GENEALOGICAL GLEANINGS FROM THE DEED BOOKS 10 THROUGH 19,
1845-1857, MADISON COUNTY, TENNESSEE
By Jonathan K. T. Smith
Copyright, Jonathan K. T. Smith, 1995

PREFATORY REMARKS

            The genealogical information in this publication has been gleaned from deed books ten through nineteen of Madison County, Tennessee, covering a total of 6668 pages, with most deeds concerned with the usual buying/receiving or grantee and selling/giving of land, mortgages, gifts; dealing with real and personal estates. An effort has been made to abstract in paraphrasal form (sometimes quoting directly from deed texts), the strictly genealogical data from among this mass of material. A serious researcher will use this publication as an annotated index to the deeds for cross-referencing of names and relationships and then turn to the original deeds for complete data.

            The Madison County chancery and circuit court minute books for the antebellum period have been well abstracted for genealogical data appearing in volume two of TENNESSEE TIDBITS by Marjorie H. Fischer and Ruth B. Burns (Vista, California, 1988). The present genealogical abstracts from deed books for much of this same period of coverage will parallel the other data sources such as TENNESSEE TIDBITS.

          Madison County, Tennessee was created by the state legislature on Nov. 7, 1821 and was actually organized Dec. 17, thereafter. There were three registers of deeds for the period of these abstracts. Wilie (pronounced as wyly) Langford was elected register in March 1844 and served until March 1848 when William W. Gates was elected to this office which he held until March 1856 when William G. Cockrill was elected to serve in this office. (Madison County Court Minute Books 5, pages 257, 656; 6, page 480; 7, page 530)

          Abbreviations used in this deed abstracts publication:

dec = deceased
exec = executor (male), executrix (female), singular and plural
grdn = guardian
hr/hrs = heir, heirs
POA = power of attorney
reg = registered
wit/wits = witness, witnesses

            Unless otherwise noted, the land and/or property mentioned in these abstracts were located in Madison County. Land in West Tennessee was then under a scheme using surveyor's districts, ranges, sections, hence the frequent references herein of SD_, R_, S_. To best locate such references on maps, the researcher is referred to MAPS OF MADISON COUNTY, TENNESSEE, HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL, by James H. Hanna (Jackson, 1993), pages 3, 17, available in the Tennessee Room of the Jackson/Madison County Library as well as other libraries.

          Gratitude is here expressed to Curtis White, incumbent register of deeds, Madison County, and helpful members of his staff and to Jack D. Wood and Robert D. Taylor, Jr., librarians, Tennessee Room, Jackson-Madison County Library for their helpful assistence.

Jonathan K. T. Smith
Jackson, Tennessee
October 1995

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