Books by Mary Sue Smith

This abstract continues the personal property deed book abstracts for Davidson County, Tennessee in the 1830s and is especially important in tracing African American ancestry in early middle Tennessee. It gives ownership of slaves and relationships in both white and black families. These personal property deeds of the 1830s may provide the link between the family in Mississippi, Texas, California or Illinois with the older generation in Virginia or North Carolina. They are one of the few types of records that name the women and children as well as give the names and ages of the slave families. They may contain the only official entry to make the conclusive link in a period when many of the wills only say "my beloved wife and all my children," and when the will provides no information on the black family. The entries are in chronological order and are fully indexed.

This is the third volume of Tennessee deed book records abstracted and indexed by Mary Sue Smith. There are no Federal censuses in existence for Tennessee prior to 1820, with the exception of 1810 for Rutherford County. These Tennessee deed records are remarkably informative, often including full names, family relations, and more complete information on slave transactions, such as the full names and even maiden names of buyers, sellers, former owners and inheritors. In many cases, family migrations are noted providing additional geographic clues for directing further research. Ms. Smith has preserved the "feel" of the deeds by retaining the spelling and language peculiarities of the original documents, particularly in those entries that contain estate inventories. Entries are dated and arranged in the order that they were recorded in the deed book, with a citation to the original page where they can be found. Freemen are denoted in the index by an asterisk.

Tennessee genealogists and historians will revere this text. Its information has been taken from the original Davidson County deed books. The work includes transcripts of deeds and new indexes of the data. Such a text as this, however, was needed because the original index is arranged solely by the names each transaction was registered under. In most cases, many more names lie within the body of the document. The author of this book has endeavored to make every recorded name accessible, via index, to aid the researcher. These records identify family members (and relationships) for both white and black families in Davidson County between 13 February 1829 and 27 August 1835, a time when the census identified only the white "head of household;" a time when many wills identified only the husband, leaving his property "to my beloved wife and children;" a time when there was no other record for the slave family. The book's index listing refers to the original deed book page entry. Included are the deed records, whose inventories of personal property give a truly unique picture of the society of the day. Indexes cover first and last names, slave names, and places.

The legal records abstracted in this volume of entries from the Superior Court of Law and Equity Mero District of Tennessee cover all of early middle Tennessee from the years 1803 to 1805 and pre-date any surviving census of the region which makes them all the more valuable to genealogists and historians. By providing details, which are grounded in fact and official records, they contribute depth and substance to our understanding of daily life in early America. Debts and divorces, domestic and business disputes as well as more heinous misdeeds like forgery, robbery and murder are described briefly and the results of these proceedings are given in straight-forward paragraphs which supply names, and when given, the occupations of those parties involved. Hundreds of surnames, indexed for easy reference, are available in this book, and many of the people named may not be found in other existing documents. Mentioned frequently among the records is Andrew Jackson in the role of judge, witness, plaintiff and defendant. Some of the legal outcomes are unpredictable and perhaps foreshadow the future with their surprising resolutions. These early legal abstracts offer a unique perspective on the first settlers of America who, while struggling to survive in a rough and uncertain landscape, looked to old traditions of law and order to help define their new society. Perhaps this is why so many of them, memorialized in lists in this book, traveled over 200 miles to fulfill their obligation of jury duty. Now you can share the details of legal matters that they were willing to journey so far to hear.