Van Buren County, Tennessee Genealogy

United States

Tennessee

Van Buren County

Van Buren County, Tennessee ancestry, family history, and genealogy research page. Guide to Van Buren County (established 1840) genealogy, history, and courthouse sources including birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, wills, deeds and land records, Civil War records, Revolutionary War records, family histories, cemeteries, churches, tax records, newspapers, and obituaries.

Van Buren County, Tennessee
Map
Location in the state of Tennessee
Location of Tennessee in the U.S.
Facts
Founded:	January 3, 1840
County Seat	Spencer
Courthouse
Website: www.vanburencountytn.com
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Description

The County was named for President Martin Van Buren. The County is located in the central area of the state.

Van Buren County, Tennessee Record Dates

Known Beginning Dates for Major County Records
Birth*	Marriage	Death*	Court	Land	Probate	Census
1925	1840	1926	1840	1840	1840	1810
Statewide registration for births and deaths began in 1914. General compliance by 1927.

County Courthouse

[[Image:

Van Buren County Courthouse, Spencer, Tennessee

]]

Van Buren County Courthouse
Veterans' Square P O box 126
Spencer, TN 38585
Phone: 1-931-946-2121

County Clerk has birth records 1925-1938, death records 1926-1938, marriage andprobate records from 1840.
Clerk and Master has divorce records from 1840.
General Sessions Court has court records from 1840.
Register of Deeds has land records from 1840. http://www.vanburencountytn.com/elected_officials/index.html
Van Buren County Clerk
Marriage and probate records
Birth records 1925-1938
Death records 1926-1938
500 College Street, Administrative building
Spencer, TN 38585
Phone: 1-931-946-2121

Van Buren County Register of Deeds
Land records
P.O. Box 9
Spencer, TN 38585
Phone: 1-931-946-7363

Van Buren County Circuit Court Clerk
Court records
P.O. Box 126
Spencer, TN 38585
Phone: 1-931-946-2153

Hours:
Mon.-Fri. 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

History

[[Image:

President Martin Van Buren (1782-1862)

]]

Middle Tennessee county.

The county is named after President Martin Van Buren (1782-1862).

Parent County

1840--Van Buren County was established 3 January 1840 from White, Warren, and Bledsoe Counties. Early records may be found under White, Warren, and Bledsoe Counties.
County seat: Spencer

County Pronunciation

1. Hear it spoken (female)
2. Hear it spoken (male)

Boundary Changes

For animated maps illustrating Tennessee county boundary changes, "Rotating Formation Tennessee County Boundary Maps" (1777-1985) may be viewed for free at the MapofUS.org website.

Record Loss

There is no known history of courthouse disasters in this county.

• Marriage records: Records start from 1840, but are incomplete.
• Probate records: Records start from 1840, but are incomplete.

For suggestions about research in places that suffered historic record losses, see:

• Burned Counties. By Michael John Neill. Online at: Family History Circle.
• When the Records are Gone. By Arlene Eakle. Online at: Tennessee Genealogy Blog.
• Burned Counties Research in the FamilySearch Research Wiki.

Places/Localities

Populated Places

For a complete list of populated places, including small neighborhoods and suburbs, visit HomeTown Locator. The following are the most historically and genealogically relevant populated places in this county:

Towns
Spencer
Unincorporated communities
Bone Cave	Cedar Grove

Neighboring Counties

Bledsoe Cumberland

Sequatchie Warren

White

Resources

Research Guides

• Genealogical "Fact Sheets" About Tennessee Counties: Van Buren County, courtesy: TSLA. (Identifies published county histories, published local records, census records, newspapers and local records on microfilm, and select manuscripts.)

African American

United States African Americans Tennessee African Americans

Biographies

• Douthat, James L. Van Buren County, Tennessee Biographies. 1887; reprint, Signal Mountain, Tenn.: Mountain Press. Free Surname Index and purchase details at Mountain Press website.

Cemeteries

Tombstone Transcriptions Online	Tombstone Transcriptions in Print	List of Cemeteries in the county
Findagrave.com	Family History Library	Findagrave.com
TNGenWeb	WorldCat	Billion Graves
TNGenWeb Archives		Linkpendium
Tombstone Project		TNGravestones
TNGenWeb Cemeteries		Epodunk
Billion Graves
See Tennessee Cemeteries for more information.

