Haywood County, Tennessee Genealogy

United States   Tennessee    Haywood County West Tennessee county. Established 1823.





Quick Dates
Haywood County's civil records start the following years:

County Courthouse


Haywood County Courthouse 1 North Washington Street Brownsville, TN 38012-2561 Phone: 1-731-772-2362


 * County Clerk has marriage and probate records Phone: 1-731-772-2362
 * Register of Deeds has Land records Phone: 1-731-772-0332
 * Circuit Court Clerk has Court records Phone: 1-731-772-1112

Hours: Mon.-Fri. 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.

History
The county is named after "Judge John Haywood (1762-1826), called 'the father of Tennessee history.'"

Parent County
1823--Haywood County was created 3 November 1823 from Chickasaw Indian Lands. County seat: Brownsville

County Pronunciation


Did we get the accent right? If not, contact Nathan W. Murphy, [mailto:murphynw@familysearch.org murphynw@familysearch.org].

Boundary Changes
"Rotating Formation Tennessee County Boundary Maps" (1777-1985) may be viewed for free at the My Tennessee Genealogy website. They rely on AniMap 3.0 software.

Record Loss

 * Lost census: 1890
 * Lost marriages: 1823 to 1858

Although these records are not lost due to burning, the same strategies for researching in burned counties can apply to record loss for other reasons. For further information on researching in burned counties, see the following:


 * Arlene Eakle, When the Records are Gone in Tennessee Genealogy Blog
 * Burned Counties Research in FamilySearch Wiki
 * Michael John Neill, Burned Counties in Family History Circle

Neighboring Counties

 * Crockett
 * Fayette
 * Hardeman
 * Lauderdale
 * Madison
 * Tipton

Getting Started
Use the free Search for Surnames at Mountain Press's website to quickly search a variety of published Haywood County biography, court, and tax records. To determine which books are being searched, or to search each publication's index individually, click here. You are now equipped with a checklist of books to pull off the shelves at a genealogy library, or a wish list for your personal book collection.

Research Guides

 * Genealogical "Fact Sheets" About Tennessee Counties: Haywood County, courtesy: TSLA (Identifies published county histories, published local records, census records, newspapers and local records on microfilm, and select manuscripts.)

African Americans
United States African Americans Tennessee African Americans


 * Free African Americans Enumerated in the 1850 and 1860 Haywood County, Tennessee Census, available online, courtesy: Christine's Genealogy Website: Who are Your People?

Cemeteries
Tennessee cemetery records often identify birth, death, relationship, and military information, as well as religious affiliation.

The following websites may contain Haywood County cemetery records:


 * Find A Grave can be searched by the name of a person or family to find where a person is buried. Usually gives birth and death dates often with a picture of the tombstone. May give obituaries, names of family members and links to their information in Find A Grave.


 * Find A Grave also gives a list of cemeteries in Haywood County linking to the information about the people buried there,


 * Haywood County, TN Cemetery Records, part of the TNGenWeb Cemetery Database, lists many cemeteries in the county, often with indexes and transcripts of the burials.


 * Haywood County, Tennessee, part of USGenWeb Tombstone Transcription Project lists many cemeteries in the county and has transcripts of the tombstones arranged by cemetery.


 * Haywood County cemetery information with transcriptions on TNGenweb Project


 * The Family History Library Catalog lists some records of cemeteries for Haywood County. Some of the books or other books may be on Google Books or available at public libraries.


 * Some cemetery transcriptions for Haywood County are on Interment.net


 * ePodunk list of Haywood County cemeteries


 * For free lookups of Haywood county cemeteries, obituaries and Bells/Brownsville Funeral Home records (1940's-1970's) click here.

Census
1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, and 1930 federal population censuses of Haywood County are available online. For tips on accessing census records online, see Tennessee Census. If you're having trouble finding your ancestors in online indexes, try checking printed indexes. Created by local experts familiar with the area's families, these indexes are often transcribed more accurately than nationwide online indexes.

See Tennessee Population Schedule Indexes: Fiche, Film, or Book for more information about statewide printed indexes.

See Haywood County, TN census assignments, including links to transcribed files. [The USGenWeb Census Project®]

1840 Pensioners


 * A Census of Pensioners for Revolutionary or Military Services: With their Names, Ages, and Places of Residence, as Returned by the Marshalls of the Several Judicial Districts, Under the Act for Taking the Sixth Census. 1841; reprint, Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing, 1967. FHL US/CAN Book 973 X2pc 1840; FHL US/CAN Film 2321. 1841 edition digitized by the U.S. Census Bureau and Google books et. al. [See Tennessee, Western District, Haywood County on page 159.]

