Looking for marriage information in Blount County? You may want to check out the new Ancestry database, Tennessee State Marriages, 1765-2002.  Just recently released, the database has marriage information each year from 1795-1899, and then marriage information from 1920. Not exactly comprehensive, but certainly worth the look!

I’ll be adding this to the Marriage information page on the site.  In the database, you will find scanned images of marriage bonds and when the date is right, actual marriage certificates.  I am still getting familiar with the county surnames, but an exact search on Hammontree for example,  results in 37 hits. The earliest Hammontree marriage in the database is that of James Hammontree to Nancy Holoway on April 30, 1800.  John Holoway provided bond security.

From the March 4th, 1999 issue of the Maryville Times:

Funeral Notices

• CAUGHRON, Edith Helen - age 93. Died 3 Mar 1999.  Daughter of the late Wade and Laura Jane Caughron.  Internment: Cedar Grove Cemetery in Athens, TN.
• CARY, Dorothy Fever - age 77.  Died 1 Mar 1999.  Husband - Lyle S. Cary.
• DAVIS, Rev. Fred - age 80.  Died 3 Mar 1999.  Wife - Lillie M. Davis.  Internment: Bethel Baptist Church.
• MACK, French - age 21. Died 3 Mar 1999.  Son of Burl M. French & Rebecca Goins.  Internment: Central Point Baptist Church Cemetery.
• LEWIS, Jack S. - age 77. Died 2 Mar 1999. Son of the late Mitchell & Pearl Lewis.  Wife - Virginia Lewis.  Internment: Sherwood Memorial Gardens.
• SHAW, Sheman Eugene “Gene” - died 2 Mar 1999.  Son of the late Frank and Della Ellis Shaw.  Wife - Geraldine Gibson Shaw.  Internment: Gibson Cemetery.
• TUCKER, Charles - age 78. Died 3 Mar 1999. Born  18 Jan 1921.  Widower of Frances Faya Bach Tucker. Internment: Woodside Cemetery.

From the March 18th, 2002 issue of the Maryville Times:

Funeral Notices

• BALES, Nettie E. Spears - died 16 Mar 2002. Widow of Eugene “Yank” Bales. Daughter of the late Charles Henry & Mattie Mae Spears.
• CARY, Lyle Sherman - age 92. Died 15 Mar 2002. Widower of Dorothy Fever Cary. Son of the late A.H. & Senia Belle Keterson Cary. Internment: New Providence Cemetery.
• HOFFMAN, Chrisya Iise - age 65. Died 15 Mar 2002. Wife of Dr. Paul Hoffman.
• JONES, Helen H. Stagnitti - age 55. Died 15 Mar 2002. Daughter of the late David Halliday. Husband - Dan Jones. Internment: Morgan Cemetery
• MANTOOTH, Loraine P. (Jerri) - age 75. Died 17 Mar 2002. Daughter of the late Sally Day Soloman. Husband - H. Mantooth Sr. Internment: Cedar Springs Baptist Church Cemetery in Cleveland.

Due to problems with the TNGENWEB site right now, I’m not able to add them permanently to the site yet, but I will!

A Blount County researcher recently sent in some photographs of headstones of some people buried in Carpenter’s Campground Cemetery. It’s taken me a couple of months to scan them in, but I have finally added them to the burial listings on FindAGrave.  FindAGrave is a wonderful resource, and instead of posting headstone pictures on the Blount County TNGenWeb site, I prefer to contribute to FindAGrave. Patricia sent in photos of the following people and their pictures are now attached to their FindAGrave listings.

• Jas. Campbell Roddy - 1873-1934
• Sarah Snoddy - 1833-1899
• Samuel Grant Hinton - 1866-1928
• M. Ida Snoddy Hinton - 1873-1949
• E.H. Hinton - 1881-1920
• Iva Taylor Hinton - 1892-1920
• H.C. Hinton - 1856-1919
• Sallie Timmons Hinton - 1857-1948
• William R. Roddy - 1876-1945
• Nola Gardner Roddy - 1884-1944
• Fred Mason Roddy - 1905-1969
• Lockie E. Best - 1869-1894
• Malinda J. Tuck - 1848-1918
• Amanda Henton Byerly - 1821-1903
• Sanders C. Hinton - 1822-1899
• Dorcas Hinton - 1824-1890
• S. Calloway Hinton - 1854-1901
• Roy R. Hinton - 1888-1894
• Laura Roddy - 1871-1942
• Etta Tuck - 1872-1938
• Joseph Calloway Tuck - 1867-1949
• May Best Roddy - 1879-1962

Thanks to a contribution from a researcher, I’ve added the following death certificates to the Death Certificate listing page:

• Samuel Brown- d. 20 Apr 1919
• Ephraim Endsley - d. 30 Jan 1923
• Greenville Lee - d. 2 Aug 1918
• Hannah Lee - d. 3 Mar 1916

Since I became county coordinator in October 2007, one of the first projects I undertook was to redesign the site. Along with that, I decided to use Google Analytics for capturing statistics. So far, so good and I love the information that I get for the use of the site. I’d like to share some of that information.

