Anderson County, Tennessee Genealogy

United States   Tennessee    Anderson County East Tennessee county. Established 1801.

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

County Courthouse
Anderson County Courthouse 100 North Main St. Clinton, TN 37716 Phone: 1-865-457-5400

Anderson County Clerk Marriage and Probate Records 100 N. Main St. Room 111 Clinton, TN 37716 Phone: 1-865-457-6228

Anderson County Register of Deeds Land Records 100 North Main St. Room 205 Clinton, TN 37716 Phone: 1-865-457-6236

Anderson County Clerk of Circuit Court Court Records 100 N. Main St. Clinton, TN 37716 Phone: 1-865-463-6820

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

History


The county is named after Tennessee Senator Joseph Anderson (1757-1837).

Anderson County Chamber of Commerce, (accessed 30 Jan 2012). Anderson County: Proud History, Bright Future

Parent County
1801--Anderson County was created 6 November 1801 from Knox and Grainger Counties. County seat: Clinton

County Pronunciation

 * 1) Hear it spoken (female)
 * 2) Hear it spoken (male)

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 censuses: 1810, 1820, 1890
 * Lack of marriage records: 1801 to 1837

Populated Places
For a list of locations in this county and information about each location online, through some helpful websites, please click on Populated Places Table for Anderson County

Getting Started
Use the free Search for Surnames at Mountain Press's website to quickly search a variety of published Anderson County biography, court, land, military, and tax list 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: Anderson County, courtesy: TSLA (Identifies published county histories, published local records, census records, newspapers and local records on microfilm, and select manuscripts.)

African American
United States African Americans Tennessee African Americans

African American marriages in Anderson County for the years 1866 to 1879 are abstracted in the following book:


 * Gammell, Paula. Anderson County, Tennessee, Marriages, January, 1859 - August, 1882. Knoxville, Tenn.: P. Gammell, 1984. FHL US/CAN Book 976.873 V2g. [Covers Marriage Books 3, 4, and "Colored" (1866-1879). Abstracts include names of grooms, brides, and officiators, as well as license and marriage dates.]

Cemeteries
Tennessee cemetery records often identify birth, death, relationship, and military information, as well as religious affiliation. The Tennessee Cemeteries page provides explanations of the following online resources:

Published Anderson County cemetery records:


 * McGinnis, Robert A. Gone to Rest: The Cemeteries of Anderson County, Tennessee. n.p.: R.A. McGinnis, 2008..

Census
1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, and 1930 federal population schedules of Anderson 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 Anderson County, TN census assignments, including links to transcribed files [The USGenWeb Census Project®]

1800 - Lost, but a substitute is available, see Taxation.

1810 - Lost, but a substitute is available:


 * Sherrill, Charles A. The Reconstructed 1810 Census of Tennessee: 33,000 Long-lost Records from Tax Lists, Court Minutes, Church Records, Wills, Deeds and Other Sources. Mt. Juliet, Tenn.: C.A. Sherrill, 2001..

1820 -Lost

1820 Manufactures

The original manufactures schedules for the Eastern and Western Districts of Tennessee are kept at NARA, Washington, D.C. FHL copies:.

Published abstracts:


 * National Archives. Indexes to Manufactures Census of 1820. 1920; reprint, Knightstown, Ind.: Bookmark, 1977. ; digital version at Lineages. [Includes this county; Lineages database cites document numbers needed to retrieve the original manuscript.]
 * 1820 Census of Manufactures: Anderson County, East Tennessee Roots, Vol. 5, No. 3 :112. For availability, see Periodicals.

1830


 * Sistler, Byron H. 1830 Census, East Tennessee. Evanston, Ill.: n.p., 1969..

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. . 1841 edition digitized by the U.S. Census Bureau and Google books et. al. [See Tennessee, Eastern District, Anderson County on page 152.]

1850


 * Chambers, Richard L. "1850 Federal Census - Anderson County," [5 parts] available online, courtesy: USGenWeb Archives.

