Hawkins County was created in 1786 from Sullivan County, Tennessee, which was carved originally out of Washington County, Tennessee which was in turn carved out of Wilkes and Burke counties, North Carolina. This area of Eastern Tennessee received a large influx of persons migrating West in search of new lands. Most of these early settlers were from North Carolina and Virginia, with a sprinkling from Pennsylvania. Hawkins county sits on the border with Virginia. More appropriately, directly under Washington County, Virginia which was considered the gateway to the West through western Virginia.
Circuit court records are another unique source for tracing those elusive family members. The type of records found within this book are: petitions for divorce, breach of peace, assault and battery, guardianship, horse stealing, indictments for murders, indictments for larceny, bigamy charges, oaths relating to service in Revolutionary War, deeds of gifts, possession of counterfeit money, and many, many other juicy tidbits of information concerning persons of Eastern Tennessee that are not found anywhere else.
Silas Emmett Lucas, Jr. and Ella Sheffield
176 pp.
ISBN: 9780893083472
117-TN47
