With the additional difficulty of determining where in all this Western Country they actually lived.  And I have chosen to exclude 1786 and before as well as 1792 and later.  Although, persons recorded in lists and records of these dates may very well be present from 1787 to 1791 too.

Each source contributing to the “census” is fully cited by code number, sometimes with comments about the records on which each one is based.  That way, you can know where to place the blame if the name is fake.

Fake settlers in the Western Country–

Names of persons who do not exist at all can be found in petitions for government preferment where a specific number of signatures or marks is required to qualify for statehood, for a representative in government, for election of local officials, for a full jury.

Names of persons who do exist, they just did not settle in Tennessee during those dates.  Although, they may have been residents at other times.  Leaving them off a specific list seems wrong.

Names of persons not eligible to sign or to be included because of age, gender, origin, actual place of residence, or length of residence.  These names are written in to pad the totes.  Absentee owners of land or local commercial interests were often included.

In the words of the inhabitants themselves:

The Petition of Sundry Inhabitants of Greene County Humbly Sheweth That We labour under Great Disadvantages and Difficulties by Reason of the great distance we lie from the Courthouse it being att least Ninety Miles from our lower Settlements and no civil Officer Residing in less than forty miles by Which means viliany often Goes unpunished and the Honest and Good Citizens Wronged–of their Right.

It is therefore our Earnest Request that your Honourable body would take into consideration our Distressed Situation and Grant us Relief by laying us off a County and Appointing Officers for the Administration of Justice…

We your Petitioners are now Sufferers by a most Cruel and unhapy War with the Cherokee Indians  We have been Closely Confind in forts these six months past and many of our people Barbarously Massacred our farms not Attended our Horses and Cattle Drove from our Stations and often we not able to do more than Defend ourselves from our Walls under these our distressed We have been Without Assistance from the more Secure ports of the Districts, the Divisions and controversy Among the people Renderd it often out of the power of the Militia officers to Assist us.  And also Some of your petitioners are Settled on unapropriated land and it is our honnest Desire to be Conformable to your Government and laws.  We have Defended our Country as far as in our power.  Att the Risque of Both life and property…  Preamble to Petition from the Inhabitants of Greene County, 20 Nov 1788, To the Honourable the General Assembly of the State of North Carolina, Jay Haywoods

*Note:  In all of the historical accounts of settlement in Tennessee that I have read or copied, there is no mention of the population “south of French Broad” River–who are these people?  And where do they fit into the scheme?

Your favorite Tennessee Genealogist, Arlene Eakle   http://arleneeakle.com

PS  Sorry for this big gap in posting on my Tennessee Blog.  My time has been concentrated on generating the “census.”  Please stay tuned for updates, as I expand the master list from reliable records and sources.  You will want to be kept posted regularly about this progress.

PPS  Tennessee Research by Afton Reintjes is nearing publication.  The holdup was our decision to add a preliminary version of the Reconstructed 1790 “Census” as an Appendix to the book .  We are finishing the typing on that version of the list now.  Don’t give up on us–the result is magnificent!

PPSS The delay gives you an excellent opportunity to be among the first to get the “census.”  If you haven’t ordered your copy of Tennessee Research, you can still do so at the pre-pub price of $25.00 plus $4.00 postage.  Once printed and shipped, the regular price will be $40.00 plus $7.00 postage.  You can add your request to all of those who have already ordered–by phone (435-579-1743–call early or late, I am at the library doing genealogy research during the day), by FAX (435-553-4585), or by postal mail (PO Box 129, Tremonton UT 84337-0129).

Ronald Bremer emphasized the importance of the Tennessee entry-taker every time I heard him speak and in various notes to me over the years.   This local government official recorded some of the very earliest mentions of your ancestor and his intentions to settle in Tennessee.

And interestingly enough, these records have often survived courthouse fires which have plagued your Tennessee genealogy research.

