Crockett County, Tennessee Genealogy

United States

Tennessee

Crockett County

Guide to Crockett County, Tennessee ancestry, genealogy and family history, birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

Tennessee Online Genealogy Records

County Facts County seat: Alamo Organized: 1871 Parent County(s): Haywood, Madison, Gibson, Dyer Neighboring Counties Dyer  • Gibson  • Haywood  • Lauderdale  • Madison See County Maps Courthouse Location Map Adoption Adopt-a-wiki page This page adopted by: TNGenWeb Project who welcome you to contribute. Adopt a page today

County Information

Description

The County was named for David Crockett (1786-1836), frontier humorist, soldier, Tennessee state legislator and U.S. congressman, and defender of the Alamo. The County is located in the west central area of the state.

County Courthouse

Crockett County Courthouse
1 S Bells Street
Alamo, TN 38001
Phone: 731-696-5460
County Clerk Phone: 731-696-5452
Circuit Court Clerk Phone: 731-696-5462
Chancery Court Phone: 731-696-5458
Register of Deeds Phone: 731-696-5455
Crockett County Website

County Clerk has marriage, divorce, probate, court, land records from 1872

County Pronunciation

Hear it spoken (female) Hear it spoken (male)

Crockett County, Tennessee Record Dates

Information for this chart was taken from various sources, often containing conflicting dates. This information should be taken as a guide and should be verified by contacting the county and/or the state government agency.

Known Beginning Dates for Major County Records
Birth*	Marriage	Death*	Court	Land	Probate	Census
1925	1872	1925	1872	1872	1872	1810
Statewide registration for births and deaths began in 1914. General compliance by 1927.

Record Loss

There is no known history of courthouse disasters in this county.

Boundary Changes

1871-Crockett County was created in 1871 from Haywood, Madison, Gibson, and Dyer Counties. County seat: Alamo For animated maps illustrating Tennessee county boundary changes, "Rotating Formation Tennessee County Boundary Maps" (1777-1985) may be viewed at the MapofUS.org website.

Populated Places

For a complete list of populated places, including small neighborhoods and suburbs, visit HomeTown Locator. The following are the most historically and genealogically relevant populated places in this county:

Cities
Bells	Friendship
Towns
Alamo	Gadsden	Maury City
Unincorporated communities
Cairo Crockett Mills	Frog Jump Fruitvale	Midway Shady Grove

History Timeline

Additional Information

Davy Crockett (1786-1836)

The county is named after Davy Crockett (1786-1836), frontiersman, Congressman, and Alamo defender.

Resources

Biographies

• Family Biographies from The History of Crockett County, Tennessee (1886) published by Goodspeed are availableon the My Genealogy Hound website.
  

Business, Commerce, and 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 Crockett County.

Cemeteries

Cemeteries of Crockett County, Tennessee online and in print
Tombstone Transcriptions Online	Findagrave.com TNGenWeb TNGenWeb Archives Tombstone Project TNGenWeb Cemeteries BillionGraves
Tombstone Transcriptions in Print (Often more complete)	Family History Library WorldCat
List of Cemeteries in the County	Findagrave.com BillionGraves Linkpendium Gravestones
See Tennessee Cemeteries for more information.

 

Census Records

Historical populations
Census	Pop.	%±
1880	14,109	—
1890	15,146	7.3%
1900	15,867	4.8%
1910	16,076	1.3%
1920	17,438	8.5%
1930	17,359	−0.5%
1940	17,330	−0.2%
1950	16,624	−4.1%
1960	14,594	−12.2%
1970	14,402	−1.3%
1980	14,941	3.7%
1990	13,378	−10.5%
2000	14,532	8.6%
2010	14,586	0.4%
Source: "Wikipedia.org".

