Tennessee, USA
White County
Genealogical-Historical
Society
P. O. Box 721 Sparta, TN
38583-0721
Revised January 30, 2008
Webmaster: Bill Colley
About White County Genealogical-Historical
Society
The White County Genealogical-Historical
Society was organized at a meeting on Thursday October 7, 1993.
The purpose of this society shall be
to bring together those people interested in their family genealogy and
the history of White County. Understanding the history of our community
is basic to our democratic way of life, gives us a better understanding
of our state and nation, and promotes a better appreciation of our American
heritage.
The society's functions will be to
discover and collect any material which may help to establish or illustrate
the genealogies and history of the area: its exploration, settlement, development,
and activities in peace and in war; it's progress in population, wealth,
education, arts, science, agriculture, manufacturing, trade and transportation.
It will collect printed material such as histories, genealogies, biographies,
descriptions, gazetteers, directories, newspapers, pamphlets, catalogs,
circulars, handbills, programs, and posters; manuscript material such as
letters, diaries, journals, memoranda, reminiscences, rosters, service
records, account books, charts, surveys, and field books; and museum material
such as pictures, photographs, paintings, portraits, scenes, aboriginal
relics, and material objects illustrative of life, conditions, events,
and activities of the past and the present.
The society will provide for the preservation
of such material and for its accessibility, as far as may be feasible,
to all who wish to examine or study it, to cooperate with officials in
insuring the preservation and accessibility of the records and archives
of the county and town and institutions, and to undertake the preservation
of historic buildings, monuments, and markers.
Membership in the society is open to
all who are interested in researching their family history and the history
of White County.
Meetings:
Regular meetings are held at 7:00 pm (central time) on the first Thursday
of each month, in or near our office, Room 304, White County Courthouse.
Officers:
President: Geraldine
Pollard
Vice President: Christy Fisher
Recording Secretary: William C.
Colley
Treasurer: Jo Scherer
Program Committee: Betty Fisher
Corresponding Secretary: Mary
Holland
PastFinder Mailings: Dorsie & Mary Poole
Order Processing: Reba Miller
PastFinder Editor: Bill
Colley
Communications Committee: Ann Verble, Mary Holland, Geraldine Pollard, Bill Colley
Memberships to the Society are:
$10.00/yr (single)
$15.00/yr (family - one
newsletter)
$5.00/yr (student - high
school & under)
Life membership: $200.00
to age 50, $150.00 to age 60, over age 60 $100.00
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The
PastFinder
Published quarterly by White County Genealogical-Historical
Society.
Articles about White County Tennessee Genealogy or
History are solicited. Please write plainly, type, or submit on computer
file to Bill Colley. Please
include your name, address, phone number, email address, and a copy of
permission from the publisher of copyrighted material or owners of original
documents. The Society cannot be held responsible for copyright infringement
or errors of fact by contributors. Include complete sources and citations.
The PastFinder editorial staff reserves the right to edit material
for form, grammar and length. All material becomes the property of the
Society.
A cumulative Table
of Contents for past issues is available.
Back issues of the PastFinder are available
from the Bookstore.
Return to top of page.
The
Bookstore
Bon Air Mountain Cemeteries $16.00
Cemeteries of White County (3 vol.) $110.00 (plus $10.00 shipping)
Volumes I & II (2 vol.)
$75.00 (plus $8.00 shipping)
Volume III only
$45.00 (plus
$6.00 shipping)
Seals, History of White County TN $27.50
Rogers, Memorable Historical Accounts
of White County and Area $20.00
Blankenship, The Uneven Yoke
$20.00
McDowell & Blankenship,
Fiddles in the Cumberlands $20.00 NEW!
1820 Census of White County, TN
$9.00
WCGHS Data Disc 2008 Expositor Obituaries, PastFinder back issues,
& more (Windows CD-ROM) $20.00
PastFinder Collections:
Vol. 1 -
1994
$10.00
Vol. 2 -
1995
$10.00
Vol. 3 -
1996
$10.00
Vol. 4 -
1997
$10.00
Vol. 5 -
1998
$10.00
Vol. 6 -
1999
$10.00
Vol. 7 -
2000
$12.00
Vol. 8 -
2001
$12.00
Vol. 9 - 2002
$12.00
Vol. 10 - 2003
$12.00
Vol. 11 - 2004
$12.00
Vol. 12 - 2005
$12.00
Vol. 13 - 2006
$12.00
Vol. 14 - 2007
$12.00
Above prices include postage except as noted. Sorry, we cannot process credit cards. Send order and payment by snail mail to:
White County Genealogical-Historical Society
P. O. Box 721
Sparta, TN 38583-0721
The following books are available from:
Van Buren County Historical Society
HC 69 Box 688
Spencer, TN 38585-9667
White County, TN Marriages 1859-1881 $22.00 ppd
White County, TN Census 1850 $24.00 ppd
Van Buren County, TN Census 1930 $24.00 ppd
The following books are available from:
The White County Retired Teachers Association
(931)738-2870 or (931)738-2707 or (931)738-5294
It Happened in White County, Tennessee
Field Trips Into White County History
Set of both books $15.00.