Additional Cemetery Resources

• Tennessee Cemeteries - Hometown Locator

Census

Historical populations
Census	Pop.	%±
1850	2,674	—
1860	2,581	−3.5%
1870	2,725	5.6%
1880	2,933	7.6%
1890	2,863	−2.4%
1900	3,126	9.2%
1910	2,784	−10.9%
1920	2,624	−5.7%
1930	3,516	34.0%
1940	4,090	16.3%
1950	3,985	−2.6%
1960	3,671	−7.9%
1970	3,758	2.4%
1980	4,728	25.8%
1990	4,846	2.5%
2000	5,508	13.7%
Source: "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau.

1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, and 1930 federal population schedules of Van Buren County are available online. For tips on accessing census records online, see Tennessee Census. If you're having trouble finding your ancestors in online indexes, try checking printed indexes. Created by local experts familiar with the area's families, these indexes are often transcribed more accurately than nationwide online indexes.

See Tennessee Population Schedule Indexes: Fiche, Film, or Book for more information about statewide printed indexes.

See Van Buren, TN census assignments, including links to transcribed files and scanned images of census microfilm. The USGenWeb Census Project^®.

1810 - 1891

• Tennessee, Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index, 1810-1891 at Ancestry.com — index $

1850

• Rhinehart, Margaret. United States census Van Buren County, Tennessee, 1850. Spencer, Tennessee: Van Buren County Historical Society, 1982. FHL 976.8657 X2r 1850

1860

• Rhinehart, Margaret. United States census Van Buren County, Tennessee, 1860. Spencer, Tennessee: Van Buren County Historical Society, 1982. FHL 976.8657 X2r 1860

1870

• Rhinehart, Margaret. United States census Van Buren County, Tennessee, 1870. Spencer, Tennessee: Van Buren County Historical Society, 1982. FHL 976.8657 X2r 1870

1880

• Rhinehart, Margaret. United States census Van Buren County, Tennessee, 1880. Spencer, Tennessee: Van Buren County Historical Society, 1983. FHL 976.8657 X2r 1880

• Sistler, Byron H. and Barbara Sistler. 1880 Census Van Buren County, Tennessee. Nashville, Tennessee: B. Sistler and Associates, 1999. FHL 976.8657 X2s 1880

1891 Male Voters

• 1891 Tennessee Enumeration of Male Voters 1891 at Ancestry.com — index $

1900

• Rhinehart, Margaret. United States census Van Buren County, Tennessee, 1900. Spencer, Tennessee: Van Buren County Historical Society, 1983. FHL 976.8657 X2r 1900

1910

• Rhinehart, Margaret. United States census Van Buren County, Tennessee, 1910. Spencer, Tennessee: Van Buren County Historical Society, 1984. FHL 976.8657 X2r 1910

1920

• Young, Denise, ed.. Van Buren County, Tennessee Census, 1920 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2000. Available at Ancestry ($).

Church

Court

Family Histories

This bibliography will eventually identify all known family histories published about residents of this county. Use this list to:

• Locate publications about direct ancestors
• Find the most updated accounts of an ancestor's family
• Identify publications, to quote Elizabeth Shown Mills, about an ancestor's "FAN Club" (Friends, Associates, and Neighbors)

General

As of August 2010, a query for persons born in Van Buren, Tennessee at World Connect, results in more than 19,000 entries.

• Compendium of Local Biography Van Buren County, Tn. Signal Mountain, Tenn.: Mountain Press, (1997?). FHL US/CAN Book 976.8657 D3c.

Bibliography

Land

Law and Legislation

• Tennessee State Library and Archives, Acts of Tennessee 1796-1850: Index to Names. January 25, 2005. [In addition to creating new laws, legislative acts were often required to obtain a divorce, grant legitimacy to a child, or for appointments to or grant payments for public service.] TSLA has created an index to names that appear in these acts covering the years 1796 to 1850. To read more about this valuable resource Click here. The searchable index is available at TSLA; another version is available at World Vital Records.

Local Histories

Maps

Click a neighboring county
for more resources

• Maps of Tennessee (1777-1985)

Military

Revolutionary War

The following Van Buren County Revolutionary War records are available online through TNGenWeb:

• 1835 Pension Roll
• 1852 Rejected or Suspended Pensions

Additional resources include:

• Rejected or Suspended Applications for Revolutionary War Pensions. Washington, D.C., 1852. Reprinted by Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1969, and 1991. Reprints include "an Added Index to States." Digital version at Ancestry ($). Tennessee entries abstracted online at Tennesseans in the Revolutionary War, courtesy: TNGenWeb. Includes veterans from this county; Tennessee section begins on page 381.

