Blount County, Tennessee Genealogy

United States Tennessee  Blount County East Tennessee county in the Great Smoky Mountains region. Established 1795. From 1784 to 1788, this land was claimed by the abortive, and short-lived State of Franklin.

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

County Courthouse
Blount County Courthouse 345 Court St. Maryville, TN 37804-5906 Phone: 1-865-273-5800

Blount County Clerk Marriage and Probate records

Blount County Register of Deeds Land Records dating back to the early 1700's

Blount County Clerk of Circuit Court Court Records

All the above are at the same address and phone number as the County Courthouse.

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

History
Blount County is named after Tennessee Senator William Blount (1749-1800) who played an instrumental role in the formation of the state.

North Carolina first organized the land that would eventually become Blount County as part of Washington District in 1776, then as part of Washington County in 1777, and then as part of Greene County in 1783.

In August 1784 delegates of three western North Carolina counties, Washington, Sullivan, and Greene (all now in Tennessee), declared their Independence from North Carolina because of perceived neglect, and misuse by North Carolina’s legislature. By May 1785 they had petitioned to be admitted to the United States as the new State of Franklin. The Franklin statehood request was denied. In 1786 the Franklin legislature created several new counties including Blount (all in present-day Tennessee). By 1789 Franklin's hopes of statehood had faded.

However, in 1789 North Carolina ratified the Constitution, was admitted the union, and ceded her westernmost counties to the United States. The United States used them to form the Southwest Territory. The new counties created by the Franklin government were not recognized by North Carolina, the Southwest Territory, or by Tennessee. When they were reconstituted, no mention was made of their Franklin predecessor county governments. The Southwest Territory reconstituted Blount County, albeit with significantly redrawn borders, in 1795 from part of its Knox County.

In 1796 the Southwest Territory, and the land of all these counties became part of the new State of Tennessee.

Parent County
1795--Blount County was created 11 July 1795 from Knox County. County seat: Maryville

A very small portion of Blount county was originally in Jefferson County. See the research and maps of René Jordan in the East Tennessee Historical Society's Tennessee Ancestors for details.

County Pronunciation

 * 1) Hear it spoken (female)
 * 2) Hear it spoken (also female)

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
1879 and 1906 -- Courthouse burned and many records were damaged.


 * Lost censuses: 1810, 1820, 1890

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

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 Blount County

Neighboring Counties

 * Graham County, North Carolina
 * Knox
 * Loudon
 * Monroe
 * Sevier
 * Swain County, North Carolina

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

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

The following book is a useful aid for finding the original records. A free online index, provided by Lineages, which cites the original document numbers, 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: Blount County, East Tennessee Roots, Vol. 6, No. 3 :116. 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, Blount County on page 152.]

1850


 * Robinstein, Joyce. "Blount, TN 1850 Federal Census," [Includes every-name index] available online through USGenWeb Archives.

1860


 * Templin, David H. and Cherel Bolin Henderson. 1860 Population Schedule of the United States Census, Blount County, Tennessee. Maryville, Tenn.: n.p., 1981..

1870


 * Brown, Kenneth A. and Mary Ruth H. Brown. United States Census of 1870 for Blount County, Tennessee. Maryville, Tenn.: Printers, Inc., [198-?]..

1880


 * Sistler, Byron and Barbara Sistler. 1880 Census - Tennessee: Transcription for Blount 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. . [Blount County is included in Vol. 1.]
 * Sistler, Byron H. and Barbara Sistler. 1890 Civil War Veterans Census, Tennessee. Evanston, Ill.: Byron Sister and Associates, 1978..

Church
Methodist

Holston Conference Office P.O. Box 850 Alcoa, TN 37701 Telephone: 866-690-4080 Fax:865-690-3162

Genealogy
The Will E. Parham papers are kept at the Blount County Library Reference Section. Parham was a professional genealogist in the late 1800s and early 1900s. There is a card file by last name. Loose leaf by family name. There are also family files from other people who have added information.

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 19 British aliens, many of whom had families, living in Blount County.

Land
The original Blount County Deed Books are held at the County Courthouse. In 1971, TSLA microfilmed Deed Books 1 to HH (1794-1881) and corresponding indexes. FHL copies:.

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
US GenWeb offers a "Times Past" page which has photos and histories of Blount County.


 * Blount County Tennessee History 1795 - 1995 Free lookups available!
 * Wilson, Samuel Tydale. A Century of Maryville College, 1819-1919. Maryville, Tennessee: Directors of Maryville College, 1916. Free digital copy.

Maps

 * [1795] Creekmore, Pollyanna. Early East Tennessee Taxpayers. Easley, S.C.: Southern Historical Press, 1980. and Silas Emmett Lucas's Revised Index . [Includes 1795 map of Blount County and East Tennessee.]
 * [1795] Reeves, Charles A. Blount County [Tennessee] - Created July 11, 1795 from Knox County. Published 2000. Purchase at ReevesMaps.com; website includes a scaled-down version of the map.
 * [1926] U.S. Geological Survey. Proposed Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Originally published 1926. Purchase at ReevesMaps.com; website includes a scaled-down version of the map.
 * [1934] U.S. Park Service. Preliminary Base Map, Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Originally published 1934. Purchase at ReevesMaps.com; website includes a scaled-down version of the map.

