Carter County, Tennessee Genealogy

United States   Tennessee    Carter County East Tennessee county established in 1796. Originally part of the pioneer Watauga Settlements, from 1785 to 1789, this land was also claimed by the abortive, short-lived State of Franklin.

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

County Courthouse
Carter County Courthouse 801 East Elk Ave. Elizabethton, TN 37643 Phone: 1-423-542-1801

Carter County Clerk Marriage and Probate records 801 E. Elk Ave. Elizabethton, TN 37643 Phone: 1-423-542-1814

Carter County Register of Deeds Land records 801 E. Elk Ave. Elizabethon, TN 37643 Phone: 1-423-542-1830

Carter County Clerk of Circuit Court Court records Carter County Justice Center 924 E. Elk Ave. Elizabethon, TN 37643 Phone: 1-423-542-1835

Hours: Mon.-Fri.8 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

History


The county is named after Landon Carter (1710-1778), Speaker of the State of Franklin senate.

The land of Carter County was first organized by the State of Franklin in March 1786 from part of Washington County under the name Wayne (old) County. Wayne seems to have included at least the present area of Carter and Johnson Counties. However, the Franklin statehood effort collapsed by 1789. Wayne (old) County existed only briefly, its legality is questionable, and little trace remains. It was not recognized by the subsequent North Carolina, Southwest Territory, or Tennessee governments.

In 1796 the first county reconstituted by the new State of Tennessee was Franklin's Wayne (old) County, only it was called Carter County. Now the land on which the lost county of Wayne (old) County was located is known as Carter County and Johnson County.

Parent County
1796--Carter County was created 9 April 1796 from Washington County. County seat: Elizabethton

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
1933-- Courthouse burned and many records were damaged.


 * Lost censuses: 1800, 1810, 1820, 1890
 * Many early wills have been lost

For further information on researching in burned counties, see the following:


 * Burned Counties Research in FamilySearch Wiki
 * Michael John Neill, Burned Counties in Family History Circle
 * When the Records are Gone in Arlene Eakle's Tennessee Genealogy Blog

Getting Started
Use the free Search for Surnames at Mountain Press's website to quickly search a variety of published Carter County biography, cemetery, church, court, probate, and tax 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: Carter 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 Carter County cemetery records:

Census
1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, and 1930 federal population censuses of Carter 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 Carter 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 the National Archives, Washington, D.C. FHL copies:.

The following book is a useful aid for finding the original records. A free online index, provided by Lineages, will help researchers determine if this resource can be of assistance:


 * National Archives. Indexes to Manufactures Census of 1820. 1920; reprint, Knightstown, Ind.: Bookmark, 1977. ; digital version at Lineages. [Covers this county.]

These records have also been abstracted:


 * 1820 Census of Manufactures: Carter County, East Tennessee Roots, Vol. 7, No. 3 :114. For availability, see Periodicals.

1830


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

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, Carter County on page 152.]

1850


 * Bishop, Brenda C. 1850 Census, Carter County, Tennessee. Elizabethton, Tenn.: B.C. Bishop, 1988..

1860


 * Bishop, Brenda C. 1860 Census, Tennessee, Carter County Transcription. Elizabethton, Tenn.: B.C. Bishop, 1985..

1880


 * Sistler, Byron and Barbara Sistler. 1880 Census - Tennessee: Transcription for Carter 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. . [Carter County is included in Vol. 7.]
 * Sistler, Byron H. and Barbara Sistler. 1890 Civil War Veterans Census, Tennessee. Evanston, Ill.: Byron Sister and Associates, 1978..

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.


 * Carter County Church Records


 * - 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 Bedford County are:


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


 * In 1936, a helpful guide to early Carter 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 Carter county are listed.

Genealogy
Gordon Aronhime (1911-1983) collected information on hundreds of Southwest Virginia and East Tennessee pioneers. His note cards, which reference more than 4,000 early settlers of the Holston-Clinch River area and East Tennessee (1770s-1790s), are held at the Library of Virginia. The cards have been digitized and made available online.

Immigration
During the War of 1812, American officials reported finding a total of 3 British aliens, some of whom had families, living in Carter County.

Land
Deeds

The original Carter County Deed Books are held at the County Courthouse. In the 1970s, the TSLA microfilmed Deed Books A to T (1796-1884), indexes, and Trust Deed Book 1874-1892. Copies of their microfilms are also available at the Family History Library:.

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


 * 1) Deed Book A: 1796-1806
 * 2) Deed Book B: 1806-1815


 * McIver, Mary. Abstracts of Carter County, Tennessee Deeds, 1796-1825. Privately published, 1985. LC 84-90648

Local Land Entries Issued by North Carolina

The original Carter County land entries issued by North Carolina are kept at the North Carolina State Archives in Raleigh. On their website, users can bring up a list of land entries issued in Carter County, both before and after it became a part of the state of Tennessee. Years covered: 1801-1820.