War of 1812

• Embry, Hermione D. "War of 1812 - Tennessee Pensioners on List - January 2, 1883," Ansearchin' News, Vol. 8, No. 3 (Jul. 1961):95-98. FHL US/CAN Book 976.8 B2a v. 8 (1961); digital version at journal website. Includes Van Buren County pensioners (p. 98).

Civil War

Online Records

• 1861-1865 - Tennessee, Civil War Service Records of Confederate Soldiers, 1861-1865 at FamilySearch — index
• 1861-1865 - Tennessee, Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers, 1861-1865 at FamilySearch — index
• 1861-1865 - U.S., Confederate Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865 at Ancestry — index (free)
• 1861-1865 - U.S., Union Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865 at Ancestry — index (free)
• 1891-1965 - Tennessee, Confederate Pension Applications, Soldiers and Widows, 1891-1965 at FamilySearch — images
• Civil War Research Database $
• Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System

Regiments. Civil War service men from Van Buren County served in various regiments. Men often joined a regiment or a company (within a regiment) that originated in their county. Listed below are the military units that were formed in or had many men from Van Buren County:

Confederate Soldiers

• 16th Regiment, Tennessee Infantry- CSA - Company I.
• 22nd Battalion, Tennessee Infantry (Murray's)- CSA - Company E.
• 35th Regiment, Tennessee Infantry (5th Infantry) (1st Mountain Rifle Regiment)- CSA - 2nd Company C.

Additional sources for Civil War soldiers from Van Buren County:

• Head, Thomas A. Campaigns and Battles of the Sixteenth Regiment, Tennessee Volunteers, in the War Between the States, with Incidental Sketches of the Part Performed by Other Tennessee Troops in the Same War. 1861-1865. Nashville, Tennessee: Cumberland Presbyterian Publishing House, 1884. Free digital copy, courtesy: Internet Archive.
• Tennessee State Library and Archives, Tennessee Confederate Pension Applications: Van Buren County. Includes soldier's name, county, pension #, unit or widow.
• United States Pension Bureau, List of Pensioners on the Roll January 1, 1883: Giving the Name of Each Pensioner, the Cause for... (Washington Printing Office; 1883). Online at Internet Archive. Van Buren County, page 381.
• TNGenWeb, Civil War in Van Buren County Tennessee.

Native Americans

• Walker, Opless and Landon D. Medley. Synthesis of Available Data Concerning Indians in Van Buren County, Tennessee. Doyle, Tenn.: Medley Research Group, 1985. FHL US/CAN Book 970.1 S78. WorldCat

Newspapers

Many Tennessee newspapers are filmed and available at TSLA. Most of these newspapers may be accessed by interlibrary loan to libraries within Tennessee, although there are some newspapers which are not available in or outside of Tennessee. For further information regarding interlibrary loan policies and newspapers not available for interlibrary loan click here. For a list of newspapers available at the archives for Van Buren County click on the following town:

• Spencer

Occupations

• Miller, Alan N. Middle Tennessee's Forgotten Children: Apprentices from 1784 to 1902. Baltimore, Md.: Printed for Clearfield Company, Inc., by Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 2004. FHL US/CAN 976.8 U2ma. Purchase at Genealogical.com. Includes Van Buren County.
• Tennesse Bureau of Agriculture, Statistics and Mines. Coal Mines and Mining--Tennessee. Nashville, Tennessee: A.B. Travel, 1883. Free digital copy.

Periodicals

Tap into the minds of local experts. Editors of genealogical periodicals publish unique sources that researchers who are new to their area would not likely discover. This type of material may be found in local, regional, or statewide genealogical society journals. The following periodicals cover this county:

Ansearchin' News

Genealogical articles with abstracts of Van Buren County, Tennessee Genealogy records have been published in Ansearchin' News, the quarterly magazine of the Tennessee Genealogical Society. To view a list of these articles, visit their county index. To read digitized versions of the first 36 years of articles (Vols. 1-36), browse their archive or conduct a surname search. The Family History Library has a complete collection of the Ansearchin' News quarterly FHL Book 976.8 B2a.

