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What types of records are now in the Archives?
- Marriage licenses and records from 1870 through 1997.
These have been indexed by both bride and groom.
- Wills from 1870 through 1970.
- Some birth records: 1908 - 1912 and 1925 - 1939.
- Some death records: 1908 - 1912 and 1925 - 1939. We
also have 17 shoe boxes of index cards that were compiled over the
years by Marguerite Williams. Mrs. Williams compiled these death
records from several sources. There are some 30 thousand entries of
deaths and these have been computerized and will be printed in book
form in the near future.
- Guardian Bonds & Letters, vols. 2, 3 and 4.
- County Minute Books 1, 2, and 3, 1870 through 1891.
- Various County Court Books. One of these books is
most interesting and dates approximately to 1850. Yes, Hamblen County
was not established until 1870 but Morristown was in existence and the
south side of Morristown was in Jefferson County. This book starts as
a store journal, then it is a Jefferson County Court Docket and
finally a Hamblen County Court Docket. There is a letter written and
signed by Drury Morris, a store owner in Morristown, dated 1852. This
book is currently at the State of TN Archives being microfilmed.
- Hamblen County Tax Books. We have not located all of
these records but they tell what the land owners were taxed for and
who their neighbors were. We have located part of the 1890 records and
these records are very important as they can be used to replace the
1890 census records which was almost totally destroyed nationally.
- We are now working on cleaning and indexing the loose
Circuit Court records. This is a very time consuming process. Of
course we have to read some of the records while we are cleaning them.
Some of the cases include 1) living together without marriage; 2)
carrying weapons; 3) profanity; 4) disturbing church services; 5)
gaming, betting with legal tender and 6) flirting. I do not know what
was considered flirting at that time period, but they could be fined
for it.
One of our interesting finds which was registered with the Register of
Deeds Office was the marriage contract between L.F. Leeper and
Caroline Carson. L.F. Leeper was the first chairman of the Hamblen
County Court and elected 3 October 1870. This was a second marriage
for both of them and a contract was written to "never to guard
against any misfortune that might happen in consequence of marriage
relations ever existing between us". We think of pre-nuptial
agreements as being created recently. This was dated 25 of August 1873
- We also have over 1,000 books pertaining to family
histories, state and country histories, census indexes and court
records. We will have microfilm of the census records as soon as we
obtain enough money to purchase a microfilm reader.
Why are these records important?
These records tell of our county's history and of our ancestor's
history. They give us an insight into the lifestyles of our forefathers.
They tell us where people shopped, how they traveled, if they were
involved in court cases, who they married and if they left a will.
These records are not only important to our local citizens but are
also important to people all over the United States. TN has been a
gateway to other locations, not only to the west but also north, south
and back to the east. Some of the emigrants only stated a short time in
Hamblen County but they did leave their mark here.
Who staffs the Archives?
The Archives is staffed entirely by volunteers and Helen
Danison, Archivist, is here 5 days a week.
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