Tennessee’s Second Surveyors’ District
Survey Abstracts
Southern Middle Tennessee
© Fred and Patty Smoot 2003



      In 1807, the State of Tennessee opened for settlement three Districts (First, Second, and Third) in what is now Middle Tennessee and some others in East Tennessee. Here we present abstracts of the first 1,808 surveys for the Second District, or, Volumes A, B, and C, 1807-1809. Please note that there are many more recordings in these Second District books. The last survey is numbered 9,091.
      There were three steps to obtain “perfect title” to a tract of land: entry, survey, and grant. Under normal circumstances, the entry, survey, and grant should all contain the same physical description (the calls) of the tract involved. Once granted, the tract could be sold, gifted, or passed on through probate. To see more about land, please visit Red Banks or Browntown, an Exercise in Research.
      Surveys are interesting in that they are recorded not only with the written description of the tract but also a plat (a drawing) of the boundaries of the tract. Additionally, when the Deputy Surveyor turned in the survey to be recorded, he would often turn in a bundle of surveys at the same time. Seemingly, the clerk would usually record all the surveys close together and this could prove useful for researchers to find adjoining tracts, especially since the 1810 censuses for Middle Tennessee are missing.

Table of Contents

      Abbreviations Used in Our Survey Abstracts

      Surveys, Volume A, Nos. 1-620, 1807 & 1808. (248k)
               Index, Volume A

      Surveys, Volume B, Nos. 621-1035, 1808. (158k)
               Index, Volume B

      Surveys, Volume C, Nos. 1036-1808, 1808 & 1809. (314k)
               Index, Volume C



NOTES:
            Thanks to Norman T. McGee who converted the original database of our abstracts to MS/Access; thanks to Spence F. Burton (Webmaster, SCGS) who converted the Access file to HTML after our hard drive crash; and thanks to Brenda Hare who created the indices for Volumes A, B & C.