Bradley County, Tennessee Genealogy

United States   Tennessee    Bradley County East Tennessee county. Established 1836.

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

County Courthouse
Bradley County Courthouse 155 Ococee St. Cleveland, TN 37311 Phone:1-423-728-7226

Bradley County Clerk Marriage and Probate records 155 Ocoee St. Courthouse, Room 101 Cleveland, TN 37311 Phone:1-423-728-7226

Bradley Register of Deeds Land Records P.O. Box 46 Cleveland, TN 37364 Phone:1-423-728-7240 Located at courthouse

Bradley County Clerk of Circuit Court Court Records P.O. Box 46 Cleveland, TN 37364 Phone: 1-423-728-7214

Hours: Mon.-Thurs. 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Fri.8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Closed for Lunch 12 p.m.-1 p.m.

History
The county is named after Tennessee state legislator Edward Bradley.

Parent County
1836--Bradley County was created 10 February 1836 from Cherokee Indian Lands. County seat: Cleveland

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

 * Early will books and some early deeds have been lost
 * Antebellum marriage records are lost

For help with burned counties, see:


 * When the Records are Gone in Arlene Eakle's Tennessee Genealogy Blog

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 Bradley County

Neighboring Counties

 * Catoosa County, Georgia
 * Hamilton
 * Meigs
 * McMinn
 * Murray County, Georgia
 * Polk
 * Whitfield County, Georgia

Getting Started
Use the free Search for Surnames at Mountain Press's website to quickly search a variety of published Bradley County biography, census, land, and tax records. To determine which books are being searched, or to search each publication's index individually, click here. You now have 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: Bradley 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

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 Bradley County cemetery records:


 * Ross, Ernest Lafayette Historical Cemetery Records of Bradley County, Tennessee c1973 Free lookups available!

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

1840 Revolutionary War 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, Bradley County on page 152.]

1850


 * Campbell, Ellen Ann Westerberg. Bradley County, Tennessee: 1850 Federal Census. Cleveland, Tenn.: E.A.W. Campbell, 1973..
 * S-K Publications. "Bradley County, TN - Census - 1850 Census Index," available online, courtesy: USGenWeb Archives.

1860


 * Snell, William R. and Bradley County Historical Society. 1860 Federal Census, Bradley County, Tennessee. [Cleveland, Tenn.?]: W.R. Snell, 1983..

1870


 * Lee College History students and Cleveland Public Library staff and volunteers. Bradley County, Tennessee, 1870 Census Index. [Cleveland, Tenn.: Lee College], 1987..

1880


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

1900


 * Cleveland Public Library. Bradley County, Tennessee 1900 Census Index. [Cleveland, Tenn.]: Cleveland Public Library, 1989..

1920


 * Cross, Nancy, Brenda Davis and Edna Wiefering. 1920 Bradley County, Tennessee, Census Index. Cleveland, Tenn.: [Cleveland Public Library], 1999. . [Typo on FHL Catalog reads Cenus Index.]

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.


 * Bradley County Church Records


 * - 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 through the Family History Library, contact the church(es) in the area where your ancestor lived. Two sites that give information about churches in Bradley County are:


 * - List of Bradley County churches with addresses and phone numbers (Yellowbook)
 * - List of Bradley County churches (TN HomeTownLocator)


 * In 1936, a helpful guide to early Bradley County church records was published by the Works Project Administration. Use this guide to locate which church records exist and where they were housed in 1936. The Tennessee State Library and Archives has filmed some of these records. To locate which records are available at the TSLA, go to the appropriate "county fact sheet" on the TSLA Web site and scroll down to "selected manuscript material". All filmed church records at the TSLA for Bradley county are listed.

Court

 * Wallace, Alexander; Herriford, Paul; Sherrill, Charles A. Circuit Court Abstracts 1836 - 1860 Cleveland, Tennessee : Cleveland Public Library (Tennessee), 1988 Free lookups available!

DNA
DNA has been collected from men claiming descent from the following Bradley 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 Bradley, Tennessee at World Connect, results in more than 20,000 entries.


 * Bradley County Heritage Book Committee. The Heritage of Bradley County, Tennessee, 1836-1998. [Cleveland, Tennessee?] : Bradley County Heritage Book Committee, c1998 ; Waynesville, North Carolina: Don Mills (Salem, West Virginia : Walsowrth Pub. Co.)..
 * Manly, Elizabeth Cate. Chatata Valley Families and Their Neighbors. [Tennessee: n.p., 198-]..
 * Wooten, John Morgan. Brief Sketch of Pioneer Families of Bradley County, Tennessee. Chattanooga, Tenn.: n.p., 1934-1936. . [Includes families of Callaway, Clingen, Craigmiles, Day, Donohoo, Edwards, Gaut, Goodner, Hambright, Hughes, Jones, Julian, Lusk, Lea, McCarty, Parks, Still, Waterhouse, Weatherly, Ramsey, Shugart.]