1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, and 1940 federal population censuses of Crockett 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 Crockett County, TN census assignments, including links to transcribed files. The USGenWeb Census Project^®

1880

• Sistler, Byron H. and Samuel D. 1880 Census, Crockett County, Tennessee. Nashville, Tenn.: Byron Sistler and Associates, 1992. FHL US/CAN Book 976.8225 X2

1810-1891

• Tennessee, Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index, 1810-1891 at Ancestry ($)

Male Voters

• 1891 Tennessee Enumeration of Male Voters 1891 at Ancestry ($)

Church Records

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.

• 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 Crockett County are:

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

- List of Crockett County churches (TN HomeTownLocator)

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

Church of Christ

• 1877-1900 - Church of Christ, Coxville, Baptism Index 1877-1900 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch.
• 1877-1900 - Church of Christ, Coxville, Marriage Index 1877-1900 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch.
• 1877-1900 - Church of Christ, Coxville, Death Index 1877-1900 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch.

Court Records

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.

Ethnic, Political, and Religious Groups

African American
Tombstones from several African American local cemeteries have been transcribed and published online, see Crockett County, TN Cemeteries, courtesy: TNGenWeb.

Genealogies

General

As of August 2010, a query for persons born in Crockett, Tennessee at World Connect, results in more than 10,000 entries.

• Crockett County, Tennessee Genealogies, 1700's-1900's. Typescript, 1976. FHL US/CAN Films 1008529-1008530. Includes: Families of Koonce, Acor, Acred, Adams, Adcox, Agee, Alpha, Andrews, Antwine, Archer, Archibald, Arnold, Aslin, Austin, Avery, Bacigalupo, Badgett, Baker, Baldridge, Ball, Ballentine, Banks, Ballinger, Barker, Pollard, Farrow, Harpole, Moore -- Cox church records, 1877-1900 -- Business ledgers -- Families of Bell, Best and Cherry; Families of Green, Hamlett, James, Nunn, Mason, Winburn, Wood -- Histories of towns in Crockett Co., Tenn. -- Bells, Belleville, Johnson Grove, Lanefield, Mason Grove -- Board of Commissioners, minutes of meetings, 1871-1876 -- Cox Chapel, Church of Christ, Coxville, membership, 1905-1907 -- Families of Benson, Porter and Harris.

Bibliography

• Moore - Fritz, Marcine Moore William Moore and his descendants Salt Lake City, Utah Filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1993. Available at the Family History Library. FHL film 1750756 item 12 with a digitized version through FamilySearch Digital Library
• Sims - Sims, Almon James. The Paris (Pariss-Parish) Henry Sims Branch of the Sims Family of Scotland, England, Ireland and America. Knoxville, Tenn.?: Unknown, 1948. Digital version available at Heritage Quest Online ($).
• Sims - Sims, Almon James. The Pariss Sims Family and Related Families, 1765-1965. Knoxville, TN: A. J. Sims, 1965. Available at FHL FAM HIST Book 929.273 Si58sa and FHL US/CAN Film 1321309 Item 1.

Land and Property Records

Crockett County Register of Deeds has Land Records from 1872 and is located at the Courthouse, 1 S. Bells St., Suite 1, Alamo, TN 38001-1796; Telephone: (731) 696-5452
Land and property records usually include transfer of real estate or personal property, mortgages, leases, surveys, and entries.

The Family History Library has Crockett county deed records 1770-1909.

Maps and Gazetteers

Click a neighboring county
for more resources

• Maps of Tennessee (1777-1985)
• Map of 1888 Crockett County, Tennessee

Military Records

War of 1812

• Embry, Hermione D. "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. Includes Crockett County pensioners (p. 41)

Civil War

Online Records

• 1861-1865 - Tennessee, Civil War Service Records of Confederate Soldiers, 1861-1865 at FamilySearch- How to Use this Collection
• 1861-1865 - Tennessee, Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers, 1861-1865 at FamilySearch- How to Use this Collection
• 1861-1865 - U.S., Confederate Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865 at Ancestry
• 1861-1865 - U.S., Union Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865 at Ancestry
• 1891-1965 - Tennessee, Confederate Pension Applications, Soldiers and Widows, 1891-1965 at FamilySearch- How to Use this Collection
• Civil War Research Database
• Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System

Regiments. Men in Crockett County served in various regiments. Men often joined a company (part of a large regiment) that originated in their county. Listed below are companies that were specifically formed in Crockett County:

Confederate Soldiers

• 7th Regiment, Tennessee Cavalry (Duckworth's) - CSA - Company F.
• 14th Regiment, Tennessee Cavalry (Neely's) - CSA - Companies D and E.
• 27th Regiment, Tennessee Infantry - CSA - Company G.

