Arlene Eakle’s Tennessee Blog

In 1966, Robert M. McBride wrote an article, well illustrated with county boundary maps, showing where the lost and discontinued counties of Tennessee were.  See “Lost Counties of Tennessee,” East Tennessee Historical Society Publications #38 (1966): 3-15.

There are 95 counties in Tennessee.  In the past counties may have existed briefly or only on paper, some were long-lived. Watch for records if your ancestors resided in these areas.

The Watauga Association of 1772 took the name of Washington District at the end of 1775 and in July 1776, petitioned North Carolina for annexation.  NC created the county of Washington in 1777 from Burke and Wilkes counties.  There is little evidence that either of these NC counties or the District of Salisbury or Western District exercised any jurisdiction over Tennessee territory.  At the time of the 1790 census, Tennessee was known as Territory South of the Ohio River.

Bell–1870, along the border of Alabama, present Fayette, Hardeman, McNairy Counties

Christiana– 1870, name changed to present Loudon County

Christian–1852, 1869, parts of present Carroll, Gibson, Madison, tip of Crockett.  Also called Grant County.

Caswell–1785-86, under State of Franklin [settled from Caswell NC?], present Jefferson County

Cumberland–1837, 1844, 1856 as present Cheatham County

Etheridge–1870, parts of present Carroll, Henry, Weakley, and Gibson Counties

Hanes–1877, parts of present Benton, Decatur, Henderson, Carroll Counties

Hanover–1844, present Fayette County

Hatchie–1846, present Hardeman and McNairy Counties, overlapped with Bell

James–1871-1919,  eastern part of Hamilton County.  Citizens brought suit in 1890 to keep county intact until 1919.

Jones–1844, parts of Monroe, Loudon, and Blount Counties

Lewis–1843- 1869, present Lewis County

Nashoba–1871, southeastern Shelby County

Powell–1835, parts of present Hawkins, Greene, Sullivan, Washington Counties

Putnam–1842, 1854, present Putnam County

Spencer– under State of Franklin, 1785-86: present Hawkins, Hancock, parts of Claiborne, Grainger, and Hamblen Counties

Taylor–1852, parts of present Hardin and Wayne Counties

Tennessee–original county, 1788,  present Montgomery (1796), Robertson (1796), Cheatham, parts of Dickson, Houston, Stewart

Wayne–1785-86, under State of Franklin, present Johnson, Carter, parts of Unicoi and Washington Counties

Webster–1873, parts of present Claiborne, Campbell,Union

Wisdom–1875, present Chester County

These counties are “lost” because of change of name, failure to comply with constitutional requirements, temporary abolishment then being re-established, consolidation with another county, etc .   Your favorite Tennessee genealogist, Arlene Eakle   http://www.arleneeakle.com

Where there is no direct proof  of relationship in the records, and the documents do not appear to give obvious circumstantial clues, you can use other elements of identity to show probable relationship:

1. Migration Patterns: Family members tend to move together in groups from one place to another.  This is especially true  where adult sons or sons approaching marriageable ages do not already have land holdings.  The father will move to a place where can either acquire sufficient land to share with his sons or where the  vacant land available will allow them to buy their own land.

Russell Gist was a blacksmith, born in Kentucky about 1805.  Searches in eight separate counties for his origins disclosed that Thomas Gist is the only Gist male of the right generation, in the right places, at the right time periods to qualify as the father of Russell Gist.

Thomas Gist outlines his own migrations in his Revolutionary War pension file S1762.  He resided in Greene County TN and enlisted from there.  About 4 or 5 years after the war he moved to Knox County TN where he lived 9 years.  This would place him in Knox County from 1787 to 1796.  He then moved to Barren County KY where “I remained till  about twenty three years ago.” His statement was made 21 Aug 1832, placing him in Barren County until 1809.  During this time Russell Gist was born in Kentucky.

Thomas then moved to Smith County TN across the state line, where he stayed for two years only.  Last, he moved into White County TN just in time to appear on the tax rolls in 1811.  He remained in White County TN until his death.  Making most of these same moves were Thomas’ father Benjamin.  His brothers :  Joseph with whom Thomas had served in the war, certifying the service of them both in affidavits submitted with their pension applications.  And William.

