Washington County Genealogy
- Formed 1777
- Parent county / earlier Washington District (North Carolina western lands)
- County seat Jonesborough
- Neighbors Sullivan, Carter, Greene, Unicoi, And Virginia Border Counties
Washington County, Tennessee — priority research hub. Formed 1777. See history and record notes below; verify holdings at Tennessee State Library and Archives (TSLA).
In-depth topics
- Getting started in Washington
- Land & deeds research notes
- Probate & estates research notes
- Newspapers & obituaries
- Churches & cemeteries
- Research session order
- Free stacks first
- Tax lists & local assessments — Washington
- Military service & pensions — Washington
- Migration & neighbor counties — Washington
- African American research notes — Washington
- Repositories & film strategy — Washington
- Quick research checklist — Washington
- Churches & registers — Washington
- Newspapers & legal notices — Washington
- Cemeteries & burial evidence — Washington
- City & business directories — Washington
- Maps, plats & boundaries — Washington
Towns & communities
History notes
Washington County (seat Jonesborough) is among Tennessee’s oldest organized counties and a key to upper East Tennessee and State of Franklin context.
Place labels before and after Franklin/territorial eras require year-first method. Virginia border kin are common—use the Virginia sister site when FAN clubs jump the line.
Historical markers in Washington County
- 1A 5 William Bean’s Cabin
About 1.5 miles east, beside Boone's Creek, a monument marks where William Bean, called the first permanent white settler in Tennessee, built his cabin in 1769 on a former Daniel Boone hunting camp. His son Russell Bean is named as the first child born to permanent settlers.
- 1A 6 Christopher Taylor House
Christopher Taylor, a French and Indian War veteran and Revolutionary major, built this log house in 1777 and is buried in the family cemetery nearby. Andrew Jackson lived here in 1788 and 1789 while practicing law in Jonesborough; the house was moved to this site in 1974.
- 1A 22 History of Knob Creek
Peter Range, an early immigrant from New Jersey, bought land here between 1804 and 1808, ran Twin Falls Grist Mill and built the stone house still standing. His limestone marker reads "P. Range, Oct. 10, 1817, In Memory."
- 1A 23 David Crockett
A limestone slab 1.8 miles southwest, near where Limestone Creek meets the Nolichucky, marks the site where David Crockett was born in 1786. He later served in the legislature and Congress and died at the Alamo in 1836.
- 1A 24 Buffalo Ridge Church
Buffalo Ridge, founded in 1779 by Rev. Tidence Lane, was the first Baptist church on Tennessee soil. The church moved to Gray's Station but the cemetery remains, where the second pastor, Rev. Jonathan Mulkey (1752 to 1826), is buried.
- 1A 25 Jacob Brown
Jacob Brown, from South Carolina, settled on the Nolichucky in 1771 and bought two tracts from the Cherokee on March 25, 1775. His sandstone marker reads "Jacob Brown, d. Jan. 25, 1785," and his grandson Byrd Brown built the nearby brick house about 1800.
- 1A 26 Jesse Duncan
Jesse Duncan, killed by Indians in 1765 and said to be the first white man known slain in this area, is buried on a ridge 2.25 miles east, where a monument marks the grave.
- 1A 27 Daniel Boone
Nearby are the waterfall where Daniel Boone is said to have hidden from a raiding party and the site of the beech tree carved "D. Boon Cilled a bar in year 1760."
- 1A 28 Warner Institute
Built by the Holston Baptist Association in 1854, this Jonesborough building housed a Baptist female institute and boys' schools until Yardley Warner, a Quaker, bought it in 1876 to educate Black students and train Black teachers. Julia B. Nelson and the American Missionary Association ran Warner Institute until 1910.
- 1A 28 DeVault Tavern / Warner Institute
Frederick DeVault finished this two-story brick tavern, 2.5 miles west, in 1821 as a stagecoach stop on the route from Abingdon through Blountville, Jonesborough and Greeneville to Knoxville. Useful for picturing how families traveled into the region.
