Tennessee Biography

United States   Tennessee  Biography

Biographies provide useful genealogical information such as an individual’s birth date and place (including foreign birthplace where applicable); family members; occupation; education; and social, political, and religious affiliations. They may also contain a physical description, previous residences, and immigration information. Biographies are the product of family knowledge or previous research, often compiled on the early settlers and prominent citizens of the state, county, or town. Many lesser known individuals may have biographical sketches written about them, especially in local histories.

Tennessee State Library and Archives

The Tennessee State Library and Archives has:


 * The History of Tennessee From the Earliest Time to the Present. Nashville : Goodspeed Pub. Co., 1886-1887. This indexed digital copy includes chapters on each county.
 * Their Manuscript Collection includes documents with biographical information.
 * "Core List of Tennessee Books" includes biographies and a variety of books containing biographical information.

Memphis Public Library and Information Center

The Memphis Public Library and Information Center maintains extensive card indexes to biographical sketches in histories and related works.

Tennessee Historical Society

The Tennessee Historical Society has an extensive family surname file and a large collection of personal and family histories.

Family History Library

The Family History Library has a good collection of biographical sources. Representative biographical works for Tennessee include:

Allison, John Roy V. Notable Men of Tennessee: Personal and Genealogical with Portraits. Two Volumes. Atlanta, Georgia: Southern Historical Association, 1905. (Family History Library film 24567.) A surname index is included. Digital versions are available at Ancestry ($); and World Vital Records ($).

American Genealogical-Biographical Index. Volumes 1–198+. Middletown, Connecticut: Godfrey Memorial Library, 1952–. (Family History Library book 973 D22am ser. 2; on 31 films starting with 1698167.) This is a continuing series. An earlier edition of 48 volumes was published as The American Genealogical Index 1942–1951. The expanded edition consists of more than 198 volumes, indexing over 12 million brief citations (name, date, and source) to more than 1,150 manuscripts, periodicals, or books. This index is also available for a membership fee through Ancestry.

This index is also available on CD-ROM. To help interpret citations and to locate the original sources, use the colored pages in some volumes, or use:

Key Title Index to the American Genealogical Biographical Index: Register of Family History Library Call Numbers. Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1990. (Family History Library book 973 D22am index; film 1698167 item 4; fiche 6088377.) This shows the call numbers for those sources that are at the Family History Library.

McBride, Robert M. Biographical Directory of the Tennessee General Assembly. Nashville, Tennessee: Tennessee State Library and Archives and the Tennessee Historical Commission, 1975. (Family History Library book 976.8 D3mc.) There are six volumes, each representing a specific time period between 1796 and 1991. A surname index is included in each volume.

Memorial and Biographical Record: An Illustrated Compendium of Biography, Containing a Compendium of Local Biography, Including Biographical Sketches of Prominent Old Settlers and Representative Citizens of Part of the Cumberland Region of Tennessee, with a Review of Their Life Work; Their Identity with the Growth and Development of This Region; Reminiscences of Personal History and Pioneer Life; and Other Interesting and Valuable Matter Which Should Be Preserved in History. Also a Compendium of Biography, Containing Biographical Sketches of Hundreds of the Greatest Men and Celebrities America Has Produced in Various Walks of Life, Including Great Statesmen, Lawyers, Jurists, Scientists, Editors, Poets, Writers, Financiers, Railroad Magnates, Army and Navy Officers, Inventors, Speculators, Scouts, Merchant Princes, Humorists, Manufacturers, Abolitionists, Explorers, All the Presidents, Etc.Chicago, Illinois: George A. Ogle and Company, 1898. (Family History Library film 1291.) A partial index is included in this record.

Prominent Tennesseans, 1796 - 1938. Lewisburg, TN: Who's Who Pub. Co. 1940. Digital versions available at Ancestry ($) and World Vital Records ($).

Speer, William S. ''Sketches of Prominent Tennesseans: Containing Biographies and Records of Many of the Families Who Have Attained Prominence in Tennessee. 1888.'' Reprint, Greenville, South Carolina: Southern Historical Press, 1997. (Family History Library book 976.8 D3s; film 833388.) A surname index is included. Free digital copy Sloan Foundation.

Other Tennessee Biography Collections

Crozier, William Armstrong. A key to Southern pedigrees: being a comprehensive guide to the colonial ancestry of families in the States of Virginia, Maryland, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia and Alabama. Hasbrouck Heights, N.J. : The Genealogical Association, 1911. Free digital copy.

Temple, Oliver Perry and Mary Boyce Temple. Notable Men of Tennessee, from 1833 to 1875: Their Times and Their Contemporaries. New York, New York : Cosmopolitan Press, 1912. Digital versions available at Ancestry ($); BYU Family History Archives; Google Books [full view]; and World Vital Records ($).

The Calvin M. McClung Collection, which is described in the Tennessee Archives and Libraries article, contains biographical material for residents of Tennessee.

Specific Biographies


 * Crockett, David. Col. Crockett's Exploits and Adventures in Texas.New York : Wm. H. Graham, Tribune Buildings, 1848. Free digital copy.
 * Mathews, John, 1826, Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Peeps into life : autobiography of John Mathews, a minister of the Gospel for sixty years [s.l.] : published by request of the Tennessee Annual Conference, 1904. Free digital copy
 * Turner, Francis Marion. Life of General John Sevier. New York and Washington. The Neale Publishing Company, 1910/ Free digital copy.

The Surname Search of the Family History Library Catalog will lead you to biographies and published family histories on specific surnames. Using the term “Tennessee” in the Keyword Search will narrow the search to families in Tennessee.

The Family History Library has many collected biographies and local or county histories with biographical sketches on residents. These can be found in the Place Search of the Family History Library Catalog under:

TENNESSEE - BIOGRAPHY

TENNESSEE, [COUNTY] - BIOGRAPHY

TENNESSEE, [COUNTY] - HISTORY

TENNESSEE, [COUNTY], [TOWN] - HISTORY