The Goodspeed Publishing Company of Nashville and Chicago issued A History of Tennessee from the Earliest Times to the Present, together with an Historical and a Biographical Sketch of … [County names go here] . . during 1886 and 1887. Unfortunately, the project was not completed and therefore not all Tennessee counties are represented in this series. A total of eighty-two counties were recorded, however, the histories of Davidson County and twelve rural counties of the Cumberland Plateau were never published.
Goodspeed published their work in three parts. First was the general History of Tennessee, Illustrated; second, the histories of the individual counties; and lastly, some biographies of folk from the individual counties. (More about Goodspeed)
Our purpose is to both publish here the county histories and biographies.
When we do not have a transcription, we will attempt to link to other websites.
For information about counties without links to Goodspeed, contact the county host.
Each county can be accessed from
Tennessee
County Select Page
County Names followed by H indicates History ONLY, B indicates Biographies ONLY.
Links followed by an asterisk (*) will lead to Goodspeed histories on outside websites.
Anderson* | Bedford* | Benton* | Bledsoe | Blount* | Bradley* |
Campbell | Cannon | Carroll | Carter | Cheatham* | Chester |
Claiborne H | Clay | Cocke | Coffee* | Crockett* | Cumberland |
Davidson | Decatur | DeKalb | Dickson* | Dyer* | Fayette |
Fentress | Franklin* | Gibson H | Giles | Grainger | Greene |
Grundy | Hamblen* | Hamilton | Hancock* | Hardeman B | Hardin* |
Hawkins* | Haywood | Henderson | Henry* | Hickman | Houston* |
Humphreys* | Jackson | James | Jefferson | Johnson* | Knox |
Lake H | Lauderdale* | Lawrence* | Lewis* | Lincoln (2)* | Loudon |
McMinn | McNairy | Macon | Madison | Marion* | Marshall* |
Maury | Meigs* | Monroe* | Montgomery | Moore | Morgan* |
Obion* | Overton | Perry | Pickett | Polk* | Putnam |
Rhea* | Roane* | Robertson | Rutherford H | Scott | Sequatchie |
Sevier * | Shelby | Smith* | Stewart* | Sullivan | Sumner* |
Tipton | Trousdale* | Unicoi* | Union | Van Buren | Warren |
Washington | Wayne* | Weakley* | White* | Williamson | Wilson |