George and Juanita Fox have now supplied us with a ton of early entries–

1. Surveyor Entry Book:  District South of the French Broad and Holston, State of Tennessee, 1807–Blount, Cocke, Jefferson, Knox, Sevier Counties. 2004.  Over 2,300 people with surveys between 1806-1812.
2. Lists of Lands, District of French Broad and Holston , State of Tennessee, 1806-1812:  Blount, Cocke, Jefferson, Knox, Sevier Counties. 2002.  Includes 4 early lists, including a Treasurer’s list of installment payments!

These are two of the six books compiled between 2002 and 2005 by George and Juanita Fox on Sevier County and the District South of French Broad and Holston.  District records that many genealogists do not know about, nor know how to find!

Each volume includes a newly-drawn map of eastern Tennessee waterways in 1807.  With a list of those watercourses that have changed names.  With these two pages in hand, you can match the actual locations, where your ancestors located, to a modern-day atlas.

District boundaries are described, so you know which parts of counties are included within the jurisdiction.  And a brief history of the whole area is especially useful because it is tied to the records themselves.

http://www.zianet.com/jmcdgwin/GENEALOGY/TENNESSEE/Crowsonscove/CrowsonsCoveplats.htm

Check out the website above, for a great example of how these important works can be used.  I’m thinking genealogy research in the area of old Sevier County Tennessee will never be the same.

New and used copies of these books are listed on Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/Sevier-County-Tennessee-surveyor-1824-1902/dp/B0006S3D14
Your favorite Tennessee genealogist, Arlene Eakle  http://arleneeakle.com

In the 1970’s, my colleague Afton E. Reintjes, spent every summer in Tennessee.  She worked for a group of clients whose ancestors lived for generations in Tennessee.  And she visited almost every courthouse–for the original records– and every public library–with a genealogy collection–in that state.  And in the surrounding states.  One client flew her from place to place in his own private plane.  She talked to and research the collections of local genealogists  in each area.  She interviewed living relatives to determine where their families came from.  She examined their personal genealogy documents.  And she became the authority on Tennessee.

In person, at genealogy seminars, and through the mail, she and I sold many copies of her book on Tennessee Research.   But, the addresses have changed.  And the record locations are different.  And there are new indexes.  And websites where record images and maps appear.

So we are re-writing the book for 2010.  And adding some key things that Afton did not include in the original edition:

1. Like checklists of manuscript collections and where you will find them.
2. Like actual migration patterns of families–following  in the footsteps of others or blazing their own trails that your families might have taken.
3. Like family kinship networks that have already been tracked or identified.

With luck, a preliminary version of this new edition will be available at the Family History Expo, Dixie Center, St George UT, at the end of February 2010.  [WOW! next week]  If not, then at the North Orange County Annual Seminar, 13 March 2010, at the Brea United Methodist Church, Brea CA.  Whether or not you attend these events, you can order the book directly from me. Check my Home Page for contact stuff.

I, personally,  am excited and happy at getting this new edition completed while Afton is still available to participate in it.  And you will be too–because Afton Reintjes knows where “all the bodies are buried.”    Your favorite Tennessee genealogist, Arlene Eakle   http://arleneeakle.com

PS  This preliminary version will cost $25.00 per copy +  $4.00 postage.  Order your copy while you can get this price.

The Bicentennial of the War of 1812 occurs 2012-2015 across the Eastern United States.  Your ancestors living in Tennessee participated in the War of 1812 in considerable numbers.

Actually, Tennessee is called the “Volunteer  State” because when war was declared against England in June of 1812, Governor Blount notified President James Madison, that he would immediately muster 2500 Tennessee Volunteers for service.  Enlistments were 3 months to begin with, then later became 6-month enlistments.  And the soldiers are so designated–3-month men and 6-month men.

The sometimes severe record losses in Tennessee counties renders this war and its muster lists, pay rolls, militia rosters especially important–they are close enough in date to fill critical gaps where there is no 1810 census for any of Tennessee.  And no 1820 census for East Tennessee and substantial parts of West Tennessee.

The Tennessee Society of the War of 1812, has been actively engaged in the preservation of all data pertaining to Tennessee participation in this war.  And publishing information about those Tennesseans who mustered and fought.