Joseph Gist remained in Barren County.  William died in either White County or  Jackson County TN.  William had land holdings in both counties and the loss of the records byfire, makes it difficult to determine which.

Stay tuned for other chapters in the Gist saga.  Your favorite Tennessee Genealogist, Arlene Eakle http://www.arleneeakle.com

We stand on the shoulders of those who’ve gone before!

No where is this statement more visible than Tennessee Research.  We have all bemoaned the lack of early census schedules for Tennessee–especially East Tennessee counties.

In post for 5 June 2009, I described finding the “Early Ohio Records Series, Volume 2″ which Ronald Jackson published several years ago.  These entries were listed as South of the Ohio River, a description of the territory encompassing East Tennessee.  And the names are East Tennessee names.

Now we have Partial Census of 1787 to 1791 of Tennessee (as taken from North Carolina Land Grants), 2 volumes.  Compiled by Lucy Kate McGhee–one of Penelope Johnson Allen’s DAR members who worked on the Historical Records Survey program of the WPA.

Do you suppose that this volume is one of the 1500 volumes that Mrs. Allen and her corps of volunteers prepared?

There is a copy, and it is indexed, at the Family History Library on microfilm reels #1728882 item 4 and #1683130 item 3.  The filming was done in 1990, probably at the Tennessee State Archives.  And this record is easy to overlook in the Family History Library Catalog.

The Daughters of the American Revolution have always tried to shorten and ease the research process for their members seeking new Revolutionary War ancestors.  They do the same for those who register with them before they actually prove a lineage.

So creating a substitute census from land grants made by the State of North Carolina is not surprising.  I am going through the Family History Library Catalog as I have a chance, to identify other volumes prepared by the DAR.  And I will share the information with you as I discover them.

There will be copies of these volumes in other libraries.  When the original typing was done, up to 7 carbon copies were made so they could be spread around.  When you visit Tennessee, watch for these volumes in public libraries and archives as well as used book stores.  Your favorite Tennessee genealogist, Arlene Eakle  http://www.arleneeakle.com

PS  I’m going to the Tennessee State Archives and other libraries around the state very soon.  If you have a research problem you’d like help on, let me know.

The Western District of Tennessee–West Tennessee– includes three counties along the border with Middle Tennessee, 13 counties and three cities, and Shelby County,  which was the first county created in the district.

Shelby, 1819, Hardin 1819, Perry 1819, and part of  Humphreys originally created in 1809.  City of  Memphis built on one the noblest of the Chickasaw Bluffs.

Henry 1821, Carroll 1821, Madison 1821, and Henderson 1821.  City of Jackson, originally named Alexandria.  City of Paris, established 1823 in Henry County.

Dyer, Fayette, Gibson, Hardeman, Haywood, McNairy, Obion, Tipton,  and Weakley counties created in 1823.

With the cession of the Western Country in 1784, the right of entry to lands was restricted to citizens of North Carolina.  The Land Office was actually opened 20 Oct 1783, at Hillsborough NC, with John Armstrong as the entry taker.   Entries could be made for not more than 5,000 acres at one time at 10 pounds per 100 acres.  [This was a stiff price, considering that Georgia was selling land for 1 1/2 cents per acre.]

Over 2 1/2 million acres were entered by the leading politicians of North Carolina who also voted to close the Land Office in 1784.  They intended to sell their entries to the highest bidder.

Surveyors included William Tyrell Lewis headquartered at Nashville, Col James Robertson at Cumberland, Henry Rutherford, Edward Harriss, and Isaac Roberts.

Lands continuted to be granted, by extension of the law, since there were no counties or civil authorities west of Nashville.  In 1787, however, a trace was opened from Nashville into West Tennessee.  It was called Glover’s Trace after William Glover, a leader of the Chickasaw.  And Trace Creek, in Humpherys County turned south into Henderson and McNairy counties to the Chickasaw towns of North Mississippi.  A branch extended to the Chickasaw Bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River.

Trading posts, called factories (using the Scottish outpost term) were established at Chickasaw Bluffs.  And Andrew Jackson proposed that the factories deliberately run the Chickasaws into debt for goods so they would be willing to cede their lands to clear it.

The Natchez Trace, the most well-known road, was negotiated in 1801 with the Chickasaws to run from the Cumberland settlements to Natchez on the River.  It linked Fort Adams and Fort Pickering.

