Tennessee genealogy records

Births and deaths

Tennessee first required death records in 1908. That law expired at the end of 1912, and the law passed in 1913 to replace it, calling for more detailed certificates, did not take effect until 1914. Because no one was charged with keeping death records in between, TSLA calls 1913 a "dead year" for Tennessee death certificates. TSLA's statewide birth records likewise cover 1908 to 1912 and resume in 1914.

In January 2026 the Department of Health's Office of Vital Records released births for 1925 and deaths, marriages and divorces for 1975 to TSLA, to be opened to the public there after processing. For anything newer, write to the Office of Vital Records.

TSLA has free name indexes. The 1908 to 1912 index covers nearly 98,000 deaths; those early certificates do not give parents' names, but they do give age, occupation, birthplace and cause of death. A second index covers 1914 to 1933. TSLA notes that some deaths were never recorded, that certificates in this period were filled out by funeral directors, so a burial in a family cemetery with no funeral home may have no certificate, and that a Tennessean who died in another state has no Tennessee certificate.

TSLA also holds delayed birth certificates for people born from 1869 to 1925, filed later at the person's request for legal reasons, and it will check its index for a name.

City records before 1908

The four largest cities kept their own records earlier. Births were recorded in Memphis from 1874, Chattanooga from 1879, and Nashville and Knoxville from 1881. Deaths were recorded in Memphis from 1848, Chattanooga from 1872, Nashville from 1874 and Knoxville from 1881. Only some of these are indexed: TSLA names the early Nashville birth and death records and the Memphis death records. Davidson County, outside Nashville, kept its own death records from 1900 to 1913, and many of those names are not in the 1908 to 1912 state index.

Marriages and divorces

Tennessee counties were not required to keep marriages in bound books until 1838, though many did earlier. The county court clerk usually wrote only the names of the bride and groom, the minister or justice of the peace, and sometimes the bondsman. Some counties began listing the parents of the couple in the 1880s, others not until the mid 1920s.

For marriages from 1780 to 1861, TSLA has a published list of surviving records and will check it by email at no charge. From 1861 to June 30, 1945, marriages are only in each county's records, with no statewide index. From July 1, 1945 to December 31, 1975 there is a statewide index arranged by the groom's name; for marriages from 1976, write to the Office of Vital Records.

Divorce had to be approved by the General Assembly in Tennessee's early years. You can search the Acts of Tennessee from 1796 to 1850 for a name, and TSLA can copy the act for a fee and check whether a legislative petition survives. Later divorces are in county court minutes: after 1834, a divorce with a property dispute was heard in chancery court, and one without in circuit court. TSLA has a statewide divorce index for July 1, 1945 to December 31, 1975.

Census records

Tennessee's early federal census is badly broken. The National Archives has no schedules for Tennessee in 1790 or 1800, and for 1810 only Rutherford County survives. In 1820, the schedules for 22 counties are missing, among them Knox, Greene, Washington, Sullivan, Hawkins, Jefferson and Blount. For families in those counties, 1830 may be the first surviving federal census that names them, so use tax lists and land grants to fill the earlier years.

Land grants

Tennessee land records begin under North Carolina. When North Carolina took control of its lands in 1777, all of the settled part of what is now Tennessee was Washington County, North Carolina, and the grants for those lands were issued in North Carolina. After an 1806 agreement gave Tennessee the right to issue grants, its agents found the records had been taken to North Carolina in a land fraud case and had to copy them there.

Those copies, with Tennessee's own grants and entry and survey books, are in TSLA's Record Group 50, on microfilm. TSLA's North Carolina and early Tennessee land records from 1753 to 1931, and Revolutionary War land warrants from 1783 to 1843, are indexed and scanned on Ancestry, and Tennessee residents can see them free through the Tennessee Electronic Library.

Asking TSLA for copies

TSLA searches its records for a fee and mails or emails a copy if one is found. For a death record, give the person's name, the date of death or a three-year range, the county if known, and the spouse's name if known. For a birth record, give the child's name, the date or approximate date, the county if known and the parents' names. Check spelling variations first: the indexes list some children only as "Infant of" a parent and some wives under the husband's name, such as Adams, James (Mrs).