An example of their efforts is Soldiers of the War of 1812 Buried in Tennessee compiled by Mary Hardin McCown and Inez E. Burns, 1959.  This volume includes:

1. “Names Abstracted from Colonel David Henley’s ‘Wastebook’ Regular and Militia Personnel for Period 1793-1798 in Southwest Territory.”  The wastebook includes accounts from the Blockhouse at Tellico.
2. “Petition from Overton County, 1813.”
3. “Henderson and McGhee, Storekeepers, Maryville TN, Accounts October 1814 to  December 1815.”

The preface to this work describes the discovery of Prisoner of War Records in the British Archives, War of 1812, Ottawa Canada.  Mrs. Clarence W. Jenne, then president of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, working with the Secretary of War and Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, arranged for copies of  some 2000-3000 folios from the General Entry Book of the Prisoners of War at Quebec and Correspondence of their Keeping and Exchange. A copy went to the War Department and a copy to the NSDAR library.

Twenty-Four Hundred Tennessee Pensioners:  Revolution-War of 1812 by Zella Armstrong, 1937.  Includes 23 Tennessee men held as prisoners at Quebec.

Tennessee Soldiers in the War of 1812:  Regiments of Colonel Allcorn and Colonel Allison, compiled by Penelope Johnson Allen, 1947.  Published by the United States Daughters of 1812.

These compilers, searching archives and libraries for War of 1812 documents since 1925, all  stress the need to locate lists of 1812 men in county and local histories, local genealogy society publications, files of old newspapers, Bible and tombstone records, church and court minutes.  Muster and pay rolls may also  still be preserved among the personal papers of both state and local government officials–originals as well as copies.

Tennesseans who served 1812-1815, can also be found in other printed war records segments:

1. The original roster books kept by the British Admiralty, now indexed:  Harrison Scott Baker, II, American Prisoners of War Held at Halifax During the War of 1812 (June 1812-April 1815). Published in 2005 by the Society of War of 1812 in the State of Ohio and printed by Willow Bend Books (now merged with Heritage Books).  Public Record Office, London, ADM 103/167 and ADM 103/168.  It was customary for the British government to hold prisoners of war aboard naval vessels off the coast, instead of incurring the costs of building land prisons.  And many of the entries in this new index indicate the ships the men served on or were transported on. Baker noted that the dates of capture and the date of reception into the prison at Halifax, Nova Scotia could be separated from a few days to several months–suggesting that these prisoners were held somewhere else before being brought to Halifax. These 1,350 soldiers are all designated as members of the United States Army.
2. Records Relating to American Prisoners of War, 1812-1815. Public Record Office, London records.  Family History Library microfilm, 11 reels, #1454583-93.  We need more of this collection indexed.  It covers the whole country, and Tennessee is included.
3. 1814 Court Martial Of Tennessee Militiamen, compiled by James L. Douthat, 1993.  Published by the Institute of Historic Research, Signal Mountain TN.   Reprint of Congressional Report, 20th Congress, 1st Session, House of Representatives, 11 Feb 1828.   The index has over 7,000 entries including geographic and personal names.
4. Roster of War of 1812, Southside Virginia–the Twenty-Six Counties in this area:  Albemarle, Amelia, Amherst, Bedford, Brunswick, Buckingham, Campbell, Charlotte, Chesterfield, Cumberland, Dinwiddie, Fluvanna, Goochland, Greene, Greensville, Halifax, Hanover, Henrico, Louisa, Lunenburg, Mecklenburg, Nelson, Nottoway, Pittsylvania, Powhatan, Prince Edward, compiled by James L. Douthat, 2007. Published by Mountain Press, Signal Mountain Press.  This area was a funnel for settlers into Tennessee–especially the eastern counties.  Be sure to check here for Tennessee men who returned to serve with their kinfolk.
5. “The Pension Office to Congressman Andrew Johnson: A List, 1843-53,”  The East Tennessee Historical Society’s Publications (#38–1966):  98-108.  Compiled by Leroy P. Graf, etal.  During the preparation of Andrew Johnson’s papers for publication, the authors discovered names of pensioners of the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 among the letters from  the Congressional Pension Office to Johnson.  These are summarized here by claim.  For example, Volume 84, #368, 18 May 1844, Amount allowed children of Henry Kilda [Kildey] (ZA); (M-B) [Kilday].
   