1860


 * Harris, Mary S. United States Census, Anderson County, 1860. [Tenn.]: M.S. Harris, 1989..

1870


 * Hutton, Edith Wilson. Transcription, Federal Census Schedule, Anderson County, Tennessee, 1870, Indexed. Knoxville, Tenn.: E.W. Hutton, 1984..

1880


 * Sistler, Byron and Barbara Sistler. 1880 Census - Tennessee: Transcription for Anderson County. Easley, S.C.: Southern Historical Press, 198-?..

1890 

Lost, but substitutes are available:


 * Reed, Sue S. Enumeration of Male Inhabitants of Twenty-one Years of Age and Upward, Citizens of Tennessee, January 1, 1891, as Provided for by an Act of General Assembly of Tennessee, Passed January 15, 1891, and Approved January 22, 1891. 8 vols. Houston, Texas: S.S. Reed, 1989. . [Anderson County is included in Vol. 1.]
 * Sistler, Byron H. and Barbara Sistler. 1890 Civil War Veterans Census, Tennessee. Evanston, Ill.: Byron Sister and Associates, 1978..

1910


 * Phillips, Betty J.S. 1910 Anderson County Tn. Census. Clinton, Tenn.: B.J.S. Phillips, 1999..

1920


 * Kelley, Wanda. Population Schedule of the United States Census of 1920 for Anderson County, Tennessee. [Harriman, Tenn.]: W. Kelley, [199-?]..

1930


 * Collins, Betty VanOver. 1930 Anderson Co., Tn. Federal Census. Knoxville, Tenn.: B.J.V. Collins, [2004?]..

Church
Church records include baptisms, marriages and burials, as well as information about family members and clues about family migration. For additional information about church records, religions, and religious archives in Tennessee, see Tennessee Church Records.


 * Anderson County Church Records (also check by town)


 * - Family History Library Catalog -


 * Church histories tell when a church started in the area, who the early members were, give data about church leaders, etc.


 * - Family History Library Catalog -


 * If the records you need are not available through the Family History Library, contact the church(es) in the area where your ancestor lived. Two sites that give information about churches in Anderson County are:
 * - List of Anderson County churches with addresses and phone numbers (Yellowbook)
 * - List of Anderson County churches (TN HomeTownLocator)

The churches with the largest membership in Anderson County are the Southern Baptist Convention and the United Methodist Church. For more information about religions in the county, see the charts showing membership by faith created by the Association of Religion Data Archives.

Court
Court records began in 1801.

Immigration
During the War of 1812, American officials reported finding a total of 6 British aliens, many of whom had families, living in Anderson County.

Land
Land records began in 1802. The original Anderson County Deed Books are held at the County Courthouse. TSLA microfilmed Deed Books A to LZ (1802-1893) and Trust Deed Books 1 to 2 (1882-1892) in the 1970s. FHL copies:.

The organization Strictly By Name provides free online indexes to early Anderson County land records. They offer a research service to photocopy and transcribe microfilm copies of the original documents for a small fee. Here are the indexes:


 * 1) Deed Book K: 1827-1842

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 Anderson County Revolutionary War records are available online through TNGenWeb:


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

The 1840 Census of Pensioners has been abstracted multiple times:


 * 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. . 1841 edition digitized by the U.S. Census Bureau and Google books et. al. [See Tennessee, Eastern District, Anderson County on page 152.]
 * Revolutionary and Military Pensioners, 1840, Ansearchin' News, Vol. 34, No. 2 (Summer 1987). Available online, for access, see Periodicals.

Additional resources include:


 * 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.]
 * Revolutionary War Veterans Who Lived in the County, List, Pellissippian, Vol. 25, No. 3 (Jul. 2004); Vol. 25, No. 4 (Oct. 2004); Vol. 26, No. 1 (Jan. 2005); Vol. 26, No. 2 (Apr. 2005); Vol. 26, No. 3 (Jul. 2005); Vol. 27, No. 1 (Jan. 2006). For access, see Periodicals.