These historical facts are recounted by Samuel Cole Williams in his Beginnings of  West Tennessee:  In the Land of the Chickasaws, 1541-1841. Johnson City TN:  The Watauga Press, 1930.

Two other references are recommended if you have West Tennessee Roots–

1. Genealogical Nuggets from Some of the Antebellum Newspapers of Memphis and Randolph Tennessee. Compiled by Jonathan K.T. Smith, 1998.  Available from the author, PO Box 2767, Station 238, Jackson TN 38302.  I saw a copy of this volume at the Memphis Public Library and found it very useful.
2. “The Chickasaw Bluffs Factory and its Removal to the Arkansas River, 1818-1822,” Tennessee Historical Quarterly 11 (Mar 1952) 41-56.  This article written long ago by the Rev. Aloysius Plaisance, describes a whole series of early records that document settlement and trade in the Western District:  Trading Houses–Colerain on the St. Mary’s River, to the Creeks; Tellico to the Cherokees; and Chickasaw Bluffs (1802) to the Chickasaws; Piqua, Illinois Bayou, and Spadre Bluffs, 1820-24.

Plaisance also describes NARA Record Group 75, Bureau of Indian Affairs:

Ledger Accounts, Chickasaw Bluffs, 1803-05

Indent Books, 1804-1819

Invoices Inward, 1796-1805

Record Copies, Letters Sent, Vol A 1807-08, Vol B 1809-1812, Vol D 1816-1818, Vol E 1818-1820.

Lists of Goods Needed, 1808

Journals, 1814

Letters Received, 1817-1824

Documents printed in American State Papers–Indian Affairs (printed by the Government Printing Office).

To my knowledge, these sources have never been quoted in a family history or genealogy.  Probably have not been consulted either for those ancestors who begin their presence in West Tennessee before the formation of counties and civil jurisdictions.  Your favorite Tennessee genealogist, Arlene Eakle  http://www.arleneeakle.com

PS Add these sources to your growing list of Tennessee genealogy resources.  And remember that I am compiling a Master List of Tennessee Genealogy Records and Sources.

Connecting a Tennessee ancestor to origins in North Carolina during and after the Revolutionary War is often a difficult task.

Dr. A.Bruce. Pruitt’s land records abstracts and consolidated indexes for Tennessee and North Carolina create a new printed database of major significance! He researched and compiled the books; he published the books; and he will sell you copies of the books.  Write him at Dr. A.B. Pruit, Box 815, Whitakers NC 27891.

If your ancestor is found in Tennessee early–there are two North Carolina Military Reserves, one in East Tennessee created in 1780 before the Revolutionary War was over and one in Middle Tennessee created in 1783 immediately after the war.  In Colonial times and following the Revolutionary War, the availability of extensive bounty lands in Tennessee attracted North Carolina ancestors to claim military service–even if they did not serve; or, even if they served on the wrong side; or, even if they served in the wrong state!

Exact Proof!

Dr. Pruitt has indexed all the parts of the military bounty land claims records for North Carolina, including the investigations of fraud. And now for the first time, you can spot your ancestor; then, using the claim number and the related document numbers, you can track your ancestor from Tennessee back to his home county in North Carolina with exact proof. The claim numbers are the same in the records for both states. If your ancestor died, his heirs inherited his claim numbers.

Even if your ancestor was originally from Maryland or from Virginia or from Pennsylvania, if he claims military service from North Carolina, you can prove him with exact proof! What a great time it is to be searching for those difficult-to-find- Tennessee ancestors.

Works by Dr. A.B. Pruitt included in the new printed database:
Index of People and Places in North Carolina Land Warrants, 1735-1774. [Whitakers NC]:  A. B. Pruitt, 2004. Land warrants from the Crown Land Office abstracted in 11 volumes and articles, printed between 1984-1996. The original documents are filed in the N.C. State Archives in Raleigh. Each entry uses the warrant number to identify the documents.  Warrants can be used to fill in data when entry books are missing.

North Carolina Land Warrants in Tennessee–Valid and Invalid, 1771-1815. [Whitakers NC]:  A.B. Pruitt, 2004.  Original warrants in Group 50, Tennessee State Archives.

Index to North Carolina Land Entries, 1778-1795. 3 vols.  [Whitakers]:  A.B. Pruitt, 2001. Includes entries abstracted and printed by various compilers, 1971-2001.