- 1A 29 Thomas Embree
In 1791 Pennsylvania stonemason Seth Smith built this house for Thomas Embree, Quaker father of abolitionist Elihu Embree and ironmaster Elijah Embree; the family came from New Jersey. Sarah Hawkins, John Sevier's first wife, is buried near the house.
- 1A 30 Washington College
Rev. Samuel Doak founded Martin Academy in 1780; it was renamed Washington College in 1795 on John Sevier's motion. Doak died in 1829 at 80 and is buried on the campus.
- 1A 31 Washington-Carter
Carter County, formed in 1796 from Washington County, is named for Landon Carter, a Franklin official and militia officer. Families on the Carter side of this line appear in Washington County records before 1796.
- 1A 32 Washington-Carter
A Washington and Carter county line marker on TN 67. THC lists it as no longer standing and gives no text for it in the marker layer.
- 1A 50 First Court of Washington County
On February 23, 1778, the first court of Washington County, North Carolina, met 0.6 mile northeast at Col. Charles Robertson's house, with John Carter as chairman, John Sevier as clerk, John McMahon as register, Valentine Sevier as sheriff and James Stuart as surveyor. The county's oldest court and land records begin here.
- 1A 55 Providence Church
Rev. Samuel Doak organized Providence Presbyterian Church in 1780. Hanover Presbytery met here on August 20, 1783, and the next day ordained Rev. Sam Houston, the first Presbyterian minister ordained in Tennessee.
- 1A 56 Boone’s Creek Church
Rev. James Miller organized Boone's Creek Christian Church in 1825, and the first recorded conference of Christian churches in East Tennessee met here on August 17, 1829. Elders Jeriel Dodge, Robert M. Shankland, John Wallace and William Slaughter reported 472 members in East Tennessee and southwest Virginia.
- 1A 57 Salem Church
Salem Church, organized by Samuel Doak in 1780, hosted the formation of Abingdon Presbytery in August 1785, the first presbytery on Tennessee soil. Members were Hezekiah Balch, Charles Cummins, Samuel Houston, Adam Rankin and David Rice.
- 1A 58 Freed African Americans Win First Inheritance Suit
When Lloyd Ford Sr. died in 1843 he freed his five enslaved children, John, Peg, Edward, Larkin and Rhoda, and left them land here. With Phoebe Stuart suing as their "next friend," they won in Washington County and on appeal in Ford v. Ford. The case file and will are rich sources for this family.
- 1A 58 Science Hill Male & Female Institute
Tipton Jobe gave land on February 14, 1867, and members of the Science Hill Literary Society built the area's first brick building for the school, dedicated October 27, 1867. Its successor is Science Hill High School.
- 1A 59 Cherokee Church-Holston Baptist Association
Cherokee Baptist Church was organized in September 1783, and the Holston Association, Tennessee's first Baptist association, was formed here in October 1786 with Tidence Lane as moderator and William Murphy as clerk. Association minutes can trace member churches.
- 1A 60 Robin’s Roost
William T. Graham built this Johnson City house in 1890. Gov. Robert Love Taylor bought and named it in 1892, and his brother Alfred Alexander Taylor, governor from 1921 to 1923, owned it from 1900 to 1903.
- 1A 74 Gillespie Stone House
Quaker mason Seth Smith of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, built this stone house in 1792 for George Gillespie on the site of an early fort that marked the 1783 Washington and Greene county line. Jacob Klepper bought it in 1842 and his descendants have kept it.
- 1A 75 William Nelson Home
William Nelson, a Virginia native and Revolutionary veteran, lived a mile north; Bishop Francis Asbury held Methodist conferences at his house in 1793, 1796 and 1797. A lead for Nelson family research and early Methodist records.
- 1A 79 Old Dutch Meeting House
Immanuel Lutheran Church and cemetery, 1.25 miles away, was organized about 1807, reported to the North Carolina Synod in 1811, and joined the Tennessee Synod in 1820. Services were in German and English; the church disbanded about 1870, so its records may be in synod archives.
