Benton County Genealogical Society

President:	Philip Brandon
Vice President
Secretary:
Treasurer:	Ann Peebles
Editor:	Christa Isom
Associate Editors:	Mike & Linda Stockdale

Twelve Benton County residents met in Camden on April 3, 1986 to discuss the possibility of forming a Benton County Historical Society. The group felt there was much of historical interest in Benton County and an organized historical society would be an ideal vehicle to gather such facts together. This organization’s primary purpose would be the study and preservation of Benton County history in general. Those present at the first meeting were: Mr. And Mrs. Floyd Robins, Mr. And Mrs. Faye Cain, Mr. And Mrs. Ernest J. Sims, Mrs. Marie Phifer, Miss Mavis Jones, Mr. And Mrs. Elton Hatley, Mrs. Christine Palmer and Mr. Guy Wilkerson. A Board of Directors and officers were elected. The Board of Directors were: Faye Cain, John C. Brown, Floyd Robins, Christine Palmer and Joan Hatley. The Officers were: Joan Hatley, Chairperson and Editor; Faye Cain, Vice-Chairperson and Asst. Editor; Frances Sims, Secretary; Mavis Jones, Treasurer; and Floyd Robins Publicity Chairman. The Board and Officers were to prepare a constitution for the organization and present it at the May meeting to the membership for approval. On May 8, 1986 the organization’s constitution was approved. An application to the State of Tennessee for a charter was submitted at which time it was discovered a defunct organization existed with the name Benton County Historical Society. The membership voted to use the name Benton County Genealogical Society and received its charter in July 1986.

The society is a non-profit, non-sectarian, non-political, educational organization dedicated solely to the cause of genealogy, which includes the following purposes: To collect, preserve and make available genealogical materials, documents and records; to encourage an interest in genealogy and to sponsor educational programs for its development; to cooperate with and assist all other genealogical, historical, patriotic societies in the furtherance of these purposes; to compile and publish a quarterly composed of records and dates related to the Science of Genealogy.

The Genealogical Meetings "normally" take place in the Tennessee Room in the Benton County Library. The Meetings start at 6:30pm. Please join us the 4th Thursday of every month. The November meeting is a dutch treat dinner meeting held at one of the local restaurants with a guest speaker. Due to Thanksgiving falling on the 4th Thursday of November the meeting date will be different. Check the home page for Upcoming Events .

Charles Sherrill, Tennessee State Librarian and Archivist, was the guest speaker, and spoke on the abundance of Benton County genealogical and historical records available since Benton County's courthouse or archiving office have never burned.

Dr. David Webb, president of the Henry County, TN Historical Society, was the guest speaker, and he spoke on the "Trail of Tears" Benge route which passed through Benton County and part of Nathan Bedford Forrest State Park.

Jim Long, president of the Middle Tennessee Genealogical Society, was the guest speaker, and he spoke on the recently discovered records in the Archives of Stewart County, TN relative to John "Captain Jack" Hinson.

TN State Representative Steve McDaniel was the guest speaker, and he spoke on the battle, preservation, and restoration of the Parker's Crossroads Battlefield which involved Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest.

Per Calendar Year -- Dues are $25.00 annually and includes the household. All members will receive four issues of the Benton County Genealogical Society Quarterly which is published in March, June, September and December. Back issues can be purchased for $5.00 for any particular Volume/year or $50.00 for the complete 33 Volume set (1989-2021) plus $3.00 S & H per order. The back issues are in PDF and will be sent on a CD or DVD. The complete set requires more than 1 CD and will be written to a DVD disk unless otherwise instructed (see below in Publications).

Members shall be allowed 2 free queries in the quarterly per year; however, additional queries may be submitted and will be used as space is available.

The Benton County Genealogical Society welcomes genealogical material pertaining to Benton County. Occasional articles concerning neighboring counties will be used. Families in our County prior to 1900 are of the most interest, genealogically speaking, so please do not send very recent items. We are especially interested in: Family Bible records (include title page with date the Bible was published if page still exists), courthouse records, old newspaper items, diaries, church records, military records, minister's records, cemetery readings (give location of cemetery and whether or not the listing is complete)

On October 1, 2001, the Benton County Genealogical Society was presented The John H. Thweatt Archival Achievement Award at the Tennessee State Archives in Nashville, TN. The award was for the dedicated work the members of the Benton County Genealogical Society have been doing to preserve the county records, some dating back to 1832. The Benton County Archives is located in a climate controlled room in the basement of the Benton County Library. Shown in the picture are left to right, Dorothy Cain, F.B. Cain, Virginia Whitworth, Dr. Wayne Moore of the Tennessee State Archives, Brenda Griffith, President of the Benton County Genealogical Society receiving the award on behalf of the society and Artie Griffith.