Place Name Index to North Carolina Land Entries, 1778-1795. [Whitakers NC]:  A.B. Pruit, c. 1987-2001.  Index to 66 volumes of  county land entries.

Glasgow Land Fraud Papers, 1783-1800. 2 vols. Privately printed by the author 1988-93. Watch for multiple indexes in both volumes. Very important work.

Tennessee Land Entries: John Armstong’s Office. Pt 1: Land Entries. Pt 2: Land Surveys and Indexes. 1780-1800. By the author, 1995.

Tennessee Land Entries: Military Bounty Land, Martin Armstrong’s Office, 1783-97. 7 vols. 1. Location Book (#3138-4839). Includes important introduction. Be sure to read it. 2. Location Book (#5572-7490, 2754-3111). 3. Warrants, First Series (#1-2500), 1783-85. 4. Warrants, First Series (#2501-5312), 1785-97. 5. William Christmas’s Office, Warrants, Second Series (#1-1242), 1799-1841. 6. and 7. Every name Indexes.  Sources used in these volumes:
- Transcribed copies of Martin Armstrong’s location books, TN Archives, Rg 50, Series 2-3
- Loose papers, file 080 Washington County, Tennessee
- North Carolina Land Warrants
- Papers of the Nashville Land Office
- Tennessee Revolutionary War Warrant files
- North Carolina Board of Inquire papers, SS753-756
- North Carolina Secretary of State’s Land Grant Papers, NC Archives
- MARS Computer File System, NC Archives
- North Carolina Session Records, North Carolina Assembly Papers (Card index in NC Archives)
- Tennessee Revolutionary War Petitions.  Transcripts by Miss Marybelle Delamar, 5 bound vols., NC Archives. Includes name index.  Abstracts printed in North Carolina Genealogical Society Journal, vols. 1-6.
-Tennessee Military Bounty Grants, 15 reels of microfilm.  Can be borrowed from TN State Archives.

Tennessee Land Warrants: Pt. 1, Green and Sullivan counties;  Pt. 2, Surveyors’ rights, preemption claims, guard rights, etc.  Pt. 3, Index. [Whitakers NC]:  A.B. Pruit, 1999.

Tennessee Land Entries:  Washington County, 1778-1796. 3 vols. [Whitakers NC]:  A.B. Pruit, 1997. In 2007, Dr. Pruit published a fourth volume covering1802-05, 1824-75, 1879-1904.

William Maclin Warrants and West Tennessee Commissioners’ Decisions, 1783-1816. [Whitakers]:  A.B. Pruit, 2000.  This volume includes indexed record abstracts for both East and West Tennessee.

West Tennessee Surveys, 1783-1788. [Whitakers NC]:  A.B. Pruit, 2000.

Unless your ancestor was exempt, he served in the military for some period of his life regardless of where he lived. Being able to document Revolutionary War military service–and sometimes French and Indian War service–through bounty land records and being able to link your ancestor with a place of origin before Tennessee–priceless.  Your favorite Tennessee genealogist,  Arlene Eakle  http://www.arleneeakle.com

PS  NEW Kentucky blog launched yesterday, 19 June 2009.  Check it out.

Documenting ancestors who ventured into Tennessee before it became a state is a difficult task to be sure.  The federal census records that aid us in identifying these early settlers in North Carolina and Maryland are lacking for Tennessee.  The first known census is 1820 which covers only Middle Tennessee.

One afternoon as I was researching at the Family History Center, Idaho Falls ID, I came across a volume in Accelerated Indexing Systems Early American Series entitled Ohio 1790, Volume II. To my surprise, this volume covers eastern Tennessee referenced as “Territory Southwest of the River Ohio.”

Where Ronald Jackson found the list we will never know–he is now deceased and the volume itself does not disclose its source.  We have no reason to question the validity of the list.  The men mentioned are known to have lived in Tennessee, Illinois, Indiana, etc. early on.

Not every library carries this volume.  Ohio 1790, Volume I , which many libraries have, refers to Ohio–”Territory Northwest of the River Ohio.”

So I consider Volume II as a gift.  Look for it in the genealogy library that you use most often.

