Stewart County History

Stewart County Archives

The Stewart County Archives is now accepting requests, by mail, for photocopies of its great holdings. The Archives is not yet open to the public. Besides having many of the original record books from the courthouse, some of which have not been microfilmed, they also have the entirety of the Circuit Court's loose papers, dating back to 1810 or earlier. These thousands of loose papers were the evidence presented in civil and criminal court cases, ranging from IOUs, summons, depositions, deeds and divorce petitions, to original wills. They had not been touched, in some cases, in nearly 200 years until the Archives' volunteer staff unwrapped, cleaned and organized them. Not a single paper has been microfilmed. These papers often contain genealogical and historical information that can't be found in the courthouse record books or anywhere else. And if your ancestor was involved in one of the court cases, there's a fine chance that one of the loose papers will contain your ancestor's actual signature (or their "X"), instead of what you see in the courthouse books - in the clerk's handwriting. Inventory of Archives Holdings Available for Request  (last updated September 12, 2009) The Archives' fee schedule is $7.00 plus 25 cents per printed page. The Inventory link above will indicate how many pages are in each file, so you'll know the total cost before you place your request. Requests for copies, and a check payable to Stewart County Archives, can be sent to: Stewart County Archives P. O. Box 367 Dover, TN 37058 At this time, the Archives is not staffed to handle general requests like, "Do you have anything on file for my ancestor?" They're only able to accept requests on the documents identified in the Inventory link above. The Archives is on a shoe-string budget. In addition to income generated from providing copies of its holdings, donations are warmly welcome! The staff only works part-time, on a volunteer basis, so please be patient when you mail in your requests. If the Archives is successful at raising money from mail-in requests, they may one day be able to open their doors to the public for research visits, too.

Stewart County Virtual Museum

Click on the link above to tour our Virtual Museum, a collection of photographs of Stewart County events and artifacts, contributed by our Stewart County Genealogy Mailing List members.

Goodspeed's History (published 1880's)
Furnaces	Mills & Cotton	County Creation	Military History	Schools
Early Settlement	Slave Insurrection	Courts & Records	Early Cities	Churches

Other Stewart County History helps:
1803 Petitioners to form Stewart County	1803 Act forming the county	Stewart County Timeline	Settlements	Stewart Countians in the Revolutionary War
War of 1812	Stewart County and the Civil War	1865 Maps of Stewart County	Stewart Countians in The Great War	Depression Years
Early History of Middle Tennessee By Edward Albright, 1908 (1909)	Between the Rivers website	Life and Times of Elder Reuben Ross (for life in early Stewart Co.)	List of Rolling Mills, Forges & Furnaces

Stewart County Historical Places and Faces Photo Album:
Bear Springs Furnace	Great Western Furnace	Surrender House	Cumberland River
Mt. Zion Church	Ft. Donelson Cemetery

Stewart County Ancestors

Stewart County Research

Ask Jim Do you have questions about HOW to do Stewart County research? WHERE to find information? How to decipher what you DO find? Then click on the Ask Jim link above, and send your question in to someone who's been around the courthouse a few times. NOTE: This page is about general research, not specific persons. If you want to ask about specific people, please post a query.

Note: Looking for volunteer transcribers! If you have public records you want on the site and are willing to either furnish copies of the records or transcribe, please e-mail!

Stewart County Bulletin Board

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