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
.

Archives Closing Dates for February, 2010
1) The archives will be closed Monday, February 15th for President's Day.
2) The archives will possibly be closed one other day in Feb. Check back later for date.

*The archives could be closed for lunch at varying times. Also, I may have to take a couple of hours off, or a whole day without notification, since I am the only staff member. If I know in advance that I will be closed a day, I will post it on this web page. Be sure to call before you drive a long distance to research at the archives.

  Search the archives entire web site here

The book The Heritage of Lawrence County, TN can be purchased from the Lawrence County Archives for $65 if picked up, or $76.00 if mailed. See the link below in General Information and Research Helps for more details and a form.

    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

Archives 2009 Closing Dates Off-Site Research Policy Family File Folders Books for Sale
Archives Holdings
 1820's -1990's
Book Inventory for On-Site Use Goodspeed's History of Lawrence County Surnames of
Researchers on the
Internet 
Reunions Post Queries View Queries Goodspeed's Biographies
Lawrence County
Public Records Commission
Rules for On-Site Researchers List of Books on Virginia Counties at the Archives Old Letters From Early Tennessee Settlers
Lookup Volunteers Directions to Law. 
Co. Archives
Microfilm Available at Law. Co. Archives  Lawrence County
Heritage Book Information
How Do I..... Articles History of Lawrence Co.    

Lawrence County Census Records, Tax Lists & Land Grants

1818 Voters List 1820 Census 1830 Census Heads of Household 1840 Census
under construction
1850 Census Index  1826 Tax List 1842 Delinquent Tax List 1868 Tax List
On-Line Census Finder Land Terminology Land Grants
under construction
 
       

Migration Patterns In Lawrence County

German Catholic Migration 1870-1910

Migration mid-1880's
under construction

   
       

Military Records and Sources

Lawrence County Veterans
All Wars
Rev. War Soldiers in Lawrence Co., TN Lawrence Countians on
1835 Pension Rolls for TN
Mexican War Links  
Mexican War Discharges for Lawrence Co. Men Tennessee Sons of Confederate Veterans United Daughters of the Confederacy (IN) Nathan Bedford Forrest Camp 2597 Daughters of Union Veterans of Civil War, TN Tent #4
Major Belle Reynolds
United Daughters of the Confederacy, Columbia, TN United Daughter of the Confederacy TN Divisions United Daughters of the Confederacy Giles Co., TN Buffalo River Chapter of the DAR Lawrenceburg, TN
1890 Lawrence Co.  Veterans Census  1890 Dickson Co.
Veterans Census
1890 Hardin Co.
 Veterans Census
1890 Hickman Co.
Veterans Census
1890 Giles Co.
Veterans Census
1890 Lewis Co.
Veterans Census
1890 Maury Co. 
Veterans Census
1890 Wayne Co.
Veterans Census
TN Civil War 
Veterans Questionnaires
Journal of the Congress of the Confederate States of America, 1861-1865 Tennessee Confederate Soldier's Home Cemetery Known Union Civil War Soldiers Buried in Lawrence Co., TN
Known Confederate Soldiers Buried in Lawrence Co., TN
under construction
Confederate Records on TNGenWeb Lawrence Co. Home Guard of Minute Men June 1861 - December 1861 coming soon Tennessee Soldiers in the Spanish American War at TN State Library & Archives
National Park Service
Civil War
Soldiers and Sailors System
Tennessee Civil War
Cemeteries on TNGenWeb
Civil War Virtual Cemeteries on TNGenWeb Union Records on TNGenWeb

Births, Deaths, Marriages, Wills and Adoptions

Lawrence County Births
1881-1882 (contains all info in original book of births
and deaths)
Lawrence County Births 1908-1912 (contains all info in original book of births
and deaths)
Lawrence County Birth Records 1920s-1930s
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Births taken from the
diaries of Blanch Olive
Births & Other Info From
Dr. W. F. Kellogg's Journal
Births Taken From The Ledger of Dr. Hugh A. Campbell 1891-1932
coming soon
Deaths taken from the
diaries of Blanch Olive
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Deaths Taken from Chancery & County Court Petitions
Lawrence County Deaths 1881-1882 (contains all info in original book of births
 and deaths)
Lawrence County Deaths 1908-1912 (contains all information in original book of births and deaths) Lawrence County Death Records 1920s-1930s
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
1908-1912 Death Records Index for the State of TN
1914-1928 Death Records Index for the State of TN Obituaries From Lawrence County Newspapers
 
TN Vital Records Office
Wills 1829-1847  Marriages taken from the diaries of Blanch Olive Marriages 1818-1838 Adoption Rules &
How to Obtain Access

Cemeteries In Lawrence County

Cemetery Names and Locations

Surnames Index to
Cemetery Books

Allen Cemetery

John Lay Cemetery A-K
John Lay Cemetery L-Z
Old City Cemetery Old Ethridge Cemetery Mt. Ararat Cemetery Norwegian (Zion) Cemetery
Simms Ridge Cemetery Shiloh/LaFan Cemetery County Farm Cemetery Smith Cemetery #3
Nelson Cemetery Pleasant Garden Cemetery Pictures of Lawrence County, Tennessee Cemeteries Baker Cemetery
Cemetery Decoration Days in Law. Co. Find A Grave For Lawrence County, TN Gibbins and Griffin Cemeteries Sexton Cemetery
Old Bethel Cemetery Hughes Cemetery Second Creek Cemetery Powers Cemetery
McLean Cemetery
coming soon
 Tripp Cemetery Sowell Cemetery Brace (Baldwin) Cemetery
Cemetery Records Online at Interment.net Holy Faith Catholic Cemetery
under construction
Emerson Cemetery Pennington Cemetery
Owl Hollow Cemetery Paine Cemetery (soon)    

Bible Records

Alexander Family Bible Alley Family Bible Ashmore Family Bible Bell Family Bible
Benson Family Bible Black Family Bible Buchanan Family Bible  
       
       
       
       
       
       

Deaths & Other Info Taken from Lawrence County Poor Farm Records

Lawrence County Poor Farm
1820-1859 coming soon

     
       
       

African-American Research

1870 People of Color Census

1880 People of Color Census

African-American
School Histories

African-American Obituaries coming soon

African-American News
coming soon

African-American Human Interest Articles
coming soon

1850 Slave Census
under construction

1860 Slaves Census
under construction

African-American Free Men

Information taken from Slave Indentures
coming soon

Colored Confederate Pension Applications at TSLA

 

 

 




 


Other Documents of Interest

George Henry Nixon Manuscripts 1831-1908      
       
       
       

Links to Other Sites of Interest

Lawrence County Genealogical Society TN State Library & Archives Lawrence Co., TNGenWeb Wayne County, TN
Lewis County, TN Giles County, TN  USGenWeb TNGenWeb
Lauderdale Co., AL Maury County, TN Limestone Co., AL Middle Tennessee Genealogical Society
Giles County, TNGenWeb National Archives (NARA)    

Last Updated January 6, 2010 by Kathy Niedergeses