The following bibliography is a preliminary guide to name lists taken from both federal and state records pertaining to the early settlement period  Tennessee.  Use it as a checklist to ensure that you don’t miss land entries, surveys, grants, and other “first” property records for your ancestors who came to Tennessee before the federal census records your family.

TERRITORY SOUTHWEST OF THE RIVER OHIO:  A Preliminary Bibliography

Acts, Territory South of the Ohio River, Knoxville TN, 1794. Imprint # 7969, Original printing and facsimile copy, Henry E. Huntington Library, San Marino CA.

John Armstrong’s Entry Book, 21 October 1783 – 25 May 1784. Vol. II: Series of Early Tennessee Land Records.  1993.  Irene M. Griffey, 321 Holly Circle, Clarksville TN 37043.  The earliest land records for Tennessee.

Tennessee Land Entries: John Armstrong’s Office, Part 1 – Land Entries.  Dr. A. B. Pruitt.  Printed by the author, Box 815, Whitakers NC 27891.

Tennessee Land Entries: John Armstrong’s Office, Part 2 – Land Surveys and Index.  1995.  Dr. A. B. Pruitt.  Indexed by name, water course or description, warrant #.

Robert Armstrong’s Survey Book of Cherokee Lands: Lands granted From the Treaty of 27 February 1819.  1993.  James L. Douthat.  Institute of Historic Research, P. O. Box 400, Signal Mountain, TN 37377-0400.

Durham, Walter T.  Before Tennessee: The Southwest Territory, 1790-1796. 1990.  Rocky Mount Historical Association, Rt. 11 E and Rocky Mount Parkway, Piney Flats TN 37686.  Also on fiche # 6101361, Family History Library.  Includes a valuable bibliography of unpublished source material for the Southwest Territory.

Entry-Taker’s Report, 1778-1783: Washington County, TN and Sullivan County, TN.  Compiled by Oveda Meier, 1962 S. 200 E., Salt Lake City, Utah 84115.  Also on microfiche, # 6101579, Family History Library.

Field Notes Made by W. L. Henderson to Lay Off Lands West of the Tennessee, Acts 1819-1820.  Original Manuscript, film # 0469470, Family History Library.

Glasgow Land Fraud Papers, 1783-1800, 2 Volumes.  Dr. A. B. Pruitt.  1988- 1993.  Privately printed by the author.  Watch for multiple indexes in both volumes.

Kingsport Heritage: The Early Years, 1700-1900.  Muriel M. C. Spoden.   Johnson City, TN: The Overmountain Press, 1991. Very important work by local historian-genealogist.

Ohio, 1790, Volume II.  Accelerated Indexing Systems, Inc. 1984.  Computerized 13 page list of inhabitants in 1790, with places of residence like Washington County, TN, St. Clair County, IL, Post Vincennes, Southern Ohio Territory, Cahokia, Prairie Du Rocher, Davidson County, TN.  Not included in AIS Microfiche Index.

Preemptors: Middle Tennessee’s First Settlers.  Irene M. Griffey, Ibid. Includes 1787 militia payroll.

“The Records of Washington County Court,”  The American Historical Magazine,  III (1898)  -  IV (1899).  The original records, (1778-1790), are deposited in the Tennessee Historical Society, Nashville, TN.  Forerunner of the Tennessee Historical Society Quarterly, The American Historical Magazine was published 1896-1904, 10 Volumes in all.  Available on film # 840246, Family History Library.

Tennesseans Before 1800: Washington County.  1996.  Marjorie Hood Fischer.   Frontier Press, 10 Cadena Drive, Galveston, TX 77554-6329.  Also available, Tennesseans Before 1800: Davidson County.  1997.  Author was working to complete Sullivan County.

Tennessee Land Grant Series, 17 Volumes.  Byron Sistler and Associates, 1712 Natchez Trace, Nashville, TN 37212.  A series of helpful booklets with reference to sources was also published by Sistler and Associates.

Territorial Papers Southwest of the River Ohio, 1790-1795.  National Archives Microfilm Publication, M0471.  Family History Library film # 1578870.   Microfilm of original records in the National Archives, Washington, D. C.

“Washington and Sullivan Counties (TN), Revolutionary War Stub Indent Books,” by Haywood Roebuck, North Carolina Genealogical Society Journal. I  (1975) 91-96.  Payrolls for military service patterned on those kept by North Carolina.