Additional sources for Civil War soldiers from Crockett County:

• Crockett County,Tennessee Military Records. Includes links to Confederate units formed with men from areas which became Crockett County, Crockett Co. Civil War Veterans who applied for a pension, Crockett Co. Civil War Widows who applied for a pension and Civil War Veteran Questionnaires.
• USGenWeb Archives, Crockett County Tennessee Archives. Civil War Records.
• Tennessee State Library and Archives, Tennessee Confederate Pension Applications: Crockett County. 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). Online at Internet Archive.Crockett County, page 328.
• Index to Crockett County, Tennessee Civil War Veterans Questionnaires The following explanation comes from TSLA:

"The effort to record Civil War veterans' experiences, during the conflict and before and after it, started in 1914. Dr. Gus Dyer, Tennessee State Archivist, developed a questionnaire and contacted all known living Tennessee Civil War veterans, asking them to return the questionnaires to Nashville.

In 1920 the project was continued by John Trotwood Moore of the Tennessee Historical Commission and also State Librarian and Archivist. The 1,650 completed forms were returned by 1922 and were made available for historical research. They are on file in the TSLA and have been microfilmed for security and ease of use (Microfilm #484).

The responses are rich in detail about pre- and post-war life, as well as military experiences. They include personal and family information; opinions about class and race distinctions; and details of agricultural, business and educational opportunities for the young in nineteenth century Tennessee."

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 Crockett County click on the following cities or towns:

• Alamo
• Bells
• Bellville
• Friendship

• Hays,Tony; Janice S. Jackson, indexer. Gibson - Crockett: A Joint Heritage. [N.p.]: Kitchen Table Press, 1986. This indexed book includes articles from Crockett County newspapers, 1870-1916. (FHL book 976.8 P2h.)

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

For deaths of Methodists in Crockett County (or what later became Crockett County) between the 1830s and the 1920s, try:

• 1847-1914 - 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.

Other Records

Prisons

• 1831-1850 - Inmates of the Tennessee State Penitentiary 1831-1850 at Tennessee State Library and Archives
  
• 1851-1870 - Inmates of the Tennessee State Penitentiary 1851-1870 at Tennessee State Library and Archives

Periodicals

Genealogical periodicals can contain unique sources and can be local, regional, or statewide. The following periodicals cover this county:

• Ansearchin' News: Quarterly magazine of the Tennessee Genealogical Society. For a keyword search, go to the county index. Read previous issues on their website; FHL Book 976.8 B2a.

• Paper Trails:Family History Library has Volumes 1 - 5 (1993-1997) FHL US/CAN Book 976.8225 B2p. Indexed in the PERiodical Source Index (PERSI).
• Family Findings: Quarterly of the Mid-West Tennessee Genealogical Society. For tables of contents and online access to issues, see TNGenWeb Project. Also try this specialized Google search. FHL US/CAN 976.8 B2f.

• 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).
  

Probate Records

The County Court has responsibility for the probate records of Crockett County.

Online Records

• 1779-2008 - Tennessee Wills and Probate Records 1779-2008 at Ancestry ($)
• 1872-1980 - Crockett County portion of Tennessee, Probate Court Books, 1795-1927 at FamilySearch - images only; handwritten indexes may be found at the front or back of some volumes.- How to Use this Collection

Tax Records

Book Abstracts and Indexes

• 1872 Crockett County Tax Book One 1872, Family Findings, Vol. 13, No. 4 (Oct. 1981); Vol. 14, No. 2 (Apr. 1982); Vol. 14, No. 3 (July 1982); Vol. 15, No. 4 (Oct. 1983). For possible FHL and online access, as well as indexes, see Crockett.
• 1872 - Crockett County Historical Society. Crockett County Courthouse Centennial, 1874-1974. Digital version, provided by Natalie Huntley, is available online, courtesy: TNGenWeb. Includes 1872 tax list.
• USGenWeb's Crockett County page has links to several transcribed wills.

