cocke county,
tennessee
 Cocke County is located in East Tennessee, one of the state’s three “Grand Divisions.” Cocke County was formed in 1797 from part of Jefferson County. It is bordered by the following counties: Greene, Hamblen, Jefferson, Sevier, and Haywood Co., NC and Madison Co., NC. Newport is the county seat. |
From Ramsey's Annals of Tennessee, 1853, regarding the county's founder:
"Cocke county was named for Gen. William Cocke, a native of Virginia, and an emigrant to Holston. He has been repeatedly mentioned as having participated in the military, civil, legislative and Judiciary services of Virginia, North-Carolina, Franklin and Tennessee, where he was known as an efficient and zealous officer, from his debut at Long Island, to his seat in the United States Senate, which he held for twelve years. He will be seen, thereafter, as one of the Circuit Judges for Tennessee. A member of her Legislature at the commencement of the Creek war in September, 1813, after assisting to pass an act to authorize an augmentation of the forces to march against the Creeks, and to protect the defenseless settlers in the most exposed part of the Mississippi Territory, and repel invasion, he, at the rise of the Legislature, though above sixty years of age, and before visiting his home in East Tennessee, volunteered his service as a private in that war, and acted therein most bravely and usefully. He was afterwards appointed United States Agent to the Chickasaws. He afterwards settled in Mississippi, and represented his county in its legislature. In private life, he was most hospitable and benevolent."
ANNOUNCEMENTS!
Leslie Husky Cozart of Friends of the Stokely Memorial Library informs us that Duay O’Neal has finished a compilation of Cocke County Cemeteries, two big volumes. They are available through the Library. See the library's page for details.
We have recently added Cocke County cemetery relocations, for burials that were affected by the 1942 TVA Douglas Reservoir project. Thank you to Knox Co. Cemetery Historian Robert McGinnis for sharing this resource.
Carole Thomason, the Hamblen Co. TNGenWeb coordinator, is a descendant of William Cocke. Please visit the Cocke page she has created to learn more about William Cocke, his contributions to Tennessee history, and the family line.
We are in need of documents collected from outside Cocke County pertaining to the area before the 1879 courthouse fire which destroyed all county records.
On Dec 30, 1876, a fire destroyed the Cocke County courthouse, taking with it all the records. (All except old deed book #17, which a lawyer had taken home to work on a case.) With those records went much of the information that we researchers need to piece together our family trees.
But not all the information is lost. In addition to old deed book #17, there were records that did not belong to the county that survive. These include church records, military records, state records, and even records in other counties and state that refer to Cocke County.
The purpose of this page is to serve as a central repository for information from all sources about Cocke County and its people from before the courthouse fire. If you have information to contribute, please submit it to the site co-hosts with as much data as possible, including the document's date, names involved, and a brief abstract. This will help other researchers find their Cocke County roots “BEFORE THE FIRE”.
If you would like credit and are willing to share other data you might have concerning Cocke County, please submit your name, email address, and the type of data you have to:
| COCKE COUNTY HISTORY | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Goodspeed’s
History of Cocke County |
Goodspeed’s
History of Cocke County Biographies |
Cocke
County History, Topography and Migrations Route |
|
Ramsey's
Annals of Tennessee Index and Appendix |
Cocke
County Museum
|
1821 Tennessee Map |
|
Cocke County Connections Old Newspaper Articles A Blog by Phillip Walker |
TN Encyclopedia of History and Culture Cocke County |
Early Cocke County Officials |
| National Register of Historical
Places Cocke County |
The Lost State of Franklin History Petition |
History of Cocke County from Chamber of Commerce online |
| American
Local History Network |
American
History and Genealogy Project |
Tennessee
Special History Projects |
| Smokey
Mountain Historical Society |
Cocke Co. History & Genealogy TSLA Fact Sheet |
East
Tennessee Historical Society |
| WPA
Guide to TN History NEW! |
East
Tennessee Roots Newsletter NEW! |
|
|
COCKE
COUNTY RECORDS Includes data collected before the 1876 courthouse fire |
|
FAMILY
HISTORIES
Cocke County Families Submit yours! |
| QUERIES, LISTS AND MESSAGE BOARDS | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Cocke
County Query Board REQUIRES FREE REGISTRATION |
Cocke County Mailing List |
Cocke
Message Board Genforum |
|
Lookup
and
Research Help UPDATED! |
Cocke
Co TNGENWEB Query Board TEMPORARILY UNAVAILABLE |
Rootsweb Mailing lists |
|
Cocke County Queries 1996 to 2000 Indexed by dates and names UPDATED! |
Individuals
researching Cocke County Surnames A to L M to Z |
SUBMIT
YOUR SURNAMES OF INTEREST AND CONNECT WITH OTHER RESEARCHERS |
Thanks for dropping by and come back soon!
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This page last updated on 10/05/09 and has been visited 34030 times since August 2007.