Washington County, Tennessee Records, Volume I: Washington County Lists of Taxables, 1778-1801.  Mary Hardin McCown, etal.  Johnson City, TN: 1964.  Also includes Abstracts of Washington County Minutes, Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions, 1778-1801; Lists of Officers 1778-1801; and Miscellaneous Records.  Prepared by the DAR.  Original records deposited in Archives of Appalachia, Sherrod Library, East Tennessee State University Libraries, Johnson City, TN.

The Wataugah Land Purchases.  Troy R. Keesee, 151 Skyline Lane, Powell, TN 37849, (423) 945-1309.  Using Deed Mapper from Direct Line Software, Keesee maps the land pieces in the Purchase Area.  Well indexed!

Until next post–your favorite Tennessee genealogist, Arlene Eakle http://www.arleneeakle.com

PS  Be sure to watch for my new Home Page–easier to find stuff!

This week has been National Historic Preservation Week.  No mention in the national media.  And I would like to comment here about the importance of preserving what was compiled in the past for our use.

Penelope Johnson Allen of Chattanooga TN dedicated her life to the preservation of Tennessee genealogy and history.  In 1982, at the age of 95 years, she gave permission for her newspaper column, Leaves From the Family Tree, to be reprinted by The Rev. Silas Emmett Lucas, Jr., and his Southern Historical Press.  Copies of the columns in the McClung Collection at the Knoxville Public Library were printed in facsimile.

Leaves is a collection of 110 family histories.  One family was omitted because Ms Allen discovered some inaccuracies and some columns she wrote were missing in the McClung collection.

The migration pattern of the family is included, often with dates.  Vital records are printed for each family, some taken directly from family Bibles.  Photos, cemetery readings, tax lists, and even coats-of-arms can be found in these columns.

What interested me most:  The Preface which described Ms Allen’s devotion to preserving the lives and histories of Tennessee’s families.

Much of Tennessee history might have been lost had it not been for Mrs. Allen’s discovery of many deteriorating early public documents.  Through her encouragement,
the Tennessee DAR undertook the project of copying these documents, with government aid from the WPA Work Program that she had sought and was made supervisor of. Her efforts continued until 1945 and filled 1500 volumes.

Your tax dollars at work!  Penelope Johnson Allen’s work yielded 1500 volumes!  Her vision, to use a new government aid program to fund her DAR volunteers, ensured that transcripts of documents no longer in existence are still available to fill in where so much record loss has occurred.

We do owe her a debt of gratitude for such foresight.

How do we find and use the 1500 volumes.  Some have been microfilmed by the Family History Library.  Some have been donated or otherwise acquired by local Tennessee public libraries.  Some were sent to the National DAR Library in Washington DC.  Some ended up in the state archives in Nashville.  And some were acquired and then sold by used book dealers–I have one of those volumes.

So this is a personal plea, as National Preservation Week comes to an end–WATCH for her volumes.  Usually bound, typewritten pages (some as carbon copies),  8 and 1/2  X 11 inches in size.  

Doing professional research in the field, I visited many local Tennessee public libraries, university and college research centers, used book stores, etc. across Tennessee.  Nowhere have I found, total, more than 350 volumes!  

WATCH for these volumes and persons who quote from them.  They are often as close to original as we can hope to get.  Your favorite Tennessee genealogist, Arlene Eakle  http://www.arleneeakle.com

PS  Our readership is growing–and I am so very glad about that! 

PPS  Linda Brinkerhoff and I will be finishing our book, begun several years ago,  American Migration Patterns.  It will include the actual routes of travel, with contemporary maps.  County-by-county as the families moved across the land.  Special migrations of churches, and armies, and ethnic groups.  Checklists of records that identify migrating families and persons, “just passing through.”   

I sorted material collected over twenty years, from special migration libraries like the Twin Falls ID Public Library, and archives with old card files of mineral leases acquired before the settlers showed up.  Then I packed the stuff away in 2004, while I cared for my ailing husband. Well, those boxes  are coming out, that material will be updated and prepared for print.  Stay tuned–this is one book you won’t want to miss!     

Tracing an ancestor through Tennessee back to origins in Virginia or North Carolina or South Carolina or Pennsylvania or Maryland is the most difficult American lineage of all to prove!

But, you already know that.

So what can you do to break your losing streak?