Bibliography


 * [Ball] Brown, Forrest D. and Dorothy Stivers Brown. The Ball--Stivers--McCroskey--Brown Family Lines. 2 vols. Lewisburg, Pa.: F.D. &amp; D.S. Brown, 1976..
 * [Carson] Stork, Dorla Jane White and Edward Baker Faust. Lincoln Collen and Mary McGovern Carson and Descendants. Bakersfield, Calif.: D.J.W. Stork, 2004. ; digital version at BYU Family History Archives.
 * [D'Armond, Deyarmon, DeArmond, d'Armand, DeArment, DeArmon, Dearmont, Deyarmond, DeArman] D'Armand, Roscoe Carlisle. DeArmond families of America. Knoxville, TN: Family Record Society, 1954. Available at . Digital version available at Heritage Quest Online ($).
 * [Day] Day, James Edward. Descendants of Christopher Day of Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Los Angeles?: J.E. Day, 1958. Available at FHL FAM HIST Book 929.273 D33d; FHL US/CAN Film 978076; digital versions at Ancestry ($); and Heritage Quest Online ($).
 * [Elmore] Johnston, Leigh. The Paper Trail of the Elmore - Lawson - Pruett and Bolt - Calhoun - Johnston - Willis Families. 2 vols. Overland Park, Kansas: L. Johnston, 2003. ff.
 * [Gaut] McWilliam, Judy L. and Roberta B. Pierson. Jones/Gaut: James &amp; Jerusha: Arno, Wayland, Weber, Mabel. Sacramento, Calif.: J.L. McWilliams, 1987..
 * [Hedrick] Smith, Carol Holland Dillman. The Family of Amos Fremont Damon and Sarah Jane Hedrick Damon of Crawford, McLennan County, Texas. Boulder, Colo.: C.H. Smith, 1996..
 * [Hickman] Ross, Ernest Lafayette and William C. Carter. John Andrew Hickman, John Carter, Lewis Carter: Some Ancestors and Descendants. Cleveland, Tenn.: E.L. Ross &amp; W.C. Carter, 1979..
 * [Jones] McWilliam, Judy L. and Roberta B. Pierson. Jones/Gaut: James &amp; Jerusha: Arno, Wayland, Weber, Mabel. Sacramento, Calif.: J.L. McWilliams, 1987..
 * [Kelley] Smith, Paul and Alba Nannie Hickman Smith. Joel Kelley, ca 1775 - ca 1862. Alpharetta, Ga.: P. Smith, 1984..
 * [Lauderdale] Lauderdale, Charles J. The Lauderdales of Scotland and America, 1056-1936. Joplin, MO: Gahagan Print. Co., 1937. Available at, digital version available at Heritage Quest Online ($).
 * [Loyd] Lloyd, Gary G. The Lloyd (Loyd) Families of Putnam County, Missouri. Kirksville, Mo.: G.G. Lloyd, 1996..
 * [McAndrew] Skeen, A.T. Clan McAndrew. Winston-Salem, N.C.:A.T. Skeen, 1988..
 * [Richmond] Travis, Vaud Ancil. The Descendants of John Richmond of Virginia: Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma &amp; West. Southern Pines, N.C.: V.A. Travis, 2004. ; digital version at BYU Family History Archives. Supplement: ; digital version at BYU Family History Archives.
 * [Ross] Ross, Ernest Lafayette. History of the Ross Family in Bradley County, Cleveland, Tennessee. Cleveland, Tenn.: E.L. Ross, 19--?..
 * [Smith] Smith, David Eugene. Pedigree, 1832-1978, of David Eugene Smith, and Smith Family Bible Records, 1832-1940. MSS., Microfilmed in 1989..
 * [Smith] Smith, Paul and Alba Nannie Hickman Smith. Wm. B. Smith Descendants. Alpharetta, Ga.: P. Smith, 1990 (Canton, Georgia : Industrial Printing Service, Inc.)..
 * [Stivers] Brown, Forrest D. and Dorothy Stivers Brown. The Ball--Stivers--McCroskey--Brown Family Lines. 2 vols. Lewisburg, Pa.: F.D. &amp; D.S. Brown, 1976..
 * [Wolfe] Moore, Kenneth. Jeremiah Wolfe Family. Typescript. Microfilmed 2003..

