Description

This is the third volume of Tennessee deed book records abstracted and indexed by Mary Sue Smith. There are no Federal censuses in existence for Tennessee prior to 1820, with the exception of 1810 for Rutherford County. These Tennessee deed records are remarkably informative, often including full names, family relations, and more complete information on slave transactions, such as the full names and even maiden names of buyers, sellers, former owners and inheritors. In many cases, family migrations are noted providing additional geographic clues for directing further research. Ms. Smith has preserved the "feel" of the deeds by retaining the spelling and language peculiarities of the original documents, particularly in those entries that contain estate inventories. Entries are dated and arranged in the order that they were recorded in the deed book, with a citation to the original page where they can be found. Freemen are denoted in the index by an asterisk.