War of 1812


 * Embry, Hermione D. "War of 1812 - Tennessee Pensioners on List - January 2, 1883," Ansearchin' News, Vol. 7, No. 1 (Jan. 1960):13-16. ; digital version at journal website. [Includes Anderson County pensioners (p. 13).]
 * War of 1812 Survivors and Widows Pensioners, Pellissippian, Vol. 11, No. 2 (Apr. 1990). For access, see Periodicals.

Civil War


 * Tennessee State Library and Archives, Tennessee Confederate Pension Applications: Anderson County, (accessed 30 Jan 2012).  Soldier's Name, County, Pension #, Unit or Widow listed.
 * USGenWeb Archives, Anderson County, Tennessee Archives, (accessed 30 Jan 2012). Civil War Records, Civil War Pensions.
 * United States Pension Bureau, List of Pensioners on the Roll January 1, 1883: Giving the Name of Each Pensioner, the Cause for ... (Washington Printing Office; 1883), (accessed 30 Jan 2012). Online book at Internet Archive.  Anderson County, page 315.

Naturalizations

 * Hutton, Edith Wilson. Anderson County, Tennessee: Divorces and Naturalizations, 1844 through 1920. Knoxville, Tenn.: E.W. Hutton, 1992..

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 TSLA for Anderson County click on the following cities:


 * Clinton


 * Oak Ridge

Occupations

 * Miller, Alan N. East Tennessee's Forgotten Children: Apprentices from 1778 to 1911. Baltimore, Md.: Printed for Clearfield Company, Inc., by Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 2000. . Digital version at World Vital Records ($). Purchase at Genealogical.com. [Includes Anderson County.]

Periodicals
Tap into the minds of local experts. Editors of genealogical periodicals publish unique sources that researchers new to their area may not encounter. Periodicals at various levels (county, region, and state) may carry articles useful to research in this area. For this county, see:


 * Ansearchin' News
 * Several genealogical articles with abstracts of Anderson County, Tennessee records 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


 * East Tennessee Roots
 * Several genealogical articles with abstracts of Anderson County, Tennessee records have been published in East Tennessee Roots (10 vols.). A subject index to these articles is available online. Surname indexes to Volumes 9 and 10 are also available online. The Family History Library has collected most issues of East Tennessee Roots.


 * The Pellissippian
 * Several genealogical articles with abstracts of Anderson County, Tennessee records were published in the The Pellissippian (25 vols., 1980-2004), the quarterly of the Pellissippi Genealogical and Historical Society. The society has posted tables of contents for all 25 volumes on their website. They also have back issues available for purchase. The Family History Library has acquired the first 20 volumes.


 * Watauga Association of Genealogists Bulletin
 * Genealogical articles with abstracts of Anderson County, Tennessee records have been published in the Watauga Association of Genealogists Bulletin (39+ vols., 1972-present), the journal of the Watauga Association of Genealogists. The organization has posted tables of contents for most volumes on their website. Back issues are available for purchase. The Family History Library has a complete collection, including Margaret W. Hougland and Betty Jane Hylton's Bulletin Subject Index: The First Thirty Years, 1972-2001 (Johnson City, Tenn.: Watauga Association of Genealogists, 2002).

Petitions

 * Curtis, Mary Barnett. Petitions of Anderson County, Tennessee. Fort Worth, Texas: American Reference Publishing Company, 197-?..

Prisons
Learn if your Anderson 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
Anderson County probate records dated before 1827 have been lost. The following Anderson County probate records have been abstracted and/or indexed:


 * [1830-1913] Pellisippi Genealogical &amp; Historical Society. Anderson County Wills - Volume 1.  Clinton, TN: PGHS, 2010. Surname index on-line.
 * [1830-1861] Sistler, Byron and Barbara Sistler. Index to Tennessee Wills &amp; Administrations 1779-1861. Nashville, Tenn. Byron Sistler &amp; Associates, Inc., 1990. . [Includes an index to this county's probate records.] Free Lookups Available!