Instructions:


 * 1) Follow this link to conduct a "Call Number Search" using the MARS Catalog on their site.
 * 2) Using the pull down window, change "Call Numbers starting" to "A MarsID matching."
 * 3) Type 12.14.1 (Windows Vista users may need to include a period after the last digit, for example 12.14.1.) and click Search. This is the specific MarsID for Carter County.
 * 4) Click on the entry that is returned: "Tennessee, Carter County."
 * 5) In the window that pops up, click Show List of Child Records and a list of Carter County land entries will be produced. Browse to find abstracts of the original records.

N.B. You can also search by name through the Basic Search, but it lacks soundex capabilities.

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

 * Carter County History Book Committee. Carter County, Tennessee, and its People, 1796–1993. Elizabethton TN: Carter County Book Committee [PO Box 176, Elizabethton, TN], 1993. LC 93-60910
 * Co-operative Town Company of Tennessee. The New Co-Operative Town of Tennessee. Knoxville, Tennessee, 1890. Free digital copy.
 * Depew, Michael and Lanette. Images of America. Elizabethton [Tennessee]. Charleston SC: Arcadia Pub., 2004. [A pictorial history of Elizabethton, Tennessee]
 * Nave, Robert T. A History of the Iron Industry in Carter County to 1860. Privately published [RT Nave, 509 Woodhaven Dr., Johnson City, TN 37604], 1998. [also includes iron works in now Johnson County]
 * Turner, Francis Marion. Life of General John Sevier New York: The Neale Publishing Co., 1910. Free digital copy.

Maps

 * [1796] Reeves, Charles A. Carter County [Tennessee] - Created April 1796 from Washington County. Published 2000. Purchase at ReevesMaps.com; website includes a scaled-down version of the map.

Military
Revolutionary War

The following Carter 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, Carter County on page 152.]
 * "Carter County Tennessee -- Pensioners 1835," available online, courtesy: TNGenWeb.
 * Census of Pensioners, 1840, Eastern District (sel.), Sullivan County Genealogical Society Journal, Vol. 8, No. 1 (Spring 2004).
 * 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.]
 * Rejected or Suspended Rev. War Pensions, June 7, 1832, Watauga Association of Genealogists Bulletin, Vol. 36, No. 1 (2007).
 * Watauga Story, Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine, Vol. 108, No. 2 (Feb. 1974).

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; Vol. 7, No. 2 (Apr. 1960):40-45. ; digital version at journal website. [Includes Carter County pensioners 7(1):16, 7(2):40.]

Civil War


 * Civl War Research Database $
 * Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System

Civil War service men from Carter County served in various regiments. Men often joined a regiment or a company (within a regiment) that originated in their county. Listed below are the military units that were formed in or had many men from Carter County.

Confederate Soldiers

 * 1st Regiment, Tennessee Cavalry (Carter's) - CSA - Company M.
 * 59th Regiment, Tennessee Mounted Infantry (Cooke's) (Eakin's 1st Battalion) - CSA - Company C.

Additional sources for Civil War soldiers from Carter County:

 * History of the Thirteenth Regiment, Tennessee Volunteer Cavalry, U. S. A ... By Samuel W. Scott and Samuel P Angel, has information, including some biographies of Carter County people. Available at ; digital version on Google Books or Internet Archive.
 * USGenWeb Archives, Carter County Tennessee Archives, (accessed 30 Jan 2012). Civil War Records.
 * Tennessee State Library and Archives, Tennessee Confederate Pension Applications : Carter County, (accessed 30 Jan 2012). Includes soldier's name, county, pension #, unit or widow.
 * 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 at Internet Archive. Carter County, page 323-324.

Newspapers
Many Tennessee newspapers are filmed and available at the 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 Carter County click on the following city:


 * Elizabethton

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 Carter 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 Carter 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
 * East Tennessee Roots
 * Genealogical articles with abstracts of Carter 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.
 * Watauga Association of Genealogists Bulletin
 * Genealogical articles with abstracts of Carter 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) . Indexed in the PERiodical Source Index (PERSI).

Prisons
Learn if your Carter 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
Loose probate files exist at the Carter County Courthouse covering the years 1796 to 1915. They were microfilmed by GSU in 1999:.

The organization Strictly By Name provides free online indexes to early Carter County probate records. They offer a record retrieval service to photocopy and transcribe microfilm copies of the original documents for a small fee. Available indexes:


 * 1) Will Books 1-3: 1794-1937

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


 * [1794-1861] 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!