6. “Do You Know This Family?” The Pellissippian (Jan-Mar 1999): 14-20. Begins with a photograph and includes combined muster and pay rolls of Capt. John English’s East Tennessee Drafted Militia, from 10 Jan 1814-14 July 1814, Washington, Rhea County TN.  With discharge information.

These are all great examples of the the bits and pieces of documentation available for this war effort–especially significant for Tennessee ancestors, the first to volunteer to serve.  And they represent a drop in the bucket of what remains to be collected.  Your favorite Tennessee genealogist, Arlene Eakle.

PS  Holly Hansen and her Family History Expos is planning a gigantic genealogy conference in Atlanta GA in November 2010.  I am going to speak, and if she will approve it–I will do two NEW sessions on Tennessee Genealogy.  Plan now to attend–for a lot of you, that is major travel.  I am convinced that it will be worth the effort.  She projects over 5,000 in attendance!

PPS  And watch for many more new indexes and published  record transcripts as the Bicentennial comes closer.

There is a power in having a unique genealogy place where you can learn new techniques, discover new sources, share your excitement when you find something no one else has unearthed; and, THIS IS THAT PLACE!

I have dug in and studied early Tennessee–that seems to be more troublesome for genealogists  because census records are missing and incomplete.  Vital records take real diligence to find.  And courthouse fires have snapped many property records out from under us.  So just identifying  candidates for father and mother are tricky.  And positive links to North Carolina, Maryland,  and Virginia are a genealogy challenge.

J.G.M. Ramsey of Mecklenburg, near Knoxville Tennessee, finished his Annals of Tennessee 16 Nov 1852.  It was published originally in Charleston SC, 1853.  It was a remarkable achievement for that time.  He found and published documents with an integrity that renders confidence in them even today–even when they no longer exist.

There are errors in his work–caused by lack of information, imperfect research tools, incomplete data supplied from memory as you might expect to find in an early work of its kind.

Still Ramsey is the beginning place for the history of East Tennessee.

In 1999, Overmountain Press reprinted the original edition for East Tennessee Historical Society.  With some key additions:  A new “Introduction” by Dr. William H. Masterson, President of the University of Chattanooga.  “Annotations Relating Ramseys’ Annals of Tennessee to Present-Day Knowledge” by Stanley J. Folmsbee.  A new, “Every-name Index” compiled by Miss Pollyanna Creekmore and Miss Marie Crain.

I invite you to add this reprint edition to your winter reading list and spend some time with these new parts.  You will find some interesting insights into this early history.

For example, Mr. Folmsbee identifies the movements of several Indian tribes through Tennessee, not just the Cherokees.  How many times have genealogists sought their East Tennessee ancestors among the Cherokees without luck?   Creeks and Seminoles also appear here early on.  And in one instance a large body of them arrived and stayed for months at a time.

A sense of place has erroneously tied one tribe to the “place called there” (coined by Michael Murdoch, the Southern Evangelist), when the Shawnee also appear early in Tennessee.  And the Iroquois, including the Seneca.  These tribes and their roving bands were only somewhat territorial.  And this knowledge could drastically change your genealogy venues.

Sources not available or known to Ramsey are described in the Annotations that will enable you to find ancestors in resources not previously available for genealogy before.  Break your losing streak!  Re-visit Ramseys’ Annals of Tennessee. Your favorite Tennessee genealogist, Arlene Eakle

PS  Jurisdiction and place are not synonymous.  Although they are often treated as the same thing by unwary genealogists.  I will have much more to say about these two genealogy research dimensions in future Tennessee blogs.