Tennessee Gazetteers

United States   Tennessee    Gazetteers

A gazetteer is a list and description of places, such as villages, towns, cities, and may also mention neighborhoods, cemeteries, sizes of population, rivers and mountains, and other geographical features. It can be used to locate the places where your family lived. It usually includes only the names of places that existed at the time the gazetteer was published. The place names are generally listed in alphabetical order, similar to a dictionary. The Tennessee State Library and Archives has produced an excellent gazetteer that is available for free online:


 * Tennessee Place Names and Post Offices: Introduction and Index Lists of post offices in Tennessee and their dates of operation will be helpful to genealogists and historians hoping to identify the location of a particular place name. Users should be aware that the county listed in TSLA's guide is the county in which the post office was located at the time of its creation. Later changes in county boundary lines may have affected the home county of that post office. This list is based on records at National Archives listing postmaster appointments from 1832 to 1971 (see National Archives microfilm publications M1131 and M841).

Additional guides to place names in Tennessee include:


 * Adams Directory of Points and Landings in the South and Southwest. (includes Tennessee) New Orleans : W.L. Murray, 1877.
 * Fullerton, Ralph O. Place Names of Tennessee. Nashville, Tennessee: Tennessee Department of Conservation, Division of Geology, 1974. (Family History Library book 976.8 E2f; film 928174 item 2.) The record is arranged alphabetically by county, then alphabetically by place. Included is the quadrangle of each place.
 * Easton Morris’ Tennessee Gazetteer 1834 and Matthew Rhea’s Map of the State of Tennessee 1832. 1834. Reprint, Nashville, Tennessee: Gazetteer Press, 1971. (Family History Library book 976.8 E5m.) The record contains a general description of the state, an alphabetical list of places, a map, and a list of government officials.
 * Tennessee Geographic Names: Alphabetical Listing.Reston, Virginia: U.S. Geological Survey, 1985. (Family History Library book 976.8 E2u.) The record includes the name of each place, type of feature, county, coordinates, elevation in feet, source, and map.
 * Tennessee State Geological Survey. The Resources of Tennessee, Vols. 5 and 6. Nashville, Tennessee: Tennessee State Geologiical Survey, 1916. Free digital copy. Lists rivers and land descriptions by county.
 * Tennessee State Geological Survey. The Resources of Tennessee, Vols. 7-9. Nashville, Tennessee: Tennessee State Geologiical Survey, 1918. Free digital copy. Lists rivers and land descriptions by county.
 * Switzer, John Albert. Water-power; Doe River, Tenn. Nashville, Tennessee: Baire-ward Printing Co., 1914. Free digital copy.  Shows maps and descriptions of waterways through middle and east Tennessee.

Research Guides
The following research guide, prepared by a Certified Genealogist, includes a useful outline of genealogical records available for Tennessee gazetteers:


 * Bamman, Gale Williams. "Research in Tennessee," National Genealogical Society Quarterly, Vol. 81, No. 2 (Jun. 1993): 104. FHL US/CAN Book 973 B2ng v. 81 (1993).

For more place-finding aids for Tennessee, see the Tennessee Maps article. The United States Gazetteers article contains additional sources and information on gazetteers. See the Tennessee Archives and Libraries article for facilities with regional collections which might include gazetteers. Tennessee gazetteers are listed in the Place Search of the Family History Library Catalog under:

TENNESSEE - GAZETTEERS

TENNESSEE - HISTORY

TENNESSEE - NAMES, GEOGRAPHICAL