Taxation
TSLA microfilmed the original Carter County Tax Books 1860-1880 (gaps) in 1971. FHL copies:.

The following Carter County tax records have been abstracted:


 * [1796] Taxpayers, 1796, East Tennessee Historical Society Publications. Knoxville TN: 1958. Vol. - Iss. 30.
 * [1796] Creekmore, Pollyanna. Early East Tennessee Taxpayers. Easley, S.C.: Southern Historical Press, 1980. and Silas Emmett Lucas's Revised Index . [Includes 1796 tax list.]
 * [1796, 1798] Sistler, Byron and Barbara Sistler. Index to Early Tennessee Tax Lists. Evanston, Ill.: B. &amp; B. Sistler, 1977. [Includes 1796 and 1798 tax lists.]
 * [1796, 1798] Curtis, Mary Barnett. Early East Tennessee Tax Lists. Fort Worth, Texas: Arrow Printing Company, 1964. . [Includes 1796 and 1798 tax lists.]
 * [1798] 1798 Tax List, Carter County, East Tennessee Roots, Vol. 9, No. 4. For possible FHL and online access, as well as indexes, see Periodicals. [Includes digital images of the original source.]
 * [1799] Tax List, 1799, Watauga Association of Genealogists Bulletin. Johnson City TN: Summer 1972. Vol. 1 Iss. 2.
 * [1834] Tax List, 1834, Watauga Association of Genealogists Bulletin. Johnson City TN: 1979. Vol. 8 Iss. 1-2; 2000. Vol. 29 Iss. 2; 2001. Vol. 30 Iss. 1.
 * [1836] Douthat, James L. Carter County, Tennessee, 1836 Tennessee, Civil Districts and Tax Lists. Signal Mountain, Tenn.: Mountain Press, 1993. ; online: free surname index and purchase details.
 * [1874-1877] Nathaniel Edens Hyder Tax Collection Journal Excerpts, 1874-1877, Distr. 1-4, Watauga Association of Genealogists Bulletin. Johnson City TN: 2007. Vol. 36 Iss. 1.

Marriage
The organization Strictly By Name provides free online indexes to early Carter County marriage records. They offer a record retrieval service to photocopy and transcribe microfilm copies of the original documents for a small fee. Available indexes:


 * 1) Marriages 1796-1811

The following Carter County marriage records have been abstracted and/or indexed:


 * [1796-1825] Raymond, Brenda Jordan. "Carter County, TN - VITALS - Marriages, 1796 - 1825," available online, courtesy: USGenWeb Archives.
 * [1796-1876] 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!

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

Deaths

 * Nikazy, Eddie M. Abstracts of Tennessee Death Records for Carter County, Tennessee, 1908-1925. Bowie, Md.: Heritage Books, 1992..
 * Nikazy, Eddie M. Carter County, Tennessee Death, Record Abstracts, 1926-1934. Bowie, Md.: Heritage Books, 1994..

For deaths of Methodists in Carter 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
Elizabethton/Carter County Public Library 201 N. Sycamore St. Elizabethton, TN 37643 Phone: 1-423-547-6360 Fax: 1-423-542-1510 Hours: Mon. and Thurs. 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Tues., Wed.and Fri. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sat. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Includes the Paty-McCellan-Dungan Archives Room which includes census records, city directories, county records, local history books. Volunteers are available to assist with research on the first Thursday night of each month from 6:30 p.m.-8 p.m.

Charles C. Sherrod Library, East Tennessee State University P.O. Box 70665 Johnson City, TN 37614 Phone: Information desk 1-423-439-4307 Hours vary depending on the time of year because of school sessions. See website for hours. The Sherrod Library has genealogical information concerning the East Tennessee Region.

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

Archives of Appalachia East Tennessee State University Sherrod Library, 4th floor P.O. Box 70295 Johnson City, TN 37614 Phone: 1-423-439-4338 Hours: 9:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Mon-Fri. ETSU school holidays are observed. The Archives of Appalachia is a keeper of memories. Collect, preserve, and share the written words, sounds, and images of the people of Appalachia. House nearly 18 million manuscripts, 56,000 sound recordings, and 250,000 still and moving images.

Web Sites

 * Carter County, TN Family History and Genealogy Message Board (Ancestry)
 * Carter County, TN Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)
 * Carter County, TN Genealogy Forum (GenForum)
 * Carter County, TNGenWeb (USGenWeb)
 * Carter County, TN History, Records, Facts and Genealogy (MyTennesseeGenealogy)
 * (FamilySearch)
 * Mailing List: TNCARTER-L (Carter 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: FRANKLIN-STATE-L (State of Franklin 1784-1788 List) (RootsWeb)
 * Mailing List: UPPEREASTTN-L (Upper East Tennessee List) (RootsWeb)