Newly accessible records for Tennessee ancestors often reveal their origins in North Carolina, and Virginia, and Maryland, and Pennsylvania, and South Carolina.

New indexes along with accompanying transcribed records, that lay for centuries in the state archives vaults, are now available. In print. (Some now online.)  These records prove that the ancestor in Tennessee is the same man who came from NC, VA, MD, SC, or PA.

Three Reasons why Tennessee is such a genealogy research challenge:

1. Sources we usually search to complete a family chart were not kept consistently–birth records do not begin until after 1900.  Marriage records often were lost in courthouse fires.  Wills that do survive are scattered–some original wills are filed in family vertical files at the State Archives or local public libraries and are not recorded in the county at all.  Wills transferring real estate to churches were often given to the church and ended up deposited in collections far removed from place of residence.  Cemeteries mark graves with field stones that carry no inscriptions.
2. Migration patterns may run north and south–into Kentucky or into Georgia and Alabama–instead of west to follow rivers.  Family relationships, militia and church districts may dictate where the people go.  During Indian Wars and the Civil War–called the War Between the States in Tennessee–settlers moved out of harm’s way as the invading armies criss-crossed the state.  Settlers were recalled during the Revolutionary War into Southside Virginia or over the border into North Carolina or up the Shenandoah valley.  So, identifying counties of residence during these turbulent times takes special indexes and careful study of maps for each specific time period.
3. Settlers come from Northern and New England states as well as from Virginia or North Carolina.  Surnames may not be helpful in locating origins since they could come from anywhere. This requires more research in  local siources and family and local histories to ensure that you follow the right kinship networks and tie into the correct lineage. 

For these reasons and several others we will discuss in future blogs, field research in Tennessee is recommended for tough pedigree research. These problems cannot be resolved by quick internet searches or printed books available in your local library.  And sometimes these tough lines cannot be traced using microfilmed records at the Family History Library alone. 

To trace a hard-to-find Tennessee ancestor, you need access to collections along the migration path and interview descendants still living on the family land.  Since Tennessee is still primarily rural, modern development has not yet eradicated local evidence or displaced local records to some other area.  The people and their records are still close to home—for each ancestor.

And I still have a 96% success rate tracing Tennessee ancestors back to their origins.  I plan one or more trips into Tennessee each year to do the field research necessary:  gathering local data including family Bibles and photo collections, matching family traditions to actual record sources, and fitting all the pieces together.  

Without the field research, the pieces usually don’t fit together.

If you have a tough Tennessee research problem, Let me take a crack at it–while my Genealogy Research Grants and Economic Stimulus Packages are still available.  Details on my Home Page http://www.arleneeakle.com

Your favorite Tennessee Genealogist, Arlene Eakle

PS  You can still get on my July-August trip schedule.  Choose your Research Grant and your Stimulus Package and send them along to me with your genealogy data. TN, KY, OH, PA, RI, and perhaps VA too. 

As settlement on the Tennessee frontier began to increase, the Indians considered white settlers intruders and a threat–and fought back.  These new additions to my Master List of Tennessee Records Sources identify men from diverse backgrounds who created a shield of protection for the early settlers:

1. P. M. Hamer, Fort Loudoun on the Little Tennessee.  Raleigh NC: Edwards and Houghton Printing Company, 1930.  A reprint of  ”Anglo-French Rivalry in the Cherokee Country, 1754-1757,” North Carolina Historical Review (July 1925) and “Fort Loudoun in the Cherokee War, 1758-1761,” Ibid. (Oct 1925).  List of 99 soldiers by name in companies.  The soldiers who manned this early Fort were from South Carolina and served under the British.  There is evidence that they also served at Fort Prince George, with orders to march into the Overhill Country to help in the building of  Fort Loudoun. 
2. Emory L. Hamilton.  ”The Clinch Scouts,” The Mountain Empire Quarterly (Summer 1984): 75-76.  Clinch Scouts, also called “Indian Spys,” patrolled a 150-mile stretch along the Clinch and Powell Rivers in what was Southwestern Virginia–a rugged, mountainous wilderness. The Tennessee settlers built a chain of forts, 1774-1794,  to protect themselves–they were manned by volunteer militia.  These Clinch Scouts were volunteers too, to help maintain the safety of the settlers from Shawnee and Cherokee warriors and renegades.
3. “Davidson County and the Cumberland Battalion,” North Carolina Genealogical Society Journal (Nov 1992) and continued into the issues for 1993.  A combination of North Carolina and Virginia men aided the settlers against raids by Indians.  