From November 1, 2007 - February 29 2008

• There have been more than 10,000 visits from about 7500 visitors
• more than 67,000 page views
• those who come to the site spend on average about 5 minutes
• 47% of the traffic to the site comes from search engines and 35% is direct traffic (meaning, the address was typed in directly)
• The most popular part of the site are the cemetery listings with more than 5200 views. The marriage, newspaper, and query pages come in after that with about 3,000 page views each
• Visitors from more than 29 countries!

Not surprisingly, Tennessee users are the most frequent bunch - more than 3600 visits from Tennessee. New York comes in next with 776 visits, Texas with 643, California with 569. There has been at least one visit from every US state.

Internationally, the site has seen visits from Brazil, China, Australia, Norway, Finland, Spain, France, Turkey, Iraq, India, Thailand, the Philippines, Peru, Chile, Canada, Japan, Afghanistan, Germany and others.

Wow. Genealogists are everywhere aren’t we?

I also use Google Search on the site and while I don’t have it set up to generate reports from that, one day I plan to do so. I think it would be interesting to see what people are searching for.

One of the resources listed on the Lookups page is the Annals of Tennessee. Claudia has her name down as a person willing to do lookups. Well, a couple of weeks ago, she emailed me to let me know that the 1853 version was now available online at Google Books.

The Lookups page has been updated!

From The Maryville Enterprise Times
11 Oct 1906

The Social Whirl: Parties and Entertainments Divert the Young

Mrs.  Joe F. Reagan entertained the officers and teachers of the M.E. Church, South Sunday-school, together with the wives and husbands of the officers, on last Thursday evening at her beautiful home on Main street.  The time was spent in conversation, music and select readings after which delightful refreshments were served.  Those present and enjoying her hospitality were Rev. and Mrs. H.S. Booth, R.G. McNutt and wife, J.L. Keny and wife, Dr. C.B. Lawrence and wife, Mrs. Post and daughter, Eula, Mrs. A.K. Harper, W.B. Lawrence, Miss Mary Everett, Mrs. William C. Everett.

Misses Marie and Besty Clemmons delightfully entertained at six o’clock dinner last Wednesday at their elegant new home in the High School addition, in honor of Messrs. Montgomery Hannum and Robt. McReynolds.  The evening was spent in amusements after which the guests left declaring that the evening had been a delightful one.  Those present were Messrs. Montgomery Hannum, Whitle, Otto Pflanze, Rufus Cox, Robt. McReynolds, Misses Gussie and Johnnie McReynolds, Nellie McNutt.

Deaths as printed in the March 24, 1982 issue of the Maryville Enterprise Times. These have been added to the tngenweb site, either as links from the funeral home record, or as additions to the Misc. Obits page.

• Hannah, Mrs. Lee - died 1o Mar 1982
• Heilman, Donna Lowe - age 40, died 13 Mar 1982
• Brown, Gertrude - age 94, died 15 Mar 1982
• Haddox, Oscar D. - age 67, died 17 Mar 1982
• Duggan, Flora Jenkins - died 15 Mar 1982
• Burns, Charles Otis - age 73, died 18 Mar 1982
• Tulloch, Odna Virgle - age 82, died 19 Mar 1982
• Hitch, Earl - age 85, died 15 Mar 1982
• Ashbrook, Irma Rose - age 79, died 20 Mar 1982
• Roberts, Marie - age 74, died 21 Mar 1982
• Grindstaff, James David - age 78, died 17 Mar 1982

FindAGrave.com is a wonderful resource to check when looking for death information. Thanks to the efforts of countless people who take pictures in cemeteries, others are able to leverage this information.  I started contributing to FindAGrave myself about a year ago and continue to do so.

About a month ago, a Blount County researcher, Mike Adams, commented on the blog with a link to some pictures he’d taken in a few Blount County cemeteries.  I have just added these pictures to FindAGrave.  If you’re researching these surnames, you may want to check it out. Or, if you’ve not looked at FindAGrave in awhile, it might be helpful to search the site.  He took pictures of several Adams and Dunn headstones in Burns Cemetery; of Myers headstones in Myers Cemetery and Burchfields in the Burchfield-Wilson Cemetery.  Clicking on the name of the cemetery will take you to their corresponding FindAGrave page.