Tennessee Bible Records

Many families traditionally recorded genealogies in their family Bible. These are a good source of information about immediate family members and relatives, including names of parents, children, their spouses, and their dates of birth, marriage, and death. For some families, Bible records may have the only recorded vital statistics information. Family Bibles that are no longer in possession of the family may be at a historical or genealogical society.

Bible records for Tennessee include:

Acklen, Jeannette Tillotson. Tennessee Records: Bible Records and Marriage Bonds. Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publications, 1967. (FHL book 976.8 D2aj; film 823813, item 4.) A surname index is included. The record contains Bible records, marriage bonds, various tombstone inscriptions, obituary notices, abstracts from wills, historical and biographical sketches, and pension records. The name, parents’ names, and date of birth of slaves are sometimes given.

Owens, Fae Jacobs. Bible Records, Hatchie Chapter, National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tennessee. Bolivar, Tennessee: Bolivar Commercial Printing, 1977. (FHL book 976.829/B1 D2d.) A surname index is included. The record includes birth, marriage, and death information.

Tennessee State Library and Archives, Manuscript Section. Bible Record Collection, ca. 1700–1970. Nashville, Tennessee: State Library and Archives, 1974. (FHL film 975600–04.) The records are arranged alphabetically by family name, then given name. They contain birth, death, and marriage dates of immediate family members, and occasionally dates of servants, slaves, and others. They also include the years the records cover, the county where the Bible was found, and the owner’s name and city.

Bible records donated to the Tennessee State Library and Archives since 1970 are included in the library’s vertical file. A card file at the archive provides access.

The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) collection also contains many Tennessee Bible records. This collection is described in the “Genealogy” section of this outline. A partial index of these records is in:

Bible Records of Families of East Tennessee and Their Connections from Other Areas. Three Volumes. Knoxville, Tennessee: Genealogical Records Committee of Knoxville Chapter, Daughters of the American Colonists and James White Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, 1959–1960. (FHL book 976.8 D2d; film 874325 items 1–2, 874326; fiche 6051515–17.) An index is included with each volume.

Another source for locating Bible records in the southern states is:

Kirkham, E. Kay. An Index to Some of the Family Records of the Southern States: 35,000 Microfilm References from the N.S.D.A.R. Files and Elsewhere. Logan, Utah: Everton Publishers, 1979. (FHL book 973 D22kk v. 1; fiche 6089183.)

Many periodicals publish family data from Bible records. Published Tennessee Bible information and sources can be found in the Place Search of the Family History Library Catalog under:

TENNESSEE - BIBLE RECORDS

TENNESSEE, [COUNTY] - BIBLE RECORDS