McNairy County, Tennessee Genealogy

United States   Tennessee    McNairy County





County Courthouse
McNairy County Courthouse 102 West Court, Room 102 Selmer, Tennessee 38375-2194 Phone: (731) 645-3511

Hours: Monday - Tuesday and Thursday 8 am - 4:30 pm Friday 8 am - 5 pm Saturday 8 am - noon Closed Wednesdays

History
The county is named after "John McNairy, judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Tennessee."

Parent County
1823--McNairy County was established 8 October 1823 from Hardin County. County seat: Athens

Record Loss
1881--Fire damaged records

Neighboring Counties

 * Alcorn County, Mississippi
 * Chester
 * Hardeman
 * Hardin

Research Guides

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

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

Bibliography


 * [Brooks] Brooks, Moses Edward. Descendants of James Brooks. Unknown: unknown, 1974. Available at Heritage Quest Online ($).

Local Histories

 * Wright, Marcus Joseph. Reminiscences of the Early Settlement and Early Settlers of McNairy County, Tennessee. Washington, D.C.: Commercial Pub. Co., 1882. Available at FHL US/CAN Film 599232. Digital version at Google Books.

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 Tennessee State Library and Archives 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 Tennessee State Library and Archives; another version is available at World Vital Records.

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 McNairy County.]

Periodicals
Ansearchin' News

Several genealogical articles with abstracts of McNairy 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 FHL US/CAN Book 976.8 B2a.

Family Findings

Several genealogical articles with abstracts of McNairy 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 to retrieve them.

Prisons

 * Inmates of the Tennessee State Penitentiary 1831-1850, free index available online, courtesy: Tennessee State Library and Archives.
 * Inmates of the Tennessee State Penitentiary 1851-1870, free index available online, courtesy: [http://www.state.tn.us/tsla/ Tennessee State Library and Archives

Web Sites

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