Dyer County, TennesseeEdit This Page

West Tennessee county.

The county is named after "Tennessee state legislator Robert Henry Dyer."^[3]

Parent County

1823--Dyer County was created 16 October 1823 from Chickasaw Indian Lands.
County seat: Dyersburg^[4]

County Pronunciation

1. Hear it spoken^[5] (female)
2. Hear it spoken^[6] (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

1864 -- Courthouse burned and many records were damaged.

• Lost marriages: 1823 to 1859
• Lost probate: 1823 to 1853

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

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

Dyer County Tennessee Places / Localities

Populated Places

Cities and Towns:

Neighboring Counties

• Crockett
• Gibson
• Lake 
• Lauderdale
• Mississippi County, Arkansas
• Obion  
• Pemiscot County, Missouri

Dyer County Tennessee Genealogy Resources

Tndyer.png

Getting Started

Use the free Search for Surnames at Mountain Press's website to quickly search a variety of published Dyer County biography 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: Dyer 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

• Find A Grave can be searched by the name of a person or family to find where a person is buried. Usually gives birth and death dates often with a picture of the tombstone. May give obituaries, names of family members and links to their information in Find A Grave.

• Find A Grave also gives a list of cemeteries in Dyer County linking to the information about the people buried there,

• Dyer County, TN Cemetery Records, part of the TNGenWeb Cemetery Database, lists many cemeteries in the county, often with indexes and transcripts of the burials.

• Dyer County, Tennessee, USGenWeb Tombstone Transcription Project lists many cemeteries in the county and has transcripts of the tombstones arranged by cemetery.

• Campbell County cemetery information with transcriptions on TNGenweb Project

• The Family History Library Catalog lists some records of cemeteries in Dyer county. Some of the books or others may be on Google Books or available at public libraries.

• ePodunk list of Dyer County cemeteries
  

Census

1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, and 1930 federal population censuses of Dyer 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 Dyer 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. FHL US/CAN Book 973 X2pc 1840; FHL US/CAN Film 2321. 1841 edition digitized by the U.S. Census Bureau and Google books et. al. [See Tennessee, Western District, Dyer County on page 158.]

1850

• Carpenter, Mrs. V.K. Seventh census of the United States, 1850; Dyer County, Tennessee, free population schedules Huntsville, Arkansas : Century Enterprises, Genealogical SErvices, 1969 FHL US/CAN book 976.815 X2

1860

• Felldin, Jeanne Robey and Tucker, Charlotte Magee 1860 United States census, Dyer County, Tennessee, surname index Tomball, Texas : Genealogical Publications, c1976 FHL US/CAN book 976.8 A1

1880

• Sistler, Samuel 1880 census, Dyer County, Tennessee Nashville, Tennessee : Byron Sistler and Associates, 2002 FHL US/CAN book 976.815 X2

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. FHL US/CAN Book 976.8 X2r v. 3 1891. [Dyer County is included in Vol. 3.]
• Sistler, Byron H. and Barbara Sistler. 1890 Civil War Veterans Census, Tennessee. Evanston, Ill.: Byron Sister and Associates, 1978. FHL US/CAN Book 976.8 X2s 1890.

Church

• If the records you need are not found in the Family History Library collection, contact the church(es) in the area where your ancestor lived.  Two sites that give information about churches in Dyer County are:

- List of Dyer County churches with addresses and phone numbers (Yellowbook)

- List of Dyer County churches (TN HomeTownLocator)

• In 1936, a helpful guide to early Dyer County church records was published by the Works Project Administration. ^[7]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 Dyer County are listed. Many of these filmed records are also available at the Family History Library.

• Tennessee Diaries, Memoirs and Church Records in the Manuscript Division, Tennessee State Library and Archives: Listed by County. Nashville, Tenn.: Manuscript Division, 1965. Digital versions of this guide are available at Ancestry ($); and Heritage Quest Online ($).

Court

Genealogy

More than half a dozen genealogies have been published about Dyer County, Tennessee families. To view a list, visit Dyer County, Tennessee Genealogy.

Land

Dyer County Register of Deeds has Land Records from 1823 and is located at Courthouse Square, P.O. Box 1360, Dyersburg, Tennessee 38025-1360; Telephone: (731) 286-7814. Land and property records include transfer of real estate or personal property, mortgages, leases, surveys, and entries

The Family History Library has microfilm copies of deed books 1824-1882 with indexes 1822-1915, land survey books 1827-1860, and survey entries 1820-1911.

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

Maps

Military

Revolutionary War

The following Dyer County Revolutionary War records are available online through TNGenWeb:

• 1835 Pension Roll
• Select Pension applications

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. FHL US/CAN Book 973 X2pc 1840; FHL US/CAN Film 2321. 1841 edition digitized by the U.S. Census Bureau and Google books et. al. [See Tennessee, Western District, Dyer County on page 158.]