Death Notices From Benton County, Tennessee Newspapers Vol. 5: 1921-1930 is the fifth in a series of books to record the deaths of persons gleaned from extant and current Benton County, Tennessee newspapers. These death notices should provide invaluable genealogical insight for people researching their family roots. Many details are included in these reports which are often left out of the modern obituary, i.e. the cause of death. The death notices in what we would term "old newspapers" are different than those we think of as current day obituaries.

In old newspapers very seldom do you find an obituary in the format as we think of an obituary today. The notice of the passing of a person in old newspapers is generally found in a local correspondent's report to the newspaper, i.e. "(Eva) The body of George Murphy, who was drowned at the Johnsonville Bridge over three months ago was found Thursday at the mouth of Big Sandy River, twenty miles below Danville... .", the report of a shooting, i.e. "Joe Doherty and Alex Lindsey Resisted Arrest and Were Killed. A bloody tragedy occurred in the ninth district Thursday night of last week in which two desperate men, Joe Doherty and Alex Lindsey, were killed...", or "Aunt Patsy Bates... died December 25 - Christmas day. Aunt Patsy was a full blood Indian and was said to be 117 years of age. She claimed that when she was a small girl in Missouri, she was stolen from her parents ... ." Other notices of a person's passing may be in the form of a resolution submitted to the newspaper by a fraternal organization, such as a Masonic Lodge or International Order of Odd Fellows. And maybe this is how the story about money buried in fruit jars in the backyard originated, which was found in Vol. 2 of this series, "The mystery surrounding the hidden treasure of H. R. Reece, who died some two weeks ago at his home near Cuba Landing, has been cleared away by the finding of the money. The snug little sum of $10,645 was found buried a few yards from his blacksmith shop. Over $9,000 was in gold, and it was buried in ordinary fruit jars."

Every effort has been made to transcribe these notices exactly as they appeared in the newspapers, including misspellings, variant spellings and incorrect grammar. This volume contains 220 pages with 994 death notices, 690+ surnames, and 3,740+ names individually indexed.

This book may be purchased individually or as a set (i.e. with Vol. 1, Vol. 2, Vol. 3 and/or Vol. 4). The price for each book is $35.00 plus $8.00 S & H; or if ordered as a set of 2 books $70.00 plus $10.00 S & H; or as a set of 3 books $105.00 plus $12.50 S & H; or as a set of 4 books $140.00 plus $15.00 S & H; or as a set of 5 books $175.00 plus $17.00 S & H if mailed. These books are also available for purchase at the Benton County Library, Camden, TN without the S & H charge.

Orders may be made by sending your check or money order to: The Benton County Genealogical Society, Attn: Book Order, P. O. Box 775, Camden, TN 38320.

Death Notices From Benton County, Tennessee Newspapers Vol. 4: 1911-1920 is the fourth in a series of books to record the deaths of persons gleaned from extant and current Benton County, Tennessee newspapers. These death notices should provide invaluable genealogical insight for people researching their family roots. Many details are included in these reports which are often left out of the modern obituary, i.e. the cause of death. The death notices in what we would term "old newspapers" are different than those we think of as current day obituaries.

Every effort has been made to transcribe these notices exactly as they appeared in the newspapers, including misspellings, variant spellings and incorrect grammar. This volume contains 243 pages with 856+ death notices and 2,385 names individually indexed.

This book may be purchased individually or as a set (i.e. with Vol. 1, Vol. 2, Vol. 3 and/or Vol. 5). The price for each book is $35.00 plus $8.00 S & H; or if ordered as a set of 2 books $70.00 plus $10.00 S & H; or as a set of 3 books $105.00 plus $12.50 S & H; or as a set of 4 books $140.00 plus $15.00 S & H; or as a set of 5 books $175.00 plus $17.00 S & H if mailed. These books are also available for purchase at the Benton County Library, Camden, TN without the S & H charge.

Orders may be made by sending your check or money order to: The Benton County Genealogical Society, Attn: Book Order, P. O. Box 775, Camden, TN 38320.

Death Notices From Benton County, Tennessee Newspapers Vol. 3: 1901-1910 is the third in a series of books to record the deaths of persons gleaned from extant and current Benton County, Tennessee newspapers. These death notices should provide invaluable genealogical insight for people researching their family roots. Many details are included in these reports which are often left out of the modern obituary, i.e. the cause of death. The death notices in what we would term "old newspapers" are different than those we think of as current day obituaries.