Schools of White County Tennessee 1806-2006
$25.00 + $5.00 s/h (also available from WCGHS office, but make check payable to WCRTA)
The following book is available from the author:
Mabel J. Austin Moore
1982 McMinnville Hwy
Sparta, TN 38583-2427
John Austin, Sr. Family 1779-1999 $40.00 ppd
The following books are available from:
BonDeCroft Elementary School
8095 Crossville Hwy
Sparta, TN 38583
(931) 935-2359
Mining on the Mountain; Life in the Coal Towns of White County, Tennessee,
1882-1936, by Betty Sparks Huehls, 1996. ($15.00)
Mountain Coal; Black Gold. A Visual Journey through the Coal Fields
of Bon Air, Ravenscroft, Clifty and Eastland, Tennessee 1886-1934,
($20.00)
The following book is available from:
Dr. W. Calvin Dickinson
TTU History Dept.
Box 5064
Cookeville, TN 38505
Upper Cumberland Historic Architecture, by Calvin Dickinson, Michael
Birdwell, & Homer Kemp, 2002 (148 pages, over 90 b/w photos, hardcover).
($27.00 plus $3.00 shipping)
The following book is available from:
Stillhouse Hollow Books
PO Box 194
Bon Aqua, TN 37025
Bon Air Hustler; Community News from
Bon Air, Ravenscroft, Eastland, and Clifty, White County, Tennessee;
Wrigley, Lyles, Goodrich, and Aetna, Hickman County, Tennessee; Allen's
Creek and Rupperttown, Lewis County, Tennessee; Collinwood in Wayne
County, Tennessee; December 4, 1917 to November 5, 1920 (45 issues of newspaper published by Bon Air Coal and Iron Company, reprinted in book form, $30 ppd)
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Genealogical Resources in
White County
Note: Sparta is in the Central Time Zone.
White County Public Library
11 North Church Street
Sparta, TN 38583
(931) 836-3613
Open 8:00 am to 5:00 pm Monday, 8:00 am to 8:00 pm Tuesday, and 8:00
am to 5:00 pm Wednesday through Saturday.
Cathy Farley, Director
The library's holdings are included in the state-wide Online
Card Catalog.
Genealogical resources include regional
history books, family
history books, and White County records on microfilm.
A computer provides Internet access and the full texts of obituaries
from The Expositor in recent years, with an index for each year.
White County Courthouse
1 Liberty Square
Sparta, TN 38583
Connie (Sparkman) Jolley, County Clerk
(931) 836-3712 or (931) 836-2718
Gary Brogden, Register of Deeds
(931) 836-2817
Hours: 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Monday through Friday.
White County Genealogical-Historical Society
Reference Collection
Room 304, third floor
White County Courthouse
Hours: 12:00 to 4:00 pm Monday & Tuesday
8:30 to 12:00 am Wednesday & Thursday
Access at other times by appointment. Please contact one of the WCGHS
officers.
We share these quarters with the White County Archives. Geraldine Pollard
has been engaged on a full-time basis as Archivist, and will make the office
available to researchers at the above hours. The phone is (931) 837-4066.
White County Historian:
Mary West Holland
P.O. Box 15
Doyle, TN 38559-0015
Funeral Homes
Hunter Funeral Home
120 E. Bockman Way
Sparta, TN 38583
(931) 836-3211
Records from 1917 |
Thurman Funeral Home Ptrs
44 N. Main St.
Sparta, TN 38583
(931) 836-3194
Records from 1945 |
Professional Genealogist
Kristi Moffit
125 Moffitt Road
Spencer, TN 38585
http://www.gensearch.org
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WCGHS Data Disc 2008
Collected genealogical data from White
County TN on CD-ROM, published January 2008 by the White County
Genealogical-Historical Society. Contents include:
▸ OBITUARIES. Full text of obituaries from The Expositor, Sparta TN, 1989-2007 with annual indexes. A few obits from other sources are included.
▸ THE PASTFINDER. Complete back issue collection 1994-2007 with cumulative table of contents in searchable PDF files.
▸ LOST MARRIAGES. Index of White County marriages
that were omitted from the published indexes, or that were published
with significant errors, listed by groom and by bride. This is a
snapshot of work in progress.