The Upper Cumberland Researcher

Genealogical articles with abstracts of records of Van Buren County, Tennessee have been published in The Upper Cumberland Researcher, the journal of the Upper Cumberland Genealogical Association, Inc. To view a list of the first 17 years of these articles, visit their online Seventeen Year Index to The Upper Cumberland Researcher (Vols. 1-17, 1975-1992). The Index contains a "Counties" section beginning on page 19. The Family History Library has most issues through the present FHL US/CAN Book 976.8 B2u (1975-1993) and FHL US/CAN Book 976.8 B2u (1994-present).

Van Buren County Journal

Family History Library US/CAN 976.8657 H2v
Van Buren County Historical Society has past journals for sale. Website includes table of contents for each journal.
Indexed in Periodical Source Index (PERSI) Volumes 1 - 11 (1981 - 2000)

Prisons

Learn if your Van Buren County, Tennessee Genealogy ancestors went to prison!

• Inmates of the Tennessee State Penitentiary 1831-1850.
• Inmates of the Tennessee State Penitentiary 1851-1870.

Probate Records

The Van Buren County Court has responsibility for probate records.

Online Records

• 1779 – 2008 Tennessee Wills and Probate Records 1779-2008 at Ancestry.com — index and images $

FamilySearch has placed scans of the following records online in the Tennessee, Probate Court Books, 1795-1927 collection. These are browse-only collections. Handwritten indexes may be found at the front or back of some volumes:

• Inventories, Wills, 1840-1883 (Vols. A-B)
• Bonds, Letters, 1888-1968 (Vols. 1-2)
• Settlements, 1865-1968 (Vols. 1-4)

The following Van Buren County probate records have been abstracted, indexed, or both:

• 1840-1861 - Sistler, Byron and Barbara Sistler. Index to Tennessee Wills & Administrations 1779-1861. Nashville, Tenn. Byron Sistler and Associates, Inc., 1990. FHL US/CAN 976.8 P22s. Includes an index to this county's probate records.
• USGenWeb's Van Buren County page has some will abstracts.

Taxation

The following Van Buren County tax records have been abstracted:

• 1812 - Combs-Coombs &c. "1812 Warren Co, Tennessee Tax Lists (A Start toward an Annotated List) Index and Search Engine," available online, courtesy: Combs-Coombs &c. Research Group and Warren Co., TNGenWeb. Benjamin Lockhart's District includes the area that later became Van Buren County.
• 1891 - Tax List, 1891, Van Buren County Historical Journal, Vol. 6 (1986).

Vital Records

See also How to order Tennessee Vital Records or order electronically online.

Birth

• 1828-1939 - Tennessee Births and Christenings 1828-1939 at FamilySearch.org — index

• 1869-1909 - Tennessee Delayed Birth Records 1869-1909 at Ancestry.com — index and images $

• 1908-1912 - Tennessee, Birth Records (ER Series), 1908-1912 at FamilySearch — index and images

Marriage

The original Van Buren County marriage records are kept at the County Courthouse. Due to record loss, there are gaps in the marriage records of Van Buren County. Records are missing from May 1861-Aug 1866 and Sept 1878-Sept 1881.

State Marriage Records

• 1625-1966 - Tennessee, United States Marriages at FindMyPast — index $
• 1780-2002 - Tennessee State Marriages 1780-2002 at Ancestry.com — index $

• 1780-2002 - Tennessee State Marriage Index 1780-2002 at FamilySearch.org— index

• 1790-1950 - Tennessee County Marriages 1790-1950 at FamilySearch.org — index and images

• 1796-1950 - Tennessee Marriages 1796-1950 at FamilySearch.org — index

• 1838-1888 - Tennessee Civil Marriages, 1838-1888 at FamilySearch — index and images

• 1851-1900 - Tennessee Marriages 1851-1900 at Ancestry.com— index and images $

The following Van Buren County marriage records are microfilmed:

• 1841-1990 - Available at the TSLA. With gaps: 1840-1915 can be interlibrary loaned.
• 1840-1969 - Available at the Family History Library. Each volume is indexed. FHL 583166

The following Van Buren County marriage records have been indexed:

• 1840-1895 - Van Buren County Marriage Index 1840-1895 in International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch.org - free.
• 1840-1861 - Marriage Records, 1840-1861, Van Buren County, Tennessee. Nashville: TSLA, Historical Records Project, 1940. Typescript. FHL 24846 Item 2
• 1840-1870 - Lucas, Silas Emmett and Ella Lee Sheffield. 35,000 Tennessee Marriage Records and Bonds 1783-1870. 3 vols. Easley, S.C.: Southern Historical Press, 1981. FHL US/CAN Book 976.8 V2t v. 1 ff. Abstracts include names of brides, grooms, bondsmen, marriage bond dates, and officiators for weddings in this county for the roughly specified years. Marriage data taken from an index card file at TSLA. Authors do not specify whether or not the card index completely indexes this county's marriages.
• 1840-1875 - Sistler, Byron and Barbara Sistler. Early Middle Tennessee Marriages. 2 vols. Nashville, Tenn.: B. Sistler & Associates, 1988. FHL US/CAN Book 976.8 V2sb v. 2 ff. Indexes names of brides and grooms, and marriage dates for weddings in this county for the specified years.
• 1840-1935 - Rhinehart, Margret. Van Buren County marriage records: book I through book V, May 21, 1840 to September 2, 1935. Spencer, Tennessee: Van Buren County Historical Society, 1983. FHL 976.8657 V2v
• 1841-1860 - Marriage Records.
• 1840-1850 - Marriage Records: Early–1850.

Divorce

In 1940 and 1941, W.P.A. workers pinpointed the location of Van Buren County divorce papers in diverse County Courthouse records that begin as early as 1840, see the following resources:

• W.P.A. Guide to Public Vital Statistics in Tennessee. Nashville, Tenn.: The Tennessee Historical Records Survey, 1941. FHL US/CAN Book 976.8 A3gp.

Death

• 1874-1955 - Tennessee Deaths and Burials 1874-1955 at FamilySearch.org — index

• 1908-1958 - Tennessee Death Records 1908 - 1958 at Ancestry.com — index and images $

• 1914-1966 - Tennessee Deaths, 1914-1966 at FamilySearch — index and images

For deaths of Methodists in Van Buren County between the 1830s and the 1920s, try searching the following records:

• 1847-1914 - Smith, Jonathan K.T. Genealogical Abstracts from Reported Deaths, the Nashville Christian Advocate. (1847-1914) 10 vols. Jackson, Tenn.: J.K.T. Smith, 1997-2003. FHL US/CAN Books 976.855/N1 V48s 1847-1851 ff; digital versions at David Donahue Memorial: Tennessee Records Repository. Website expands upon the publications and includes deaths from the 1830's, 1840's, 1910's and 1920's.

Libraries

• Burritt Memorial Library
  P.O. Box 18
  427 College St.
  Spencer, TN 38585-0018 
  Phone: 1-931-946-2575
  Fax: 1-931-946-2575
  Van Buren County (Caney Fork Region)
  Hours: Mon. 8 a.m.-4 p.m., Tues. 12 p.m.-6 p.m., Wed. 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Thurs. 12 p.m.-6 p.m., Fri. 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Sat.-Sun. Closed
  The Burritt Memorial Library is on Facebook

Family History Centers

• Introduction to Family History Centers

Societies

See also a List of Tennessee Archives, Libraries, Publications, Historical & Genealogical Societies

Van Buren County Historical Society 
330 Baker Mountain Rd
Spencer, TN 38585
Publication: Semi-annual: Newsletter; Annual Van Buren County Journal; begun 1981. Table of contents online thru 1992

Middle Tennessee Genealogical Society
PO Box 330948
Nashville, TN, USA 37203-7507
The society serves the 40 counties of middle Tennessee of which Van Buren County is one. It publishes The Middle Tennessee Journal of Genealogy and History, a quarterly containing articles of genealogical and historical interest. Little-known Tennessee records are published and indexed, along with family genealogies, Bible records and material submitted by members. There is an alphabetical Index to articles in the Journal 1988-summer 2005

Van Buren County Tennessee Genealogy Websites

• FamilySearch Catalog (FamilySearch) — The catalog is genealogical materials (including books, online materials, microfilm, microfiche, and publications) This catalog is different than the indexed Historical Records.
• Mailing List: TN-UPPER-CUMBERLAND-L (Upper Cumberland Tennessee Region Genealogy List) (RootsWeb)
• Van Buren County, TN Family History and Genealogy Message Board (Ancestry)
• Van Buren County, TN Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)
• Van Buren County, TNGenWeb (USGenWeb)
• Van Buren County TN Genealogy (ldsgenealogy.com)

Van Buren County Tennessee Genealogy References

Family History Library