Land
The original Bradley County Deed Books are held at the County Courthouse. The TSLA microfilmed Deed Books A to L (1839 to 1891) and an index and Trust Deed Books A to M (1864 to 1902). Copies of their microfilms are also available at the Family History Library:.

McClure, Lucille Abstracts of Ocoee District : early land records - entries Signal Mountain, Tennessee : Mountain Press, [1991] Free lookups available!

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.

Local Histories

 * Hurlburt, J.S. History of the Rebellion in Bradley County, East Tennessee. Indianapolis [Downey and Brouse,printers?], 1866. Free digital copy
 * Bradley County Heritage Book Committee The Heritage of Bradley County, Tennessee, 1836 -1998 Cleveland, Tennessee? : Bradley County Heritage Book Committee,c1998; Waynesville, North Carolina : Don Mills (Salem, West Virginia : Walsowrth Pub. Co.) Free lookups available!
 * Bradley County Historical Society (Cleveland, Tennessee) Reflections past and present : a pictorial history of Bradley County Dallas, Texas : Taylor Pub., c1991 To view index click here.

Maps

 * Bradley County, Tennessee: Pre-Civil War Settlement Map. Signal Mountain, Tenn.: Mountain Press, 1992. . [Includes Indian settlements, mills, churches, cemeteries, schools.]

Military
Revolutionary War

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

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 Bradley County pensioners (p. 15).]

Civil War


 * 1831-1850 Civil War Pension Applications for Bradley County. Free Lookups Available!
 * Carter, William Randolph. History of the First regiment of Tennessee Volunteer Cavalry in the Great war of the Rebellion, with the Armies of the Ohio and Cumberland, under Generals Morgan, Rosecrans, Thomas, Stanley and Wilson. Knoxville, Tennessee: Gaut-Ogden Co. Printers, 1902. Free digital copy, courtesy: Internet Archive. Union.
 * Confederate Pension Applications. Free Lookups Available!
 * Hurlburt, J.S. History of the Rebellion in Bradley County, East Tennessee Bethesda, Maryland : Univeristy Publications of America, c1990 . Free Lookups Available!
 * Index of Union and Rebels in Bradley County Free lookups available!
 * Tennesseans in the Civil War Published by the Civil War Centennial Commission, Nashville, TN, 1987. Free lookups available.
 * Wiefering, Edna et al. Tennessee Union Soldiers: of Bradley, McMinn and Polk Counties Serving in the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 10th TN Cavalry 5th TN Infantry and 5th TN Mounted Infantry. Cleveland, Tenn.: Cleveland Public Library (Tennessee), 1996. . Confederate.

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 Bradley County click on the following cities:


 * Charleston


 * Cleveland

The following Bradley County newspapers have been abstracted:


 * Snell, William R.; Taylor, Virginia Faye; Bradley County Historical Society. Death and Marriage Notices in the Cleveland Banner (Tennessee), 1865-1883. Bradley County Historical Society: Cleveland, TN. Free digital copy available online, courtesy: Internet Archive.

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 Bradley 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 Bradley 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


 * Bradley Branches
 * Family History Library has Volume 6, no. 2 (summer 1993). Bradley Branches is indexed in PERiodical Source Index (PERSI).


 * Chronicles of Bradley

Prisons
Learn if your Bradley 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
Some of Bradley County's original Will Books have been destroyed. Those that survive are held at the County Courthouse. TSLA microfilmed Will Books 1 to 2 (1859 to 1905). FHL copies:.

The following Bradley County probate records have been indexed and/or abstracted:


 * [1859-1861] 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 wills.] Free Lookups Available!
 * [1864-1883] Fagen, Barbara Bradley County Will Book, 1864-1883, index [S.I. : s.n., 198-?] Free lookups available!

Taxation
The TSLA microfilmed the original Bradley County Tax Books 1865-1890. Copies of their microfilms are also available at the Family History Library:. Free lookups availablefor some early east Tennessee tax records.