1850


 * Carpenter, Mrs. V.K. Seventh Census of the United States, 1850, Haywood County, Tennessee : free population schedules Huntsville, Arkansas : Century Enterprises, c1970 FHL US/CAN book 976.8223 X2

1880


 * Sistler, Barbara 1880 census Haywood County, Tennessee Nashville, Tennessee : Byron Sistler and Associates, 2001 FHL US/CAN book 976.8223 X2

Directories

 * Brownsville City Directory 1872-1873 Free Lookups Available!

DNA
DNA has been collected from men claiming descent from the following Haywood County residents. Attempts have not been made to verify the lineages of those tested.

Family Histories
It is anticipated that this bibliography will eventually identify all known family histories published about residents of this county. Use this list to:


 * Locate publications about direct ancestors
 * Find the most updated accounts of an ancestor's family
 * Identify publications, to quote Elizabeth Shown Mills, about an ancestor's "FAN Club" [Friends, Associates, and Neighbors]

General

As of August 2010, a query for persons born in Haywood, Tennessee at World Connect, results in more than 10,000 entries.

Bibliography


 * [Hughes] Hughes, V. Jean. Hughes Trav[e]lers from Bertie to Haywood County, Tennessee. 2 vols. Senatobia, Miss.: V.J. Hughes, 1997. FHL FAM HIST Book 929.273 H874hvj v. 1 ff.
 * [Moore] Fritz, Marcine Moore William Moore and his descendants Salt Lake City, Utah : Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1993 Available at the Family History Library] FHL film 1750756 item 12 with a digitized version through BYU Family History Archives
 * [Taylor] Tabernacle Historical Committee. The Taylors of Tabernacle. Brownsville, TN: Tabernacle Historical Committee, 1957. 2 volumes. Available at FHL FAM HIST Book 929.273 T212ta; digital version at Heritage Quest Online ($).

Land

 * Haywood County Register of Deeds has Land Records from 1820 and is located at the Courthouse, 1 N. Washington St., Brownsville, TN 38012-2561; Telephone: (731) 772-2362. Land and property records include transfer of real estate or personal property, mortgages, leases, surveys, and entries.
 * The Family History Library has microfilmed copies of deeds 1823-1893 with indexes 1823-1905; and land grants and land entries 1793-1834

Law and Legislation

 * Tennessee State Library and Archives, Acts of Tennessee 1796-1850: Index to Names. January 25, 2005. [In addition to creating new laws, legislative acts were often required to obtain a divorce, grant legitimacy to a child, or for appointments to or grant payments for public service.] The TSLA has created an index to names that appear in these acts covering the years 1796 to 1850. To read more about this valuable resource Click here. The searchable index is available at the TSLA; another version is available at World Vital Records.

Military
Revolutionary War

The following Haywood County Revolutionary War records are available online through TNGenWeb:


 * 1) 1835 Pension Roll
 * 2) 1852 Rejected or Suspended Pensions

Additional resources include:


 * A Census of Pensioners for Revolutionary or Military Services: With their Names, Ages, and Places of Residence, as Returned by the Marshalls of the Several Judicial Districts, Under the Act for Taking the Sixth Census. 1841; reprint, Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing, 1967. FHL US/CAN Book 973 X2pc 1840; FHL US/CAN Film 2321. 1841 edition digitized by the U.S. Census Bureau and Google books et. al. [See Tennessee, Western District, Haywood County on page 159.]
 * Rejected or Suspended Applications for Revolutionary War Pensions. Washington, D.C., 1852. Reprinted by Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1969, and 1991. Reprints include "an Added Index to States." Digital version at Ancestry ($). Tennessee entries abstracted online at Tennesseans in the Revolutionary War, courtesy: TNGenWeb. [Includes veterans from this county; Tennessee section begins on page 381.]

War of 1812


 * Embry, Hermione D. "War of 1812 - Tennessee Pensioners on List - January 2, 1883," Ansearchin' News, Vol. 7, No. 3 (Jul. 1960):65-68. FHL US/CAN Book 976.8 B2a v. 7 (1960); digital version at journal website. [Includes Haywood County pensioners (p. 67)]

Civil War

Lynn, H.M. ''H.M. Lynn Papers, 1858-1882. ''Southern Historical Collection, Manuscripts Dept., Wilson Library, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Free digital copy. 9th Tennessee Regiment, Company C.

