The information below is from a defunct Web site called “The Atterson/Auterson Connection,” created by Mark & Linda Atterson in the late 1990’s.  It is available via the Internet Archive, but many links no longer function properly.

The Attersons have a Family Tree Maker site on-line as well.  The tree contains a tremendous number of surnames identified with Tennessee, but there is no indication of whether the information has been updated since Genealogy.com stopped providing sites.  Click here to view the Family Tree Maker site.

Text from the Atterson page:

I began to take my family research seriously about 18 years ago. My sister Cathy began much earlier. We appreciate everyone’s support in this very important endeavor. My personal goal was not only to find out more about my father and mother because they died so young, but to also clear up a few misconceptions about the family name as well as make contact with interested family members.

I discovered, as far as our direct line, the names “ATTERSON” and “AUTTERSON” are in fact mistranslations of “AUTERSON”. The evolution of the name OUTERSON and OTTERSON is quite interesting. Records indicate that my 2nd Great Grandfather Caleb, 3rd Great Grandfather Malachi, and my 4th Great Grandfather Caleb possibly went by “OTTERSON.” My 4th Great Grandfather signed one document using an “O” rather than the typical “X” you would normally see. There is no evidence we are of Swedish ancestry as some have believed and unfortunately published as fact.

Research has proven otherwise and it is more of a probability we are of Irish/English descent. The Auterson and Otterson families that exist today in England and Ireland have done extensive research showing a few branches of the family escaping to the Virginia and North Carolina colonies from a severe famine of the early 1700’s. It is interesting that a Joseph and Mary “OTTERSON” were living in Princess Anne County and the Elizabeth City area of Virginia in the early 1720’s. This area is only within 60 to 70 miles north of Craven and Pitt Counties, North Carolina and these Virgina Ottersons are the ones I believe my direct ancestor Caleb originated from.

Hopefully, one day we will find the answer and a definite connection to our Irish and English friends. In the meantime, the search continues. My 2nd great Grandfather Caleb Auterson’s sons included William J. Auterson who took his family out west. He is the ancestor of Autersons in Texas, Washington, Missouri, Oklahoma and Arkansas. John Benjamin “Ben” Auterson, who is the ancestor of the Auterson and Atterson families in Tennessee, Indiana, Illinois, Virginia, and West Virginia, and Henry Auterson who is the ancestor of the Atterson, Auterson, and Autterson families in Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky.

Caleb and Sofia’s daughters included two unknowns who may have died before 1850, then Betsey Elizabeth who married Zed EDWARDS, Alvina who married James VILES or VOILES and then William VOILES, father of Penelopie the wife of her brother Henry Auterson, and finally Martha Jane who married James A. SHELTON. The Caleb and Sofia Auterson/Atterson family lived in Fentress County, Tennessee, from at least 1848.

My Great Grandparents, Ben and Dicie Jane Owens-Auterson, are listed in the 1880 Fentress County Federal census. There is evidence they were in the area until at least 1885. Visit our family web site for a number of connected families. If you have family information or pictures you would like to share please contact us. Please, don’t just come to take!!

Let’s encourage other family members to join us in our family reunions. Mary Ann Bryant really brought that message home! There is nothing like seeing members of our own family from all over the country. Those that can’t make it have no idea of the marvelous people they have missed! It is in this regard that we will have two reunions next year. One around the end of May in Terre Haute, Indiana, and the other in the beginning of September in Caryville, Tennessee. Hopefully, this will give our family members more of a chance to join us, especially those that are laid up or restricted from long travel. William “Bill” Hubert Atterson was nominated the family secretary of the Tennessee reunion. We will be working closely to ensure both reunions are successful.

Reunions

Apparently, there was an annual family reunion in East Tennessee around the year 2000.

From the Atterson/Auterson Page available at the Internet Archive