Vital Records

Birth

• 1828-1939 - Tennessee Births and Christenings 1828-1939 at FamilySearch- How to Use this Collection
• 1869-1909 - Tennessee Delayed Birth Records 1869-1909 at Ancestry ($)
• 1908-1912 - Tennessee, Birth Records (ER Series), 1908-1912 at FamilySearch- How to Use this Collection

Marriage

Online Records

• 1625-1966 - Tennessee, United States Marriages at FindMyPast ($)
• 1780-2002 - Tennessee State Marriage Index 1780-2002 at FamilySearch- How to Use this Collection
• 1780-2002 - Tennessee State Marriages 1780-2002 at Ancestry ($)
• 1790-1962 - Tennessee County Marriages, 1790-1950 [1790-1962] - at FamilySearch. index and images. Covers all counties in Tennessee.- How to Use this Collection
• 1796-1950 - Tennessee Marriages 1796-1950 (Indexes only) at FamilySearch- How to Use this Collection
• 1838-1888 - Tennessee Civil Marriages, 1838-1888 at FamilySearch- How to Use this Collection
• 1851-1900 - Tennessee Marriages 1851-1900 at Ancestry ($)
• 1872-1895 - Crockett County Marriage Index 1872-1895 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch

Death

• 1874-1955 - Tennessee Deaths and Burials 1874-1955 at FamilySearch- How to Use this Collection
• 1908-1958 - Tennessee Death Records 1908 - 1958 at Ancestry ($)
• 1914-1966 - Tennessee Deaths, 1914-1966 at FamilySearch- How to Use this Collection

Divorce

• 1800-1965 - Tennessee. Tennessee Divorce and Other Records, 1800-1965. Nashville, Tennessee: Tennessee State Library and Archives. Available at Ancestry ($)

• 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.

Research Facilities

Family History Centers

Family History Centers provide one-on-one assistance and free access to premium genealogical websites. In addition, many centers have free how-to genealogy classes.

• For current information about a center near you, go to the Family History Center Map

Libraries

Crockett County Library
285 E Church St
Alamo, TN 38001
Phone: 731-696-4220; E-mail: crolib@crockettnet.com
website

West Tennessee Heritage Study Center
Paul Meek Library
University of Tennessee at Martin
554 University Street
Martin, TN 38238
Phone: 731-881-7060
Website

The Heritage Study Center holds a variety of genealogical resources including materials relating to the following counties in Tennessee: Benton, Carroll, Chester, Crockett, Decatur, Dyer, Fayette, Gibson, Hardin, Haywood, Henderson, Henry, Houston, Humphreys, Lake, Lauderdale, Madison, McNairy, Obion, Perry, Shelby, Stewart, Tipton, Wayne, Weakley and Carlisle (KY), Fulton (KY), and Hickman (KY) counties in Kentucky.

Societies

West Tennessee Historical Society
P.O. Box 111046
Memphis, TN 38111
Phone: 901-475-6608
E-mail: efrank@memphis.edu
Website

Websites

• Crockett County, TN Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)
• Crockett County, TNGenWeb (USGenWeb)
• FamilySearch Catalog – The FamilySearch catalog contains descriptions and access information for all genealogical materials (including books, online materials, microfilm, microfiche, and publications) in their collection.  Use Historical Records to search for specific individuals in genealogical records.

Research Guides

• Genealogical "Fact Sheets" About Tennessee Counties: Crockett County, courtesy: TSLA. (Identifies published county histories, published local records, census records, newspapers and local records on microfilm, and select manuscripts.)

Family History Library