In old newspapers very seldom do you find an obituary in the format as we think of an obituary today. The notice of the passing of a person in old newspapers is generally found in a local correspondent’s report to the newspaper, i.e. "(Eva) The body of George Murphy, who was drowned at the Johnsonville Bridge over three months ago was found Thursday at the mouth of Big Sandy River, twenty miles below Danville... .", the report of a shooting, i.e. "Joe Doherty and Alex Lindsey Resisted Arrest and Were Killed. A bloody tragedy occurred in the ninth district Thursday night of last week in which two desperate men, Joe Doherty and Alex Lindsey, were killed... .", or "Aunt Patsy Bates... died December 25 - Christmas day. Aunt Patsy was a full blood Indian and was said to be 117 years of age. She claimed that when she was a small girl in Missouri, she was stolen from her parents... ." Other notices of a person's passing may be in the form of a resolution submitted to the newspaper by a fraternal organization, such as a Masonic Lodge or International Order of Odd Fellows. And maybe this is how the story about money buried in fruit jars in the backyard originated, which was found in Vol. 2 of this series, "The mystery surrounding the hidden treasure of H. R. Reece, who died some two weeks ago at his home near Cuba Landing, has been cleared away by the finding of the money. The snug little sum of $10,645 was found buried a few yards from his blacksmith shop. Over $9,000 was in gold, and it was buried in ordinary fruit jars."

Every effort has been made to transcribe these notices exactly as they appeared in the newspapers, including misspellings, variant spellings and incorrect grammar. This volume contains 206 pages with 678 death notices and 1,476 names individually indexed.

This book may be purchased individually or as a set (i.e. with Vol. 1, Vol. 2, Vol. 4 and/or Vol. 5). The price for each book is $35.00 plus $8.00 S & H; or if ordered as a set of 2 books $70.00 plus $10.00 S & H; or as a set of 3 books $105.00 plus $12.50 S & H; or as a set of 4 books $140.00 plus $15.00 S & H; or as a set of 5 books $175.00 plus $17.00 S & H if mailed. These books are also available for purchase at the Benton County Library, Camden, TN without the S & H charge.

Orders may be made by sending your check or money order to: The Benton County Genealogical Society, Attn: Book Order, P. O. Box 775, Camden, TN 38320.

Death Notices From Benton County, Tennessee Newspapers Vol. 2: 1892-1900 is the second in a series of books to record the deaths of persons gleaned from extant and current Benton County, Tennessee newspapers. These death notices should provide invaluable genealogical insight for people researching their family roots. Many details are included in these reports which are often left out of the modern obituary, i.e. the cause of death. The death notices in what we would term "old newspapers" are different than those we think of as current day obituaries.

In old newspapers very seldom do you find an obituary in the format as we think of an obituary today. The notice of the passing of a person in old newspapers is generally found in a local correspondent's report to the newspaper, i.e. "(Local News) The wife of W. H. Rushing died at her home in the sixth district... .", the report of an accident, i.e. "(Big Sandy) A terrible calamity occurred at the saw mill of... .", a notice of a preacher having performed a funeral service, i.e. "(from Crooked Creek) Rev. W. C. Waters preached the funeral of Fate Akers' little boy... .", or going to perform a funeral service, i.e. "I will preach the funeral service of Susan Stagner at the graveyard … ." Other notices of a person's passing may be in the form of a resolution submitted to the newspaper by a fraternal organization, such as a Masonic Lodge or International Order of Odd Fellows. In at least one instance the following notice is the only recorded information in any newspaper regarding the passing of this person, i.e. "(Camden, 15 Aug 1888) Notice. We have lost or mislaid our Masonic sword. The last that was seen of it was at the funeral services of N. E. Findley on the 23^rd of December last. Any information as to its whereabouts will be gladly received by the fraternity."

Every effort has been made to transcribe these notices exactly as they appeared in the newspapers, including misspellings, variant spellings and incorrect grammar. This volume contains 194 pages with 607 death notices and 1,167 names individually indexed.

This book may be purchased individually or as a set (i.e. with Vol. 1, Vol. 3, Vol. 4 and/or Vol. 5). The price for each book is $35.00 plus $8.00 S & H; or if ordered as a set of 2 books $70.00 plus $10.00 S & H; or as a set of 3 books $105.00 plus $12.50 S & H; or as a set of 4 books $140.00 plus $15.00 S & H; or as a set of 5 books $175.00 plus $17.00 S & H if mailed. These books are also available for purchase at the Benton County Library, Camden, TN without the S & H charge.

Orders may be made by sending your check or money order to: The Benton County Genealogical Society, Attn: Book Order, P. O. Box 775, Camden, TN 38320.

Death Notices From Benton County, Tennessee Newspapers Vol. 1: 1876-1891 is the first in a series of books to record the deaths of persons gleaned from extant and current Benton County, Tennessee newspapers. These death notices should provide invaluable genealogical insight for people researching their family roots. Many details are included in these reports which are often left out of the modern obituary, i.e. the cause of death. The death notices in what we would term "old newspapers" are different than those we think of as current day obituaries.