War of 1812

There were no War of 1812 pensioners or widows of pensioners living in Dyer County on 2 January 1883.^[8]

Civil War

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

Civil War service men from Dyer 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 Dyer County.

Confederate Soldiers

• 4th Regiment, Tennessee Infantry (Neely's) - CSA - Company K.
• 12th Regiment, Tennessee Infantry - CSA - Company A.
• 12th Consolidated Regiment, Tennessee Infantry - CSA - Companies D and F.
• 13th Regiment, Tennessee Infantry - CSA - Company K.
• 15th Regiment, Tennessee Cavalry (Stewart's) - CSA
• 20th Regiment, Tennessee Cavalry (Russell's) - CSA - Company D.
• 22nd Regiment, Tennessee Infantry - CSA - Company I and K.
• 22nd Regiment, Tennessee Infantry (Freeman's) - CSA
• 47th Regiment, Tennessee Infantry - CSA - Companies B, C, D and E.

Additional sources for Civil War soldiers from Dyer County:

• Dyer County Tennessee Military History, (accessed 30 Jan 2012).  Links available for Confederate and Union forces, Dyer County TN Civil War Veterans Index, etc.
• Genealogy Trails, Men from Dyer County in the Civil War, (accessed 30 Jan 2012).  Includes, name, service, date of death, place or cause of death and rank.
• Tennessee State Library and Archives, Tennessee Confederate Pension Applications : Dyer 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. Dyer County, page 333.
  

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 Dyer County click on the following cities or towns:

• Dyersburg
• Newbern

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 Dyer 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 Dyer 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 Book 976.8 B2a.

Family Findings

Genealogical articles with abstracts of Dyer 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.

West Tennessee Historical Society Papers

Family History Library has Volumes 1 - 16 and 30 FHL US/CAN Book 976.81 B5w. The West Tennessee Historical Society Papers are indexed in PERiodical Source Index (PERSI).
To view Table of Contents and complete articles from 1947 - 2005 see Shelby County Register of Deeds

Prisons

Learn if your Dyer County, Tennessee ancestors went to prison!

• Inmates of the Tennessee State Penitentiary 1831-1850, free index available online through TSLA.
• Inmates of the Tennessee State Penitentiary 1851-1870, free index available online through TSLA.

Probate

The County Court has responsibility for Dyer County probate records.

FamilySearch has placed scans of the following records online in the Tennessee, Probate Court Books, 1795-1927 collection. These are browse-only collections. Handwritten indexes may be found at the front or back of some volumes:

• Wills, 1853-1893 (Vol. A)

The following Dyer County probate records have been indexed:

• [1853-1893] Lambert, Agnes and Mary N. Gilmore, transcribers for Works Progress Administration. Dyer County, Tennessee Wills. Nashville, Tennessee: Byron Sistler & Assoc., 1998. (FHL book 976.815 P2L v. 1.)
  
• [1853-1861] Sistler, Byron and Barbara Sistler. Index to Tennessee Wills & Administrations 1779-1861. Nashville, Tenn. Byron Sistler & Associates, Inc., 1990. FHL US/CAN 976.8 P22s. [Includes an index to this county's wills.]
• USGenWeb's Dyer County page has links to several transcribed wills.

Taxation

The original Dyer County Tax Books 1862, 1873-1884 were microfilmed by the TSLA in 1970. FHL copy: FHL US/CAN Film 833249.

The following Dyer County tax records have been abstracted:^[9]

• [1836] Tatum, Ausborn C. "Dyer County, Tennessee 1836 Tax List," Ansearchin' News, Vol. 29, No. 4 (Winter 1982):177-180. FHL US/CAN Book 976.8 B2a v. 29-30 (1982-1983); free digital version at society's website. For further access, see Periodicals.
• [1836] Tax List, 1836, Tennessee Genealogy and History. Signal Mountain TN: Aug 1997. Vol. 1 Iss. 2-3.
• [1836] Douthat, James L. 1836 Dyer County, Tennessee Civil Districts and Tax Listing. Signal Mountain, Tenn.: Mountain Press, 2003. FHL US/CAN Book 976.815 R4d; online: free surname index and purchase details.
• [1836] Alsup, Samuel. "1836 Tax Rolls, Dyer Co., TN," available online, courtesy: TNGenWeb.
• [1859] Appling, Lynn Pierce. "Dyer County Tax Sales 1859," Ansearchin' News, Vol. 45, No. 1 (Spring 1998):36-38. FHL US/CAN Book 976.8 B2a v. 45-46 (1998-1999). For access, see Periodicals.