 Those militia who served under the British, were paid by the British Army.  This was their day job!  In off hours, they were free to take up lands, build cabins, move their families to the frontier,  and farm the lands.  When the Revolutionary War broke out, they already had a stake in Tennessee.  And the men resented the fact that their former officers and British employers now sicked their enemies on them.  They were loyal volunteers and turned out in large numbers to defend their own.

The spies carried their supplies on their backs, foraged for food, and slept on the ground. The responsible to outfit themselves.  James Fraley reported in his Revolutionary Pension claim, “The spys had particular sections allotted to them, where the war-paths crossed, and sometimes we would not return, unless Indian signs were seen, for a month. The spys, be it remembered, were to fund themselves.  We lived on venison and bear meat.” (Hamilton article, p. 75)

These articles and your genealogy:

References to these frontier protectors are found in scattered lists and buried in Revolutionary Pensions claim affidavits.  The publication of name lists in genealogical and historical periodicals alerts you to their service head of time-and often  supplies their origins! 

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

PS  Much more to come–stay tuned in.

Spring has come to Tremonton–the grass is green and almost 12 inches tall!  We have had wonderful rain, and rain, and rain.  Interspersed with sun and some warm-enough temperatures to grow buckets of dandelions–all with multiple heads curling up like ferns.  And I could use a goat, a herd of goats.

I have mowed every day this week, 6 days in all.  And I estimate that I am about 1/2 done.  Filling bags and bags of grass.  Filling garbage cans and cans with winter debris.  And piles and piles and bags and bags waiting for pick-up…

This is not a complaint or a whine.  Just a description of my last-days-of- April week. 

Record sources for early Tennessee research

The next several posts on this blog will include excerpts from a Master List of  Tennessee Record Sources, 1750-1815.  I began this list some years back for a presentation to the AFRA Genealogical Conference in Kansas City MO.  And I have expanded it as I came across useful information.  I will undoubtedly add to it after I print up copies.

This is the greatest hurdle you will experience in Tennessee research:  connecting a Tennessee ancestor or one just passing through on the way to some other place to their origins in Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey.  Not to mention those who seem to come from the British Isles or Europe direct!

So first the record source Master List.  Then the strategies and the interpretations that help you to make sense of what the records say.

Stay tuned in.

Be careful with the online census records.  Here is an example of interpretation–by computer, arranging names in alphabetical order:

Smith County, Tennessee, 1850. Ancestry. com

North of Cumberland and East of Caney Fork Rivers

Typed summary--

Claiborne Hall     61

Elizabeth Hall      60

John Hall               16

Martha J Hall       47

Sarah Hall              10

Susan Hall              33

Usebius Hall          12

William Hall          17

Original census order–

Claiborne Hall      61

Elizabeth Hall       60

William Hall          17

John Hall               16

Susan Hall             33

Usebius Hall         12

Sarah Hall              10 

Martha J Hall       47

Interpretation of  each list of names is quite different.  This is always true with alphabetical lists.  You don’t live in alpha order and neither did your ancestors.  

Helpful clerks who arrange the data as they recopy it.  Computer programs that arrange all lists for convenience.  Alpha does save time.  It may not save relationships.  And when you add the further information that the census taker frequently re-copied the entries from field notes taken as he went from house to house or as he recorded what people told him as he sat in the courthouse or the drugstore.  You can see that rarely do you have an original record.

Considerations for reading and understanding handwritten records–

1. Since the census is recorded from memory by whomever responded to the enumerator.  
2. And the enumerator wrote down what he heard–usually without any corroborating documents.  
3. And you read the record from the computer screen, where the website arbitrarily writes MyFamily.com somewhere on the census image (in this case over the name Usebius).  
4. And since reading a handwritten record is often a matter of recognition rather than knowledge.

You may need a goat too.  Your favorite Tennessee genealogist, Arlene Eakle   http://www.arleneeakle.com

PS  Hang in there–the Master List of Tennessee Record Sources, 1750-1815 (your goat) is coming to the rescue.  In segments on this blog first.  Then in printed form.