Welcome to the Home Page of the
Lawrence County Archives
2588 Highway 43 S
Leoma, TN 38468
Phone: 931-852-4091
Email: lcarchives@lorettotel.net
Hours: Monday - Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

The Lawrence County Archives will be closed Friday, July 3rd to observe Independence Day; also closed Tuesday, July 7th and Friday July 10th.

*The archives could be closed for lunch at varying times or, I may have to take couple of hours off or a whole day without notification, since I am the only staff member. Be sure to call before you drive a long distance to research at the archives.
 

The book The Heritage of Lawrence County, Tennessee can still be purchased for $65 if picked up, or $75 if shipped to you. You may contact the Lawrence County Archives, or one of the committee members listed in the Lawrence County Heritage Book Information in the General Information and Research Helps links below.

    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 the a temporary location in the east room of the library. In the fall of 2008, the archives moved to their current location in the former First Farmer's & Merchant's building in Leoma, TN. This is to be our permanent home. We hope everyone will continue to use the archives facility for research since we will house even more records now.

    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 1818-1997 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 and other 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 policy link below.) 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

Migration Patterns In Lawrence County

Military Records and Sources

Births, Deaths, Marriages, Wills and Adoptions

Cemeteries In Lawrence County

African-American Research

Links to Other Sites of Interest

Last Updated May 18, 2009 by Kathy Niedergeses