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Tennessee Department of State

Genealogical "Fact Sheets" About Tennessee Counties

White County

White County

White County was formed in 1806 from
Jackson and Smith counties
(Acts of Tennessee 1806, Chapter 36).

The county seat is Sparta.


SELECTED PUBLISHED COUNTY HISTORIES

  • Heritage of White County, 1806-1999  (White County Heritage Book Committee, 1999)*
  • History of a Pioneer Church [Macedonia Baptist Church] (England, 1969?)
  • History of Tennessee From the Earliest Time to the Present : Together with an Historical and a Biographical Sketch of Cannon, Coffee, Dekale [sic], Warren, White (Goodspeed, 1979)
  • History of White County, Tennessee (Seals, 1974)
  • Memorable Historical Accounts of White County and Area  (Rogers,  1972)
  • Pictorial History of Sparta-White County, Tennessee (First National Bank, Sparta, Tennessee, 1984)
  • Pioneers of White County, Tennessee (Phillips, 2003)*
  • Schools of White County Tennessee 1806-2006 (White County Teachers' Association, 2006)
  • White County, Tennessee in a Nut-shell (White County (Tenn.) Immigration Bureau, 19??)*

Additional county and community histories can be found at the Bibliography of Tennessee Local History Sources:  White County. The items in the bibliography may not all be available at TSLA.  

 

PUBLISHED LOCAL RECORDS


  • 1880 Census, White County, Tennessee (Sistler, 1999)*
  • Cemeteries of White County, Tennessee [3 vols.] (Clark, 1995)*
  • Cookeville-Sparta Tennessee Polk City Directory : Including the Following Communities : Baxter, Bloomington Springs, Buffalo Valley, Cookeville, (2002, 2003)
  • Fred Clark Book of Cemeteries of White County, Tennessee [2 vols.] (White County Genealogical-Historical Society, 2003)*
  • History of White County, Index  (Kirkeminde,  1982?)
  • Minute Book, 1806-1820 [vol. 1-2  1806-1811 & 1811-1812;   vol. 3  1812-1814;   vol. 4  1814-1817 (in 2 pts.);    vol. 6  1819-1820] (WPA, 1938-40)
  • Minutes of the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions [vol. 1 1817-1819; vol. 2 1820-1823 (in 2 pts.); vol. 3 1824-1827 (in 3 pts.)] (WPA, 1940-41)
  • Name Index to History of Tennessee ... Together with ... Sketch of the Counties of White, Warren, Coffee, DeKalb and Cannon (Marsh, 1972)
  • Private Acts of White County, Tennessee (McIntyre, 1994)
  • United States Census White County, Tennessee 1850 (Lindstrom, 1991)*
  • White County Marriage Records. Part of Book I, January 11, 1859 to June 11, 1881 (Rhinehart, 1985)*
  • White County Tennessee, 1870 Federal Census USA (McComb, 1990)
  • White County, Tennessee, Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions, 1835-1841 [2 vols.] (WPA, 1941)
  • White County, Tennessee Death Records, 1926-1935 (Freeman, 2004?)
  • White County, Tennessee Death Records, 1936-1945 (Freeman, 2003?)
  • White County, Tennessee Deed Abstracts [vol. 1 1801-1820; vol. 2 1820-1834] (Murray, 1992-1995)*
  • White County, Tennessee, Inventories and Old Wills, 1831-1840 (WPA, 1936)
  • White County, Tennessee, Inventories and Will Book, A, 1810-1828 (WPA, 1936)
  • White County, Tennessee, Minute Book, 1820 (WPA, 1936)
  • White County, Tennessee, Oldest Marriage Book, 1809-1859 (Mitchell & Doliante, 1977)*
  • White County, Tennessee, Vital Statistics, 1914 Through 1925 (Wiefering, 1995)*
  • White County's G.I. Honor Roll Book : The Army, Navy, Coast Guard, and Marine Corps (1946)

 

LOCAL RECORDS ON MICROFILM 

An inventory of microfilmed White County records is available on our web site.  Individual reels of microfilm may also be purchased.   

Earliest records include:

  • marriages from 1838
  • wills from 1806
  • deed index from 1809
  • chancery court minutes from 1842
  • county court minutes from 1806
  • circuit court minutes from 1859
  • tax books from 1811

 

The following reels are available on interlibrary loan from TSLA:

  • Deed Index -- 1809-1925 (#59, 1 reel)*
  • Inventories -- 1841-1942 (#37, 1 reel)*
  • Marriage records -- 1838-1910 (#40, 1 reel)*
  • Settlements and Wills -- 1810-1828 (#151, 1 reel)*
  • Settlements and Wills -- 1831-1893 (#53, 1 reel)*
  • WPA Records, White County (Record Group #107, Roll 89, 1 reel). Roll includes Inventories & Will Book A (1810-1828), Inventories & Will Book B [not complete] (1831-1840),  County Court Minute Book (1806-1811 & 1812-1814), County Court Minute Book, pts. 1 & 2 (1814-1817) and Court of Pleas & Quarter Sessions, Minutes (1817-1819).*

 

NEWSPAPERS ON MICROFILM 

Newspapers were published in Bon Air and Sparta.  Scattered early issues are available from 1820, and a complete run begins in 1967.  Microfilms are loaned to Tennessee libraries.  Individual reels may also be purchased.  An Inventory of Newspapers on Microfilm at TSLA is available on our web site.  

 

SELECTED MANUSCRIPTS MATERIAL

 

CENSUS RECORDS

  • Census on microfilm for White County:  1820-1880, 1900-1930
  • State-wide census index:  1820-1880
  • State-wide census index on microfilm  (Soundex):  1880,  1900-1930
  • White County census records in book form:  1850*,  1870,  1880*

 

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES FOR WHITE COUNTY

 

* Indicates this title may be borrowed on Interlibrary Loan from TSLA.

 

 

Updated November 7, 2008