FamilySearch has placed scans of the following records online


 * Bonds, Letters, 1872-1923
 * Deed of conveyance, 1856-1871
 * Inventories, 1842-1875
 * Settlements, 1859-1911
 * Settlements, Wills, 1830-1842
 * Wills, 1830-1912

Taxation
The original Anderson County Tax Books 1838-1842, 1855-1865 and the Railroad Tax Book 1859-1865 are held at the County Courthouse. In the 1970s, TSLA microfilmed these records Rolls 48, A-4195. FHL copy:.

The following Anderson County tax records have been indexed:


 * [1801] Creekmore, Pollyanna. Early East Tennessee Taxpayers. Easley, S.C.: Southern Historical Press, 1980. and Silas Emmett Lucas's Revised Index . [Includes 1801 tax list.]
 * [1802] 1802 Tax List of Anderson Co., Tn. 198-?..
 * [1802] Petracek, Ruth. "Early Records of Anderson Co., Tennessee: 1802 Tax Record," The Mountain Empire Genealogical Quarterly, Vol. 2, No. 3 (Fall 1983):158-160..
 * [1802, 1805] Curtis, Mary Barnett. Early East Tennessee Tax Lists. Fort Worth, Texas: Arrow Printing Company, 1964. . [Includes 1802 and 1805 tax lists.]
 * [1805] Sistler, Byron and Barbara Sistler. Index to Early Tennessee Tax Lists. Evanston, Ill.: B. &amp; B. Sistler, 1977. [Includes 1805 tax list.]
 * [1806] Tax List, 1806, Watauga Association of Genealogists Bulletin. Johnson City TN: 1976. Vol. 5 Iss. 1-2.
 * [1814] "Direct Federal Tax-Delinquent Property Owners Listed for 1814," Ansearchin' News, Vol. 43, No. 3(Fall 1996):115-120. For possible FHL and online access, as well as indexes, see Periodicals. [Includes Anderson County.]
 * [1836] Douthat, James L. Anderson County, 1836, Tennessee Civil Districts and Tax Lists. Signal Mountain, Tenn.: Mountain Press, 1993. ; online: free surname index and purchase details.
 * [1837] Tax List Excerpt, 1837, Scott County Historical Society Newsletter. Huntsville TN: Summer 1993. Vol. 10 Iss. 4.
 * [1893] Notice to Delinquent Taxpayers, 1893, Pellissippian. Clinton TN: Jan 2007. Vol. 28 Iss. 1.

Birth
Birth records begin in 1881

Marriage
Marriages were not officially recorded in Anderson County until 1838, when a law was passed mandating the practice. The following publication, based on early newspapers, can help researchers find earlier records:


 * Lucas, Silas Emmett. Marriages from Early Tennessee Newspapers 1794-1851. Easley, S.C.: Southern Historical Press, 1978. .The original Anderson County marriage books are kept at the County Courthouse. Many of them have been microfilmed:


 * Marriage Records (1838-1957) and Indexes (1838-1987). Microfilmed in 1970s and 1980s by TSLA; FHL copies: ff. [Includes "colored" register (1866-1879).]

The marriage books found in the Anderson County Courthouse have been abstracted several times. Each editor was selective in the amount of detail he or she published. Back when the W.P.A. made detailed abstracts and indexes in the 1930s, they found "These marriage licenses are not bound, but are stored in card boxes in basement record room at Courthouse." As a modern guide to lead you back to the original sources, Whitley surpasses the other editors as she cites pages numbers from the original records, after they were bound into volumes. The following is a list of these publications:


 * [1838-1858] Historical Records Survey (W.P.A.). Marriage Book No. 1, 1838-1858. Typescript, 1939. ; another filming: . [Detailed abstracts; index.]
 * 1838-1870 - Lucas, Silas Emmett and Ella Lee Sheffield. 35,000 Tennessee Marriage Records and Bonds 1783-1870. 3 vols. Easley, S.C.: Southern Historical Press, 1981. ff.


