• Statehood: 1796
• US territory status: 1790, known as the Territory of the US South of the River Ohio (the Southwest Territory). Previously part of North Carolina.
• First extant federal census: 1830
• Statewide birth and death records begin: 1908, but death certificates didn’t give parents’ names or birth date/place until 1914. No statewide records for 1913.
• Statewide marriage records begin: 1945
• State-land state
• Counties: 13 in 1796; 95 today
• Contact for vital records:
Tennessee Office of Vital Records
Central Services Building,
First Floor 421 Fifth Ave. N.
Nashville, TN 37247
(615) 741-1763
<www2.state.tn.us/health/vr>
Web Sites
• Abstracts from Tennessee Newspapers
• Civil War Rosters — Tennessee Links
• Cyndi’s List — Tennessee
• First People of Tennessee and the American Southwest
• Tennesseans in the Revolutionary War
• Tennessee GenWeb Project
• Tennessee Resources at RootsWeb
Resources
• The Family Tree Resource Book for Genealogists edited by Sharon DeBartolo Carmack and Erin Nevius (Family Tree Books)
• First Families of Tennessee: A Register of Early Settlers and Their Present-Day Descendants (East Tennessee Historical Society)
• Research in Tennessee by Gale Williams Bamman (National Genealogical Society)
• The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture edited by Carroll Van West (Tennessee Historical Society)
• Tennessee Genealogical Research by George K. Schweitzer (self-published, from <www.storbecks.com>)
• Tennessee Place Names by Larry L. Miller (Indiana University Press)
Organizations and Archives
• Chattanooga-Hamilton County Bicentennial Library
• East Tennessee Historical Society
• Memphis/Shelby County Public Library and Information Center
• Nashville Public Library
• Tennessee Genealogical Society 9114 Davies Plantation Road, Brunswick, TN 38014, <www.tngs.org>
• The Tennessee Historical Commission
• Tennessee State Library and Archives
• University of Memphis Library
Special Collections Department, 126 Ned R. McWherter Library, Room 404, Memphis, TN 38152, (901) 678-2210, <
www.lib.memphis.edu>
• University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Hoskins Library, Special Collections, 1401 Cumberland Ave., Knoxville, TN 37996, (865) 974-4480, <
www.lib.utk.edu>
From the June 2005 Family Tree Magazine
Tennessee Historic Sites
• Battlefields & Military Parks
More Civil War battles were fought in Tennessee than in any other state besides Virginia. You can see those battlegrounds at the National Park Service-designated
Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park near the Tennessee-Georgia border (706-866-9241, <
www.nps.gov/chch>),
Fort Donelson National Battlefield in Dover (931-232-5706, <
www.nps.gov/ fodo>),
Shiloh National Military Park in Shiloh (731-689-5696, <
www.nps.gov/ shil>) and
Stones River National Battlefield in Murfreesboro (615-893 9501, <
www.nps.gov/ stri>).
• Belle Meade Plantation
5025 Harding Road
Nashville, TN 37205
(615) 356-0501
During the Battle of Nashville, Union and Confederate soldiers skirmished in the front yard of this 1853 mansion. Tour the house and the surrounding historical buildings.
• Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
222 Fifth Ave. S.
Nashville, TN 37203
(800) 852-6437
Get the scoop on country music’s roots. The museum’s permanent exhibit, Sing Me Back Home, retraces the genre’s 19th-century origins through photos and musical artifacts.
• Davy Crockett Birthplace State Park
1245 Davy Crockett Park Road
Limestone, TN 37681
(423) 257-2167
See a replica of the cabin where Crockett was born, a museum devoted to the King of the Wild Frontier and more.
• East Tennessee History Center
601 S. Gay St.
Knoxville, TN 37901
(865) 215-8824
This fantastic research facility hosts the Knox County Archives, Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection and the new East Tennessee Historical Society Museum.
• Great Smoky Mountains National Park
107 Park Headquarters Road
Gatlinburg, TN 37738
(865) 436-1200
Inside this beautiful park, you can visit the Mountain Farm Museum, a collection of 1800s farm buildings; the 1886 Mingus Mill; and the picturesque Cataloochee Valley.
• The Hermitage
4580 Rachel’s Lane
Hermitage, TN 37076
(615) 889-2941
President Andrew Jackson’s historic home became a museum in 1889. Tour the grounds and be sure to explore the current exhibits.
• National Civil Rights Museum
450 Mulberry St.
Memphis, TN 38103
(901) 521-9699
Located at the Lorraine Motel, the site of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, the museum chronicles the civil rights movement and its legacy.
• Tennessee State Museum
505 Deaderick St.
Nashville, TN 37243
(800) 407-4324
Explore Tennessee history from its beginnings 15,000 years ago up to the early 1900s at this expansive museum.
• Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum (TVRM)
4119 Cromwell Road
Chattanooga, TN 37421
(423) 894-8028
Take a ride on the Southeast’s largest historical railroad, and check out old rail cars parked outside TVRM’s re-created 1910 depot.
Visitor Information
• Tennessee Department of Tourist Development
William Snodgrass/Tennessee Tower
312 Eighth Ave. N., 25th Floor
Nashville, TN 37243
(800) 462-8366
<www.tnvacation.com>
Timeline
From the June 2005 Family Tree Magazine
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