Newspapers
Many Tennessee newspapers are filmed and available at TSLA. Most of these newspapers may be accessed by interlibrary loan to libraries within Tennessee, although there are some newspapers which are not available in or outside of Tennessee. For further information regarding interlibrary loan policies and newspapers not available for interlibrary loan click here. For a list of newspapers available at the archives for Haywood County click on the following city:


 * Brownsville

Occupations

 * Miller, Alan N. West Tennessee's Forgotten Children: Apprentices from 1821 to 1889. Baltimore, Md.: Printed for Clearfield Company, Inc., by Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 2006. FHL US/CAN 976.8 U2man. Purchase at Genealogical.com. [Includes Haywood County.]

Periodicals
Tap into the minds of local experts. Editors of genealogical periodicals publish unique sources that researchers who are new to their area would not likely discover. This type of material may be found in local, regional, or statewide genealogical society journals. The following periodicals cover this county:


 * Ansearchin' News
 * Genealogical articles with abstracts of records of Haywood County, Tennessee have been published in Ansearchin' News, the quarterly magazine of the Tennessee Genealogical Society. To view a list of these articles, visit their county index. To read digitized versions of the first 36 years of articles (Vols. 1-36), browse their archive or conduct a surname search. The Family History Library has a complete collection of the Ansearchin' News quarterly FHL US/CAN Book 976.8 B2a.
 * Family Findings
 * Genealogical articles with abstracts of Haywood County, Tennessee records have been published in Family Findings, the quarterly of the Mid-West Tennessee Genealogical Society (42+ vols.). The Family History Library has most issues of this quarterly FHL US/CAN 976.8 B2f.
 * Tables of contents for some volumes are available online, courtesy: TNGenWeb Project:
 * Volumes 1-10 (1969-1978)
 * Volumes 11-20 (1979-1988)
 * Volumes 21-24 (1989-1992)
 * Volumes 32-35 (2000-2003)
 * Many articles from this publication have been reproduced on the TNGenWeb Project website, try this specialized Google search.
 * West Tennessee Historical Society Papers
 * Family History Library has Volumes 1 - 16 and 30 FHL US/CAN Book 976.81 B5w. The West Tennessee Historical Society Papers are indexed in PERiodical Source Index (PERSI) To view Table of Contents and complete articles from 1947 - 2005 see Shelby County Register of Deeds

Prisons
Learn if your Haywood County ancestors went to prison!


 * Inmates of the Tennessee State Penitentiary 1831-1850, free index available online, courtesy: TSLA.
 * Inmates of the Tennessee State Penitentiary 1851-1870, free index available online, courtesy: TSLA.

Probate
Probate records are court records created after an individual’s death that relate to a court’s decisions regarding the distribution of the estate to the heirs or creditors and the care of any dependents. You may find the names of married daughters or other relatives and their residences; or information about the adoption or guardianship of minor children and dependents. Probate records do not always give an exact date of death, but the death usually occurred within a few months of probate. These documents are important to family history researchers, because they usually exist for time periods before civil birth and death records were kept.

The County Court has responsibility for the probate records of Haywood County.

The organization Strictly By Name provides free online indexes to early Haywood County probate records. They offer a record retrieval service to photocopy and transcribe microfilm copies of the original documents for a small fee. Available indexes:


 * 1) Will Book 1: 1826-1839
 * 2) Will Book 2: 1839-1841

The following Haywood County probate records have been abstracted, indexed, or both:


 * [1826-1861] Sistler, Byron and Barbara Sistler. Index to Tennessee Wills &amp; Administrations 1779-1861. Nashville, Tenn. Byron Sistler &amp; Associates, Inc., 1990. FHL US/CAN 976.8 P22s. [Includes an index to this county's probate records.] Free lookups available!
 * [1845-1852] Smith, Jonathan Kennon Thompson. A Genealogical Quandary, Will Book D, 1845-1852, Haywood County, Tennessee. [N.p.: n.p.], 2003. Will book D no longer exists. The compiler located the related wills. A surname index is included. (FHL book 976.8223 P2s.)
 * [1826-1841] Strictly By Name (see above).