 * Abstracts include names of brides, grooms, bondsmen, marriage bond dates, and officiators for weddings in this county for the roughly specified years. Marriage data taken from an index card file at the TSLA. Authors do not specify whether or not the card index completely indexes the county's marriages.


 * [1838-1858] Whitley, Edythe Rucker. Marriages of Anderson County, Tennessee 1838-1858. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1983. . [Abstracts names of brides, groom, and officiators, as well as license and marriage dates and page references in the original records.]
 * [1838-1882] Sistler, Byron and Barbara Sistler. Early East Tennessee Marriages. 2 vols. Nashville, Tenn.: Byron Sistler &amp; Associates, Inc., 1987. . [Indexes names of brides and grooms, and marriage dates for weddings in this county for the specified years.] Free Lookups Available!
 * [1859-1882] Gammell, Paula. Anderson County, Tennessee, Marriages, January, 1859 - August, 1882. Knoxville, Tenn.: P. Gammell, 1984. . [Covers Marriage Books 3, 4, and "Colored" (1866-1879). Abstracts include names of grooms, brides, and officiators, as well as license and marriage dates.]
 * [1881-1900] Hutton, Edith Wilson. Anderson County, Tennessee, Marriage Records. [1881-1900] 3 vols. Knoxville, Tenn.: E.W. Hutton, 1987. ff. [Abstracts names of brides and grooms, dates of marriage, and occasional ages and birthplaces; includes "colored" marriages from the 1880s.]
 * [1926-1960] Collins, Betty VanOver. Anderson Co., Tn. Marriages. [1926-1960] 2 vols. Knoxville, Tenn.: B.J.V. Collins, 2004?. ff. [Abstracts marriage years and names of brides and grooms; 1950s abstracts include exact dates.]

Divorce
A great place to start searches is:


 * Hutton, Edith Wilson. Anderson County, Tennessee: Divorces and Naturalizations, 1844 through 1920. Knoxville, Tenn.: E.W. Hutton, 1992..

In 1940 and 1941, W.P.A. workers pinpointed the location of Anderson County divorce papers in diverse County Courthouse records, 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
Death records begin in 1881

For deaths of Methodists in Anderson 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. ff; digital versions at David Donahue Memorial: Tennessee Records Repository. [Website includes additional records covering the 1830s, 1840s, 1910s and 1920s.]

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to LDS Family History Centers
 * Clinch River Tennessee Family History Center

111 Executive Park Dr Clinton, Anderson, Tennessee, United States Telephone: 865-494-8170 Hours: Sunday 9am-10am, 1pm-2pm, Wednesday7-9pm


 * Oak RIdge Tennessee Family History Center

140 S Jefferson Circle Oak Ridge Anderson, Tennessee, United States Telephone: 865-483-6401 Hours: Wed 9 am-1pm, 6pm-8pm These are not mailing addresses. Due to limited staff, Family History Centers are unable to respond to mail inquiries.

Web Sites

 * Anderson County, TN Family History and Genealogy Message Board (Ancestry)
 * Anderson County, TN Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)
 * Anderson County, TN Genealogy Forum (GenForum)
 * Anderson County, TN History, Records, Facts and Genealogy (MyTennesseeGenealogy)
 * (FamilySearch)
 * Mailing List: TNANDERS-L (Anderson County, Tennessee List) (RootsWeb)
 * Mailing List ETN-L (East Tennessee List) (RootsWeb)
 * Mailing List ETN-OZ-L (East Tennessee Migrants to Ozarks Region List) (RootsWeb)
 * Mailing List UPPEREASTTN-L (Upper East Tennessee List) (RootsWeb)