Vital Records

Marriage

Marriages were not officially recorded in Dyer County until 1838, when a law was passed mandating the practice.^[10] The following publication, based on early newspapers, helps to alleviate this genealogical obstacle:

• Lucas, Silas Emmett. Marriages from Early Tennessee Newspapers 1794-1851. Easley, S.C.: Southern Historical Press, 1978. FHL US/CAN Book 976.8 V2L.

The following Dyer County marriage records have been indexed:

• 1860-1895 - Dyer County Marriage Index 1860-1895 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch - free.^[11]
• 1860-1879 - Sistler, Byron and Barbara Sistler. Early West Tennessee Marriages. 2 vols. Nashville, Tenn.: B. Sistler & Associates, 1989. FHL US/CAN Book 976.8 V2sb v. 1 ff. [Indexes names of brides and grooms, and marriage dates for weddings in this county for the specified years.]
• 1860-1880 - Historical Records Project Marriage records, 1860-1880, Dyer County, Tennessee Salt Lake City, Utah : Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1939. FHL US/CAN 24642 item 3
• 1860-1969 - Dyer County (Tennessee) County Court Clerk Marriages, 1860-1969 Dyersburg, Tennessee : State Library and Archives, 1970. FHL US/CAN Film 833217-229 and 1011421-424
• Tennessee County Marriages, 1790-1950 - covers all counties in Tennessee.
• Many county marriage records are indexed with images at Ancestry's Tennessee State Marriages, 1780-2002 ($).  Be aware that this index is not complete for all counties.

Divorce

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

• Hays, Tony. West Tennessee Death Records [ca. 1823-1852]. 2 vols. n.p.: Kitchen Table Press, 1987. FHL FAM HIST Book 976.8 V2ht v. 1-2. [Dyer County is included in Vol. 2]

For deaths of Methodists in Dyer 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. FHL US/CAN Books 976.855/N1 V48s 1847-1851 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.]

Dyer County Tennessee Genealogy Societies and Libraries

Family History Centers

• Introduction to LDS Family History Centers

Dyer County Tennessee Genealogy Websites

Wikipedia has more about this subject: Dyer County, Tennessee

• Dyer County, TN Family History and Genealogy Message Board (Ancestry)
• Dyer County, TN Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)
• Dyer County, TN Genealogy Forum (GenForum)
• Dyer County, TNGenWeb (USGenWeb)
• Dyer County, TN History, Records, Facts and Genealogy (MyTennesseeGenealogy)
• Family History Library Catalog (FamilySearch)
• Mailing List: TNDYER-L (Dyer County, Tennessee List) (RootsWeb)
• Mailing List: WEST-TNCHAT-L (West Tennessee Chat List) (RootsWeb)
• Mailing List: WESTTN-L (West Tennessee List) (RootsWeb)

Dyer County Tennessee Genealogy References

1. ↑ Guide to Public Vital Statistics in Tennessee. Nashville, Tenn.: The Tennessee Historical Records Survey (W.P.A.), 1941; "Earliest County Records," Tennessee State Library and Archives.
2. ↑ Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed. (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), Dyer County, Tennessee page 639, At various libraries (WorldCat); FHL Book 973 D27e 2002.
3. ↑ "List of counties in Tennessee," Wikipedia.
4. ↑ The Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed. (Draper, UT: Everton Publishers, 2002), 639. (FHL Collection Ref Book 973 D27e 2002). WorldCat entry.
5. ↑ Voice of Lynnae Weller, Kingsport, Tenn. (2010).
6. ↑ Voice of Gene Black, FamilySearch employee, former resident of Bristol, Tenn. (2010).
7. ↑ WPA. Guide to Church Vital Statistics in Tennessee. Nashville: Tennessee State Planning Commission, 1942. FHL 976.8 K23w
8. ↑ Hermioned D. Embry, "War of 1812 - Tennessee Pensioners on List - January 2, 1883," Ansearchin' News, Vol. 7, No. 2 (Apr. 1960):40-45. FHL US/CAN Book 976.8 B2a v. 7 (1960); digital version at journal website. [Discussion about Dyer County appears on page 43.]
9. ↑ The Heritage Quest Online version of PERSI aided in the compilation of this list.
10. ↑ Gale Williams Bamman, C.G., "Research in Tennessee," National Genealogical Society Quarterly, Vol. 81, No. 2 (June 1993):105. FHL US/CAN Book 973 B2ng v. 81 (1993)
11. ↑ Genealogical Society of Utah, Parish and Vital Records List (July 1998). Microfiche. Digital version at https://www.familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/images/6/60/Igitennesseea.pdf.

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