The following Bradley County tax records have been abstracted:


 * [1836] Douthat, James L. Bradley County, Tennessee, 1836 Tennessee Civil Districts and Tax Lists. Signal Mountain, Tenn.: Mountain Press, 1993. . Free lookups available!  Purchase details.
 * [1837] Snell, William R. 1837 Tax List, Bradley County, Tennessee. 1978..
 * [1837-1839] Nichols, Elizabeth Riggins. "Bradley County, Tennessee Tax Lists 1837 - 1838 - 1839," Vol. 33, No. 1 (Spring 1986):9-14; Vol. 33, No. 2 (Summer 1986):69-72; Vol. 33, No. 3 (Fall 1986):119-122, 126. For FHL and online access, as well as indexes, see Periodicals. Free lookups available!
 * [1837] Map from Tax List, 1837, Bradley Branches. Cleveland TN: Summer 1996. Vol. 9 Iss. 2.
 * [1837-1839] Tax Lists, Dist. 4 &amp; 5, 1837-39, Polk County Historical and Genealogical Society Quarterly and Newsletter. Benton TN: May 2000. Vol. 6 Iss. 1.
 * [1837] Tax List, 1837, Bradley Branches. Cleveland TN: 2001. Vol. 14 Iss. 3-4.
 * [1838] Snell, William R. 1838 Tax List, Bradley County, Tennessee. 1978..
 * [1839] Jones, Rena and Kent Hawkins. 1839 Tax List, Bradley County, Tennessee. 197-..
 * [1849] Petition for Amendment of Revenue Law, 1849, Bradley Branches. Cleveland TN: Spring 1997. Vol. 10 Iss. 1.
 * [1862] Cleveland Public Library. "1862 Assessment List: Bradley County, Tennessee," available online, courtesy: TNGenWeb.
 * [1890] Johnson, David S. and Patsy A. Johnson. Tax List 1890, Bradley County, Tennessee. n.p.: D.S. Johnson, 1985..
 * [1890] Tax List, 1890, Districts 1-13, Chronicles of Bradley. Cleveland TN: 1985-1987, Vols. 5-8. Free lookups available!
 * [1909] Langheld, Susan. "Delinquent Tax Notices: Bradley County, Tennessee June 1909," available online, courtesy: TNGenWeb. (Source: Journal &amp; Banner, Cleveland, Tenn., May 21, 1909.)

Birth

 * Tennessee Birth Certificates 1908-1912. Free Lookups Available!

Marriage
Early Bradley County marriage records were lost in courthouse fires. The following publication, based on early newspapers that survived such disasters, may serve as a substitute:


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

The following Bradley County marriage records have been abstracted:


 * [1864-1887] Manley, Elizabeth Cate Bradley County Marriage Book 1 1864-1887. Free Lookups Available!

Divorce
In 1940 and 1941, W.P.A. workers pinpointed the location of Bradley 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

 * Tennessee Death Certificates 1908-1954. Free lookups available!

For deaths of Methodists in Bradley 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 expands upon the publications and includes deaths from the 1830s, 1840s, 1910s and 1920s.]

Societies and Libraries
Bradley County Historical Society P. O. Box 4845 Cleveland, TN 37320-4845

Bradley County Genealogical Society P. O. Box 1384 Cleveland, TN 37364-1384

East Tennessee Historical Society 601 S. Gay St. P.O. Box 1629 Knoxville, TN 37901-1629 Phone: 1-865-215-8824 E-mail: eths@east-tennessee-history.org

Bradley County Public Library 795 Church Street NE Cleveland, TN 37311 Phone: 1-423-472-2163 Email: info@clevelandlibrary.org Hours: Mon.-Thurs. 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Fri. and Sat. 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Sun. 1-5 p.m.

The History Branch and Archives of the Cleveland Bradley County Library 833 Ocoee Street NE Cleveland, TN 37311 Phone: 1-423-479-8367 Hours: Mon. 9 a.m.-12 p.m. and 1 p.m.-8 p.m. Tues. and Wed. 9 a.m.-12 p.m. and 1 p.m.-5 p.m. Thurs. 1 p.m.-8 p.m. Fri. and Sat. 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Sun. 1 p.m.-5 p.m. Genealogy resources: Vital records, family, city and county histories, court records, local newspapers from 1854 - 1970, Civil War sources, special collections including the Mayfield Papers, James F. Corn Papers (Cherokee Indians) and the William R. Snell Papers. (per website) To see what is included in the manuscript collection see: http://www.clevelandlibrary.org/services/manuscript_collection.php

Web Sites

 * Bradley County, TN Family History and Genealogy Message Board (Ancestry)
 * Bradley County, TN Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)
 * Bradley County, TN Genealogy Forum (GenForum)
 * Bradley County, TNGenWeb (USGenWeb)
 * Bradley County, TN History, Records, Facts and Genealogy (MyTennesseeGenealogy)
 * (FamilySearch)
 * Mailing List: TNBRADLE-L (Bradley 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: SE-TN-L (Southeast Tennessee List) (RootsWeb)