Military
Revolutionary War

The following Blount 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, Blount County on page 152.]
 * One Hundred Soldiers of American Revolution, Watauga Association of Genealogists Bulletin, Vol. 16, No. 2 (1987).
 * 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 (TNGenWeb).
 * Revolutionary Soldiers, Reflector, Vol. 18, No. 4 (Dec. 1976).
 * Revolutionary War Soldiers, Tennessee Rifleman, Vol. 31, No. 2 (Spring 1990).
 * Revolutionary War Soldiers and Patriots, Smoky Mountain Historical Society Newsletter, Vol. 3, No. 1 (Jan. 1977).
 * Soldiers of Blount (100), Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine, Vol. 110, No. 6 (Jul. 1976).

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 Bledsoe County pensioners (p. 14).]
 * Blount county soldiers who served in the War of 1812 at TNGenWeb

Civil War


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

Civil War service men from Blount 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 Blount County.

Confederate Soldiers

 * 1st Regiment, Tennessee Cavalry (Carter's) - CSA - Companies G and I.
 * 2nd Regiment, Tennessee Cavalry (Ashby's) - CSA - Company K.
 * 3rd Regiment, Tennessee Infantry - CSA - Company E.
 * 3rd Regiment, Tennessee Mounted Infantry (Lillard's) - CSA - Company E.
 * 5th Battalion, Tennessee Cavalry (McClellan's) - CSA - Company E.
 * 5th Regiment, Tennessee Cavalry (McKenzie's) - CSA
 * 8th Regiment, Tennessee Cavalry (Smith's) - CSA*37th Regiment, Tennessee Infantry (7th Infantry) (1st East Tennessee Rifles) - CSA - Company I.
 * 39th Regiment, Tennessee Mounted Infantry (W. M. Bradford's) (31st Infantry) - CSA - Company B.

Union Soldiers

 * 3rd Regiment, Tennessee Cavalry - Company A.

Additional sources for Civil War soldiers from Blount County:

 * Knoxville Civil War Roundtable, The Civil War in Blount County, Tennessee, By Dorothy E. Kelly, (accessed 30 Jan 2012).
 * Tennessee State Library and Archives, Tennessee Confederate Pension Applications : Blount 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. Blount County, page 318-319.

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 Blount County click on the following city:


 * Maryville

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 Blount County.]

Periodicals

 * The Blount Journal
 * Publication of the Blount County Genealogical and Historical Society began in 1985 and is still in print. Tables of contents are available online. Purchase back issues through the society. The Family History Library has acquired most volumes . The Blount Journal is indexed in the PERiodical Source Index (PERSI).


 * Smoky Mountain Historical Society Newsletter
 * Genealogical articles with abstracts of Blount County, Tennessee records were published in the Smoky Mountain Historical Society Newsletter (33 vols., 1977-2007), the journal of the Smoky Mountain Historical Society. Tables of contents for most issues are available online. Back issues are available for purchase. The Family History Library has acquired a complete collection, as well as Journal Contents and Index of Names: 1977 thru 1996 . The newsletter is indexed in the PERiodical Source Index (PERSI).

Most of the early original Blount County Will Books were destroyed. In 1869, all known records not lost in a fire were transcribed. In 1971, TSLA microfilmed the 1869 transcript and the records that were left. FHL copies:.


 * Index to Wills 1857-1971
 * Wills, 1795-1934
 * Bonds, Letters 1889-1935
 * Court Records 1796-1834
 * Insolvent estate records, 1879-1948
 * Inventories, Settlements, 1857-1922
 * Minutes, 1880-1914
 * Settlements, 1857-1932

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


 * 1) Wills Vol. 1: 1795-1869

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


 * [1795-1861] 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!

Taxation
The original Blount County Tax Books are held at the County Courthouse. TSLA microfilmed Tax Books 1845-1856 (Roll 482), and 1864-1900 (Rolls 482-488). FHL has copies of 1845-1846 and 1864-1867:.

The following Blount County tax records, stored at various archives, have been abstracted:


 * [1800-1801] Curtis, Mary Barnett. Early East Tennessee Tax Lists: A Compiled List of Residents of the Area Covered in 22 East Tennessee Counties for which there is (sic) No Census Records Prior to 1830. Fort Worth, Texas: Arrow Printing, 1964. []. [Includes 1800-1801 tax lists.]
 * [1800-1801, 1805] Sistler, Byron and Barbara Sistler. Index to Early Tennessee Tax Lists. Evanston, Ill.: B. &amp; B. Sistler, 1977. [Includes 1800-1801 and 1805 tax lists.]
 * [1801] Creekmore, Pollyanna. Early East Tennessee Taxpayers. Easley, S.C.: Southern Historical Press, 1980. and Silas Emmett Lucas's Revised Index . [Includes 1801 tax list.]
 * [1803] "Unpaid Taxes - 1803" [Blount, Cocke, Sevier Cos.], Smoky Mountain Historical Society Newsletter, Vol. 10, No. 3 (1984):6-8. . For further access, see Periodicals; digital version at TNGenWeb - Blount County, Tennessee Blog (14 March 2009 post); digital version by Duay O'Neil, at Sevier County, Tennessee, Genealogy &amp; History. [Abstract of The Knoxville Gazette, Aug. 8, 1803.]
 * [1805] "Blount County, Tennessee Free Taxable Inhabitants 1805," Watauga Association of Genealogists Bulletin, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Winter 1973):7-16. . For further access, see Periodicals. [Source: TSLA records; no index.]
 * [1805] Tax List, 1805, The Blount Journal, Vol. 2, No. 1 (May 1986). . For further access, see Periodicals.
 * [1808] Delinquent Tax Records, 1808, The Blount Journal, Vol. 1, Nos. 1-2 (Nov. 1985). . For further access, see Periodicals.
 * [1808] "A list of those who returned their taxable polls and property at May term 1808," The Blount Journal, Vol. 9, No. 1 (Spring 1993):17. . For further access, see Periodicals. [Source: Blount County Court Minutes, May 1808, p. 278.]
 * [1814] "Direct Federal Tax-Delinquent Property Owners Listed for 1814," Ansearchin' News, Vol. 43, No. 3 (Fall 1996):115-120. . For further access, see Periodicals. [Includes Blount County.]
 * [1834] "Blount County Civil Districts - 1834," "Blount County Civil Districts - 1993," "The Civil Districts of Blount County," The Blount Journal, Vol. 9, No. 1 (Spring 1993):1-11. . For further access, see Periodicals. [The third article is a transcript of Blount County Court Minutes, 1814-1843, Microfilm #103, Blount County Public Library, 2nd series on the reel, pp. 98-102 by Jane Kizer Thomas.]
 * [1836] Douthat, James L. Blount County, Tennessee, 1836 Tennessee Civil Districts and Tax Lists. Signal Mountain, Tenn.: Mountain Press, 1993. ; online: free surname index and purchase details.
 * [1840] "Land On Top of Old Smoky Sold for Taxes in 1840," [Blount County] Ansearchin' News, Vol. 44, No. 4 (Winter 1997):23. . For further access, see Periodicals.
 * [1844] Foster-Blevins, Alice. "Blount County, TN - Census - Poll Tax, 2 Jan 1844," available online through USGenWeb Archives.

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


 * [1795-1870] Lucas, Silas Emmett and Ella Lee Sheffield. 35,000 Tennessee Marriage Records and Bonds 1783-1870. 3 vols. Easley, S.C.: Southern Historical Press, 1981. ff. [Abstracts include names of brides, grooms, bondsmen, marriage bond dates, and officiators for weddings in this county for the roughly specified years. Marriage data taken from an index card file at the TSLA. Authors do not specify whether or not the card index completely indexes this county's marriages.]
 * [1795-1865] 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!
 * [1798-1858] Blount County, Tennessee Marriage Index 1798-1858, available online through USGenWeb.
 * Lucas, Silas Emmett. Marriages from Early Tennessee Newspapers 1794-1851. Easley, S.C.: Southern Historical Press, 1978..

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

 * Blount County Death Records Database - covers 1800s to 1960 deaths from local newspapers and funeral home records. Available from the Blount County, TNGenWeb site.

For deaths of Methodists in Blount 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
Blount County Genealogical and Historical Society PO Box 4986 Maryville, TN 37802-4986

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

Blount County Public Library 508 N. Cusick St. Maryville, TN 37804 Phone: 1-865-977-1142 Hours: Mon.-Thurs. 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Fri. and Sat. 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Sun. 1 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. The Genealogy and Local History section has an 800+ volume collection containing "books on genealogy and local history to be used within the Library. Microfilm of local newspapers, court records and census schedules are available for photocopying. Records on CD-ROM from the Latter Day Saints are also available for use." (per website)

Mary E. Tippitt Memorial Library 120 Tiger Drive Townsend, TN 37882 Phone: 1-865-448-1441 Fax: 1-865-448-1875 E-mail: metmlib@yahoo.com Hours: Mon. and Tues. 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Wed. 12 p.m.-6 p.m. Thurs. and Fri. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Contains the Townsend collection which includes local interest items and genealogical sources. (per website)

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to LDS Family History Centers
 * Maryville Tennessee Family History Center

Web Sites

 * Blount County, Tennessee (American Local History Network &amp; Tennessee Local History Network) Resources to help you place your ancestors within the context of their local history.
 * Blount County, TN Family History and Genealogy Message Board (Ancestry)
 * Blount County, TN Genealogy Forum (GenForum)
 * Blount County, TN Genealogy and Family History(Linkpendium)
 * Blount County, TNGenWeb (USGenWeb)
 * Blount County, TN History, Records, Facts and Genealogy (MyTennesseeGenealogy)
 * (FamilySearch)
 * Mailing List: TNBLOUNT-L (Blount 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: SE-TN-L (Southeast Tennessee List) (RootsWeb)
 * Mailing List: UPPEREASTTN-L (Upper East Tennessee List) (RootsWeb)
 * Smoky Mountain Ancestral Quest Compiled Genealogies of Local Families