Welcome to the Home Page of the
Lawrence County Archives
524 Gallaher St.
Lawrenceburg, TN 38464
Phone: 931-766-1576
Fax: 931-766-1558
Email: lcarchives@lorettotel.net
Hours: Monday - Friday 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Closed for lunch 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.
(lunch time could change without notice)

Be sure to call before visiting the archives during our moving process (see below).

Most likely by the end of May or the first of June, the archives will be moving to a former bank building in Leoma, about 15 minutes south of Lawrenceburg, that was donated to the county for the archives to use. Unfortunately, the money was not appropriated for the needed renovations or the addition, so the building will be a little smaller. We will still have the same records for archives patrons to use for research, but might be a little more cramped.  Be sure to watch for our new address, phone number and possibly new email address also.

    The Lawrence County Archives was formed in 1988 under the supervision of the Lawrence County Public Records Commission. At that time, the records were transferred from the basement of the courthouse to the basement of the post office. In February of 2005, the archives moved to their current temporary location in the east room of the library. We hope everyone will continue to use the archives facility for research since we will house even more records when we move.

    In the beginning, the archives main purpose was to sort, clean, index, and prepare the hundred or so large boxes of old loose original records. The original loose records were the first document in any land transaction, court case, will, etc. This collection of records contains wills; deeds; land grants; land entries; land surveys; estate settlements; administrator and executor bonds and settlements; guardian bonds and settlements; court petitions for both County and Chancery Court; road petitions; marriages; tax and voting lists; Rebel claims against the United States; and much more. These loose records contain the actual signatures of your ancestor provided they could write their name.

    Our county was formed in 1817, with court proceedings and land transactions starting in 1818 when the official government began. We have this treasure trove of valuable information on our ancestors and Lawrence County, since we are fortunate that our courthouse has never burned. It was ransacked slightly during the Civil War, so a few records are missing. The records we have processed for researchers to use cover the time period 1818-1909. As time permits, the time span will continue further into the 1900's. The records processed so far are also available on microfilm. We also have microfilm of the record books from 1818-1996 for some offices, and through the 1960's in others.

    Since the archives inception, we have amassed a vast amount of other sources for researchers to use. Some of these are census 1820-1930 (microfilm and book form, except 1930 is only microfilm and head of house hold index); cemetery records; over 1,600 family file folders; some birth and death information; newspapers 1846-1980 (many issues missing in the 1800's); county, community, church and other histories; Civil War information; Lawrence County Historical Society bulletins for 1953-1996; Lawrence County Genealogical Society Journals 1997-present; early plat maps and other maps; records on Lewis, Wayne, Giles, Maury, Cocke, Perry, and Greene Counties in Tennessee; on Lauderdale, Limestone, St. Clair Counties in Alabama; a large collection of books containing marriages, wills, deeds, etc. for Virginia;  plus much more.

    The archive's staff also offers a service that most people find very valuable for a very modest fee. If you are unable to travel to the archives to do your own research, we will perform the research for you for $5 an hour plus copy and postage fees. (See research policies link above.) We have so many people take advantage of this service that we stay weeks behind in actually finishing the research. So browse around our site and let us know if we can assist you in anyway.

General Information & Research Helps

Lawrence County Census Records & Tax Lists

Military Records and Sources

Births, Deaths, Marriages, Wills and Adoptions

Cemeteries In Lawrence County

Links To Other Sites Of Interest 

Last Updated April 30, 2008 by Kathy Niedergeses

Webmaster: Kathy Niedergeses