Taxation
The original Haywood County Tax Books 1834-1888 are kept at the County Courthouse. In 1976, TSLA microfilmed these records. FHL copies: FHL US/CAN Films 1007525-1007529.

The following Haywood County tax records have been abstracted:


 * [1836] Haywood Co., Tenn., Tax List 1836, District #1, Family Findings, Vol. 3, No. 4 (Oct. 1971). For access, see Periodicals.
 * [1836] "Haywood County, Tennessee - 1836 Civil Districts," Ansearchin' News, Vol. 37, No. 4 (Winter 1990):164. For access, see Periodicals.
 * [1836] Douthat, James L. 1836 Haywood County, Tennessee Civil Districts &amp; Tax List. Signal Mountain, Tenn.: Mountain Press, 2003. FHL US/CAN Book 976.8223 R4d; online: free surname index and purchase details.

Marriage
Marriages were not officially recorded in Haywood County during the first few years of its existence. In 1838, a law was passed mandating the practice. The following publication, based on early newspapers, helps to alleviate this genealogical obstacle:


 * Lucas, Silas Emmett. Marriages from Early Tennessee Newspapers 1794-1851. Easley, S.C.: Southern Historical Press, 1978..

The following Haywood County marriage records have been abstracted and/or indexed:


 * [1859-1878] Sistler, Byron and Barbara Sistler. Early West Tennessee Marriages. 2 vols. Nashville, Tenn.: B. Sistler &amp; Associates, 1989. FHL US/CAN Book 976.8 V2sb v. 1 ff. [Indexes names of brides and grooms, and marriage dates for weddings in this county for the specified years.]
 * [1859-1866] Historical Records Project Marriage records, 1859-1866, Haywood County, Tennessee Salt Lake City, Utah : Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1939. FHL US/CAN Film 24690 items 5-6
 * [1859-1878] Fischer, Marjorie Hood Haywood County, Tennessee, marriage records 1859-1878, books 1-8 Vista, California : Fischer, 1987. FHL US/CAN Book 976.8332 V2f
 * [1859-1959] Haywood County (Tennessee) County Court Clerk Marriage records (Haywood County, Tennessee), 1859-1959. FHL US/CAN Film 1006850-59, 1928708-16
 * RecordSearch at FamilySearch now includes indexed Tennessee marriages. This is a free pilot site and still under construction.  At this time, it is best to search from the home page titled Discover Your Ancestors; indicate a surname, marriage "event" and a county name (i.e. Haywood, Tennessee).  Browse through the results for that surname. You may need to supply any variant spellings of the surname in separate searches.
 * Many county marriage records are indexed with images at Ancestry's Tennessee State Marriages, 1780-2002 ($). Be aware that this index is not complete for all counties.

Divorce
In 1940 and 1941, W.P.A. workers pinpointed the location of Haywood County divorce papers in diverse manuscript collections, see:


 * W.P.A. Guide to Public Vital Statistics in Tennessee. Nashville, Tenn.: The Tennessee Historical Records Survey, 1941. FHL US/CAN Book 976.8 A3gp.

Death

 * Hays, Tony. West Tennessee Death Records [ca. 1823-1852]. 2 vols. n.p.: Kitchen Table Press, 1987. FHL FAM HIST Book 976.8 V2ht v. 1-2. [Haywood County is included in Vol. 2]

For deaths of Methodists in Haywood County between the 1830s and the 1920s, try:


 * Smith, Jonathan K.T. Genealogical Abstracts from Reported Deaths, the Nashville Christian Advocate. [1847-1914] 10 vols. [Jackson, Tenn.]: J.K.T. Smith, 1997-2003. FHL US/CAN Books 976.855/N1 V48s 1847-1851 ff; digital versions at David Donahue Memorial: Tennessee Records Repository. [Website expands upon the publications and includes deaths from the 1830s, 1840s, 1910s and 1920s.]

Web Sites

 * Family History Library Catalog (FamilySearch)
 * Haywood County, TN Family History and Genealogy Message Board (Ancestry)
 * Haywood County, TN Genealogy Forum (GenForum)
 * Haywood County, TNGenWeb (USGenWeb)
 * RootsWeb Mailing List: TNHAYWOO-L (Haywood County, Tennessee List)
 * RootsWeb Mailing List: WEST-TNCHAT-L (West Tennessee Chat List)
 * RootsWeb Mailing List: WESTTN-L (West Tennessee List)