In old newspapers very seldom do you find an obituary in the format as we think of an obituary today. The notice of the passing of a person in old newspapers is generally found in a local correspondent's report to the newspaper, i.e. "(Local News) The wife of W. H. Rushing died at her home in the sixth district... .", the report of an accident, i.e. "(Big Sandy) A terrible calamity occurred at the saw mill of... .", a notice of a preacher having performed a funeral service, i.e. "(from Crooked Creek) Rev. W. C. Waters preached the funeral of Fate Akers' little boy... .", or going to perform a funeral service, i.e. "I will preach the funeral service of Susan Stagner at the graveyard... ." Other notices of a person's passing may be in the form of a resolution submitted to the newspaper by a fraternal organization, such as a Masonic Lodge or International Order of Odd Fellows. In at least one instance the following notice is the only recorded information in any newspaper regarding the passing of this person, i.e. "(Camden, 15 Aug 1888) Notice. We have lost or mislaid our Masonic sword. The last that was seen of it was at the funeral services of N. E. Findley on the 23^rd of December last. Any information as to its whereabouts will be gladly received by the fraternity."

Every effort has been made to transcribe these notices exactly as they appeared in the newspapers, including misspellings, variant spellings and incorrect grammar. This volume contains 206 pages with 567 death notices and 1,175 names individually indexed.

This book may be purchased individually or as a set (i.e. with Vol. 2, Vol. 3, Vol. 4 and/or Vol. 5). The price for each book is $35.00 plus $8.00 S & H; or if ordered as a set of 2 books $70.00 plus $10.00 S & H; or as a set of 3 books $105.00 plus $12.50 S & H; or as a set of 4 books $140.00 plus $15.00 S & H; or as a set of 5 books $175.00 plus $17.00 S & H if mailed. These books are also available for purchase at the Benton County Library, Camden, TN without the S & H charge.

Orders may be made by sending your check or money order to: The Benton County Genealogical Society, Attn: Book Order, P. O. Box 775, Camden, TN 38320.

Have you misplaced an issue of the Benton County Genealogical Society's Quarterly or loaned one to a friend without it ever being returned? Maybe you are a relatively new member and would love to have copies of all the back issues. In the past back issues were available for purchase ($3.00 per issue) while supplies lasted; however, many issues were no longer available.

All issues (Vol. 1 - 1989 to Vol. 33 - 2021) of the Quarterly have been scanned and are now available on CD or DVD in PDF format. You can do a word or name search of each issue, print the individual page or article you are interested in, store the issues on your computer or just read them from the disk. The cost is $5.00 for any particular Volume/year or $50.00 for the complete 33 Volume set plus $3.00 S & H per order. The complete set requires more than 1 CD and will be written to a DVD disk unless otherwise instructed.

Orders may be made by specifying the volume(s) or year(s) or a complete set and sending your check or money order to: The Benton County Genealogical Society, Attn: Back Issues BCGQ, P. O. Box 775, Camden, TN 38320. For additional information write the above address or email: editor.bcgq@gmail.com

This book covers all wills found from the formation of the county to 1910. It is 8.5 x 11 inches in size, 223 pages, contains over 225 wills and an every name index of approximately 2200 names. The price of the book is ~~$30.00~~ $20.00 plus $5.00 S&H if mailed. Locally, copies can be picked up at the Benton County Library for ~~$30.00~~ $20.00 .

To place mail orders please send your check or money order to: The Benton County Genealogical Society, Attn: Will Book Order, P.O. Box 775, Camden, TN 38320. For additional information write the above address or email: editor.bcgq@gmail.com

was published in 2005. It contains over 200 photos with captions for each, 55 of these are churches, including the Mt. Zion Baptist Church which was on the National Historic Registerand was destoyed by arson some years ago. Many other buildings which no longer exist are included such as the rock shelter that was at Nathan Bedford State Park. The front cover is sepia tone of the courthouse in 1890 with a crowd of people gathered in front of it. The book is 6.5 x 9.25 in size with 128 pages, most pages have 2 photos on them and many photos are from a collection of Big Sandy photos. Price is $20.00 plus $4.00 S&H if mailed or pick up at the library for $20.00

To place mail orders please send your check or money order to: The Benton County Genealogical Society, Attn: Images of America, P.O. Box 775, Camden, TN 38320. For additional information write the above address or email: editor.bcgq@gmail.com

by Jonathan Smith. Softbound book, containing 192 pages including surname index. Mr. Smith generously allowed the Benton County Genealogical Society to reprint this book, from the 1976 printing. When he published it originally he only did a few copies and they mostly went to libraries. We believe this is the first time it has been available to the public to purchase.