▸ DELAYED BIRTH CERTIFICATES. Partial index of births
in White and nearby counties from 1870 to 1907, compiled from court
orders authorizing Tennessee Vital Statistics to issue delayed birth
certificates.
▸ WCGHS REFERENCE COLLECTION. Current inventory as of December 2007.
▸ CEMETERY LOCATOR. This file contains location and
description information (only) for the cemeteries in The Fred Clark
Book of Cemeteries of White County Tennessee, including the maps. It
also has information on selected outlying cemeteries.
▸ CEMETERY BOOK ERRATA. Current errata sheets for The Fred Clark Book of Cemeteries of White County Tennessee, Volumes I - III, and for Bon Air Mountain Cemeteries. These are intended to correct erroneous information, not to add annotation.
▸ UPDATED CEMETERY LISTINGS. Listings of selected
cemeteries that have been extensively revised and updated relative to
those in The Fred Clark Book, with added annotation and individual indexes.
▸ THE SPARTA EXPOSITOR, 1902 SOUVENIR EDITION. This copy was scanned from microfilm; the text is legible, but the photo quality is poor.
▸ WHITE COUNTY BY BILL. This genealogical database of
White County families has been compiled over several years by Bill
Colley. It contains over 24,000 individuals, most interconnected by
blood or marriage. The file is in GEDCOM format, which can be imported
by most genealogy programs. It is a snapshot of work in progress.
Additions and corrections are invited.
With the exception of the last item, all information is in
Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files. Adobe Reader is required to
be installed on the user’s computer. Version 8.1.1 for Windows XP &
Vista is included; users of other platforms may download the
appropriate version free from http://www.adobe.com/
This a Windows CD-ROM. It can be used on a Macintosh, with patience.
The disk is available from our office for $20 ppd.
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The Fred Clark Book of
Cemeteries
of
White County, Tennessee
2003
The White County Genealogical-Historical Society
Geraldine Elrod Pollard, President and Editor
- 1124 pages, 8 " x 11", in two volumes, hard covers.
- Accurate, current listings of 306 cemeteries, all within the boundaries of White County.
- Over 23,000 graves, most with dates of birth & death.
- Many burials annotated with parents and spouse.
- Full name indexes, over 40,000 entries.
- Description and precise location of each cemetery, including GPS coordinates.
- Accurate maps showing cemetery locations.
Volume III: Outlying Cemeteries
2006
- Tombstone transcripts from 107 cemeteries in all surrounding counties, but within three miles of White County.
- Over 11,000 burials, most with dates of birth and death, many annotated with parents and spouse.
- Full name index.
- 603 pages, 8" x 11", hard cover.
- Now in stock!
Price $110.00 per set of all three volumes at our office, or $120.00 shipped.
$75.00 per set of Volumes I & II at our office, or $83.00 shipped.
$45.00 for Volume III only at our office, or $51.00 shipped.
Return to top of page.
Memorable Historical Accounts
of White County and Area
by E. G. Rogers
1972
Indexed, annotated and reprinted 2007 by
The White County Genealogical-Historical Society
6" x 9", 200 pages, soft cover
$20.00 ppd check or m.o.
WCGHS
P.O. Box 721
Sparta, TN 38583-0721
Return to top of page.
Fiddles in the Cumberlands
by
Amanda McDowell
Lela McDowell Blankenship
“The Rebels are gone and the Yanks are in. They take
it time about, and one does about as much good as the other. And we
could do very well without either.” – Amanda McDowell, September
17, 1864
Amanda McDowell was daughter of Curtis McDowell,
headmaster of Cumberland Institute in White County, Tennessee. Amanda
wrote her part of this story in her diary, carefully kept during the
Civil War. In it she told of the struggle in which her neighborhood,
which lay in northern Tennessee, the “No Man's Land” of that war, was
alternately pillaged by both sides. Her two brothers took opposite
sides in the conflict and this division colored her comments and
opinions.
In 1943, Amanda’s niece, Lela McDowell Blankenship,
made a careful transcript of the diary, then added original material to
form a novel of those times. The result was the first edition of
Fiddles in the Cumberlands, which was eagerly sought by historians for
its authentic historical content.
In 1987, Lela’s nephew, William Jackson McDowell,
and his wife Betty reviewed all of the original material, and compiled
the second edition with appropriate additions and corrections, being
careful to preserve historical accuracy.
In 2007, observing that the book had been out of
print for some time, and that a demand had developed for it, the White
County Genealogical-Historical Society obtained permission from Betty
McDowell to issue this reprint. The text is that of the second edition,
except for minor revisions of the Introduction and Appendix, and a
revised Index.
340 pages, soft cover, $20.00 ppd check or m.o.
WCGHS
P.O. Box 721
Sparta, TN 38583