Tennessee Research, the Vital Beginnings of this Region

   Being of old school I generally start with usgenweb.org.  Having it as a free site for research, and generally carries a  lot of information for most but not all sites.

    

   Having taken and copied a small description of this site,  since I could never do the description so well. ( ) area.

  First we start with the website.     http://www.tngenweb.org/

   Search This Site

   Tennessee has 95 counties.  That is a lot of counties for this small state.

    Now to look into the critical knowledge one must have to do proper research in this area.

    Three Grand Divisions of Tennessee

     Tennessee County Formation Map

    (Tennessee is divided into Three Grand Divisions: Eastern, Middle, and Western. Prior to statehood (1796), and even prior to Tennessee’s territorial period (1790-96) there were legal divisions in Tennessee. North Carolina applied these names (at least) to her divisions/districts in her “Western Reserve” or “Western Lands:”

Eastern Division/District
Middle Division/District
Military Division/District
Western Division/District

In 1806, when Tennessee created her Surveyor’s Districts, two land offices were formed. One in East Tennessee, one in West Tennessee. The slight problem is that the “West Tennessee” of those times is really “Middle Tennessee” of today. It seems that there was some consideration given to the fact that all those lands in the 1806 Congressional Reservation (generally the western third of the state) were Chickasaw lands and perhaps never going to really be part of Tennessee. In any case, it does cause genealogists to take a second look when they find an 1810 White Co TN Militia unit in West Tennessee. After the Great Chickasaw Cession of 1818, the area west of the west waters of the Tennessee River became known as Western Tennessee, commonly called West Tennessee.) 

http://www.tngenweb.org/pre1796/

This page site is very critical to your early research. VERY.

It describes the lands descriptions and boundaries early.

People were there long before Daniel Boone, 1673 in fact.

 

I can express how much importance is involved in grasping the boundary changes and the name changes and the States development both NC and VA and TENN  and KY.

It needs read until you can grasp it solidly as you read data about the area you are looking at..

Tennessee was a dominate  part of the eastern state of North Carolina, on the west side, Virginia on the west side, Kentucky south.

There are links here to study and grasp the movement of the people and when.

Squabble State

 http://www.tngenweb.org/revwar/

A very strong piece of the puzzle lies within this statement of the Volunteer State.

 There is a place to add you REV WAR person on this link. or search for one.

Over 2,200 REV WAR Vet Records are on the Pension Rolls.

Now 3,200 show for them.

Colonial Indian Land Cessions in Tennessee

http://tngenweb.org/civilwar/

A special project for Civil WAR .

http://www.tngenweb.org/cemeteries/       Yes, a link for the cemeteries.

More Sources To Check and Learn

Sources to start with besides usgenweb.org and the states of North Carolina and Tennessee and Virginia History are:

Map Guide to American Migration Routes by William Dollarhide.

Pg 5  Excellent description of the land  boundary dispersement.

Excellent map on page 16 showing the boundaries. Printed for all to see and make copy of.

Also on Page 15 it states it discusses 3 states that had to cede their land so that the Federal Government could end the confusion, creating the Northwest Territory 1787.

Virginia gave up it’s western lands, old Fincastle Co. it became Kentucky, 1792

North Carolina gave up some of its western territories creating Tennessee. 1796

Georgia in 1802 gave up its western lands, which added to Mississippi Territory,  later becoming Alabama & Mississippi.

All but Tennessee and Kentucky became Public Domain lands, which then created revenue for the new country to operate and develop.  Prior to this, USA had no funds.

Tennessee Genealogical Research by George W. Schweitzer, Ph.d, & ScD

Pages 8 to 30 vital for knowledge of Tenn.

North Carolina Research by George W. Schweitzer, Ph.d, & ScD

Pages 5 t0 17 adds to this information to help to know where to look when.

 As you can tell I am a firm follower of George W. Schweitzer, Ph.d, & ScD.

 Having attended several of his talks. I was so blessed.

 You will find his books on the other herein states are also very helpful. But you have to start where the county started to find the answers if you are doing early research.  Learning the history of the          region many times helps to keep from you having a brickwall syndrome. 

 Also Tina Sansone of Tennessee, a cousin has some great resources to check out. She is on Facebook also.

  Want more links?  Try the Historical societies, State Archives, Newspapers, tax rolls, land records, school records, government officials of the time element, genealogical societies as the list rolls along.

  Such as Wills, Deeds, Obituaries, Court Documents regarding buying and selling (fruit, vegetables, animals, trees etc). 

Leave no stone unturned.  Lots of Luck.