Sumner County, TN
African American Resources

"In all of us there is a hunger marrow deep,
to know our heritage, to know who we are,
and where we have come from."

Alex Haley


The Sumner Co. TNGenWeb page contains numerous resources for those searching their African American history. Please search the main Sumner Co. page. Check the Bible Records, Wills, Court Records, Cemetery Records, etc. Good luck in your search!

African American Cemeteries

African American Churches and Church Members

African American Communities

African American Funeral Homes

On-line Resources

Published Resources


Sumner County Cemetery Index

Reprinted with permission from Sumner County, Tennessee Cemetery Records, compiled by Margaret Cummings Snider and Joan Hollis Yorgason, 1981.

Below is only a partial listing of cemeteries. To search our full cemetery index or request a Cemetery Lookup Click Here.

African American Cemeteries

CEMETERY NAME DISTRICT NUMBER
Austin 16
Barnes 16
Bell 2
Bender 5
Bennett 1
Bentley 1 -- No markers.
Bratton 11
Bullock 1
Buntin 16
Carter 4
Davis 15
Drake 1
Duncan 4
Durham Chapel 10
Franklin Chapel 3
Gallatin City 4 -- Section L
Hall 14
Harper 11
Hopewell Methodist Church 16
Hunter 10
Jameson Slave 2 -- No markers, only field stones.
Lowe 1
McMurry-Haynes1 -- No longer exists.
Malone 1
Mills 1
Mt. Zion Kansas Church 10
Oak Grove 15
Old Beech Church 7 -- Black section
Old Hopewell Methodist Church 16
Owens 5
Parkers Chapel Church 16
Payne 1, 15
Potete 14
Roach 1-- No markers
Rogan 1
Scattersville New Hope Baptist Church 16
Senter's Chapel11 -- Black section
St. Matthews Methodist Church 2
Stark Knob Baptist Church 5
Swaney Slave1 -- No markers, only field stones.
These are said to be the slaves of John Lee Swaney
Sweatt 1
Templeton 1
Tolliver 1 -- No markers
Village Green 9
Wallace 14
Walton 5
Watkins 9

African American Churches

Go to the Church Histories and Membership Lists page. See the Bethpage Methodist Church and Parker's Chapel.

African American Communities

Go to the Community Histories page. See the History of Scattersville Community, written by Wava (Bratton) Young.


African American Funeral Homes

House Of White Funeral Home
261 E. Winchester St.
Gallatin, TN 37066-3352
615-452-4182

Johnson & Coleman Funeral Home
723 Anthony St.
Gallatin, TN 37066-2060
615-452-2060

Go to Funeral Homes in Sumner County, Tennessee


Online Resources

Resource
Information / URL
African American Cemeteries Online - TN http://www.prairiebluff.com/aacemetery/tn.htm
AfriGeneas African Ancestored Genealogy
Christine's Genealogy Page http://www.ccharity.com/
African Americans in TN & KY.Great site!
Cyndi's Genealogy Page List of African American Genealogy Sites
Excellent list of online resources!
Freedman & Southern Society Project http://www.history.umd.edu/Freedmen/
Library of Congress:
(Oral histories collected during the Work Projects Administration program for writers in the 1930s and 1940s)		 http://rs6.loc.gov
Partial Listing of lynching in the U.S. since 1859 http://ccharity.com/lynching/
People of Color in Old TN http://www.tngenweb.org/tncolor


Published Resources

AUTHOR(S)
TITLE & PUBLICATION
INFORMATION
DESCRIPTION
Barrow, Charles Kelly Forgotten Confederates
Southern Heritage Press
P.O. Box 347163
Atlanta, GA 30334		 Contains transcribed letters from men to their families and friends.
Blockson, Charles L, & Fry, Ron. Black Genealogy
Brinkley, Velma & Malone, Mary Huddleston Generations: A Pictorial Journey into the Lives of African-Americans in Sumner County, Tenn., 1796-1996 Pictures with some information on people.
Byers, Paula K. African American Genealogical Source book
Gale Research Inc., 1995		 Includes migration patterns and specific records for African Americans, etc.
Elder, Pat Spurlock Tennessee Colored Confederate Pension Applications
Continuity Press, 1997		 Includes a full name/place/military units index. Order from: Continuity Press, P. O. Box 567, Blountville, TN 37617-0567
Gatewood, Willard B., Jr. Smoked Yankees and the Struggle for Empire: Letters from Negro Soldiers, 1898-1902.
1971.		 The book consists of about 99% of letters written by Black soldiers to the various newspapers. They provided newspapers with details of their activities, primarily about the Spanish American War.
Lamon, Lester C. Blacks in TN, 1791-1970
Knoxville: University of TN Press, 1981		 Chapters include, Blacks and Slavery 1790-1860, Unfulfilled Promises 1860-1800, etc. Also, includes pictures and population figures.
McCormack, Edward Slavery on the Tennessee Frontier
Nashville TN: TN American Rev. Bicentennial Comm., 1971
Newman, Debra L. List of Free Blacks Heads of Families in the First Census of the US
Washington, D.C.: National Archives, 1973
Snider, Margaret Cummings & Yorgason, Joan Hollis. Sumner County Tennessee Cemetery Records
KY: McDowell Pub., 1981		 Includes Black cemeteries
Stephenson, Wendell H. Isaac Franklin: Slave Trader & Planter of the Old South, with Plantation Records.
Baton Rouge, LA: LSU Press, 1938.		 368 pages. Reprinted in 1971 by P. Smith.
Walton-Raji, Angela Black Indian Genealogy Research
Wells, Carol Sumner County Tennessee Court Minutes, 1787-1805 and 1808-1810
Heritage Books, 1995		 Includes names of slaves in inventories, wills, etc.

Go to Published Resources Related to Sumner County

Go to Published Resources Related to Tennessee and Region


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