Hawkins County, TN Guidebook

Hawkins County Guidebook

The Guidebook is in PDF format and is 30 MB in size. You may view it here or download it and print it out.

http://www.therogersvillereview.com/guidebook

 

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Find What You're Looking for in Knox County, TN

Knox County Archives

Mission Statement

The purpose of the Knox County Archives is to receive, process, and preserve the non-current, permanent records created by the Knox County, Tennessee government from 1792 to the present. The Knox County Archives provides information on the origins and history of the court systems, court records, genealogy, and history of Knox County, Tennessee. The Archives provides public access to all holdings, with the exception of juvenile records and those restricted by Tennessee laws. It provides local government source material to court officials, genealogists, legal professionals, historians, and the general public.

A long list of records available follows here:

http://knoxrooms.sirsi.net/rooms/portal/page/21590_Knox_County_Archives




History

Knox County was created on June 11, 1792 by Governor William Blount from parts of Greene and Hawkins counties, and has the distinction of being one of only eight counties created during territorial administration. It is one of nine United States counties named for Revolutionary War general and first United States Secretary of War Henry Knox. Parts of Knox County later became Blount (1795), Anderson (1801), Roane (1801), and Union (1850) counties.

In 1786 James White built a fort five miles below the junction of the French Broad and Holston Rivers on the southernmost edge of frontier settlement in present-day East Tennessee. William Blount, governor of the Territory of the United States South of the River Ohio, selected the site of James White's Fort as the territorial capital in 1791. He gave it the name Knoxville in honor of his direct superior as territorial governor, Revolutionary War hero General Henry Knox (1750-1806), who served as the first U.S. Secretary of War from 1785 to 1794.

Governor Blount designated Knoxville as the capital of the Territory South of the River Ohio from 1791 to 1796. Knoxville also served as the capital of the State of Tennessee from 1796 to 1812, with the exception of one day in 1807, when the legislature met in Kingston to fulfill a treaty obligation with the Cherokee, and briefly again in 1817-18. Frontier leader General John Sevier, a resident of Knox County, served as governor of Tennessee from 1796 to 1801 and 1803 to 1809, most of Knoxville's years as the state capital. Since no state capitol building was constructed until 1845, when work began on the capitol building in Nashville, the general assembly met in taverns and public buildings. The William Blount Mansion (1792), the home of Territorial Governor Blount, is the most historically significant dwelling surviving in Knox County from the pre-statehood era. It is the only National Historic Landmark in the county.

Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knox_County,_Tennessee

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Hidden treasures discovered in search of Hawkins records

Published 05/06/2006 By JEFF BOBO


Hawkins County Archivist Jack Goins and volunteers with the Hawkins County Records Commission are in the process of sorting tons of historic documents that have been stored in the basement of the 170-year old Hawkins County Courthouse. David Grace photo.

ROGERSVILLE - It's always been assumed that historical documents dating back to the 1700s that were stored in the basement of the 170-year-old Hawkins County Courthouse had been picked through by treasure hunters looking for signatures of presidents and other valuable records.

If there were treasure hunters pilfering the courthouse basement in the past, they missed a few hidden treasures, which volunteers with the Hawkins County Records Commission have uncovered during its first year and a half of existence.

The Records Commission is in the process of preserving, copying, indexing and storing tons of documents dating from 1790 to 1930.

Probably the most valuable treasure discovered thus far is a land grant in Hawkins County for a man named Thomas Rogers which was signed by President James Monroe in 1820.

Hawkins County Archivist Jack Goins, who is overseeing the Records Commission's document preservation effort, said he's found similar James Monroe documents for sale on eBay. Such a document has been selling for prices beginning at $1,500.

This document won't be going up for sale on eBay, Goins added. It has been framed and is hanging on the wall in the Records Commission office in Rogersville.

Also hanging on the wall at the Records Commission are two other Hawkins County land grants for a man named Samuel Riggs which were signed in 1857 by then Tennessee governor and future President Andrew Johnson.

Another interesting land grant found among the courthouse documents was signed around 1820 by former Tennessee governor and Rogersville resident Joseph McMinn, who served in office from 1815-1821.

All four grants came to be stored in the courthouse basement because they were later used as evidence in court cases.

Much of the other historical finds would probably only be of interest to county or regional history buffs. For example, there were photos of Main Street Rogersville taken in 1922 discovered among evidence that was used when Rogersville sued the Cumberland Telephone and Telegraph Co. for damages caused to the street when telephone poles were installed.

Full Article Here:

http://www.timesnews.net/article.php?id=3631211