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.
Mary Sue Smith
(1994), 2010, 5½x8½, paper, 394 pp.