- 1A 81 Jonesboro: Oldest Town in Tennessee
North Carolina established Jonesborough in 1779 as seat of Washington County, the first county west of the mountains, and the State of Franklin was organized here in 1784. The courthouse here holds some of the oldest records in Tennessee.
- 1A 82 First Abolition Publications
In 1819 and 1820 Elihu Embree edited, and Jacob Howard printed, The Manumission Intelligencer and The Emancipator here, the first U.S. periodicals devoted only to ending slavery.
- 1A 86 State Flag
Col. LeRoy Reeves of Johnson City designed the Tennessee state flag adopted in 1905; it was first raised by Company F of the National Guard on October 10, 1911, at East Tennessee State Normal School.
- 1A 87 State Seal
Silversmiths William and Matthew Atkinson, who designed the Great Seal of Tennessee, had their shop on Jonesborough's main street. The seal was first used on April 24, 1802, by Gov. Archibald Roane; John Sevier used personal seals before that, which matters when reading early state documents.
- 1A 88 Samuel Cole Williams January 15, 1864-December 14, 1947
Judge Samuel Cole Williams (January 15, 1864 to December 14, 1947), lawyer, teacher and Tennessee Supreme Court justice, chaired the revived Tennessee Historical Commission and wrote and edited many works on early Tennessee that family historians still use.
- 1A 89 Brush Creek Campground
On September 2, 1811, James Nelson deeded four acres to trustees William Nelson, William Duzan, James King, Jacob Hoss and John R. Boring for a Methodist meeting house and campground. During the Civil War Col. Robert Love's 62nd North Carolina camped here.
- 1A 90 Chester Inn
Dr. William P. Chester of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, built the Chester Inn in 1797. Presidents Jackson, Polk and Andrew Johnson and Gov. John Sevier stayed here.
- 1A 92 Thomas Emmerson
Thomas Emmerson, born in Brunswick County, Virginia, on June 23, 1773, was Knoxville's first mayor and a state supreme court judge, and later edited the Washington Republican and Farmer's Journal near Jonesborough. He died July 22, 1837, and is buried 100 yards north.
- 1A 93 Johnson City Incorporated December 1, 1869
Johnson City was known in turn as Green Meadows, Blue Plum, Johnson's Depot and Haynesville before taking its name from merchant and postmaster Henry Johnson; it was chartered in 1869, lost its charter in 1879 and reincorporated in 1885. The earlier names are worth searching. It sits on 1782 grants to Robert and Joseph Young and a 1792 grant to Joseph Tipton.
- 1A 95 Alfred Eugene Jackson
Alfred Eugene Jackson, born January 1807, was a founder and financial agent of the East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad and a Confederate brigadier general in East Tennessee and southwest Virginia. He died in 1889 and is buried in the Old Cemetery in Jonesborough.
- 1A 101 East Tennessee State University
East Tennessee State Normal School, created in 1909 on land given by George L. Carter, became a teachers college in 1925, a college in 1943 and a university in 1963. The name changes help when dating a diploma or alumni record.
- 1A 104 Fall Branch Community Educational Center
The Fall Branch Seminary opened in a one-room brick building in 1842, burned at the end of the Civil War, and was followed by the community's first graded school in 1889; it joined the county system in 1907.
- 1A 106 Dungan-St. John Mill
Jeremiah Dungan built this stone manor and mill in 1778 on land bought from the Watauga Association, and it was taxed by North Carolina in 1779. His family ran it until 1866, when they sold it to George W. St. John, whose family has operated it since, making the 1779 North Carolina tax lists a source for the Dungans.
- 1A 109 Alfred Martin Ray Buffalo Soldier
Alfred Martin Ray, born enslaved on the Ray farm near Jonesborough, served in the Army from 1872 to 1903, first with the 10th U.S. Cavalry, and planted the flag on San Juan Hill on July 1, 1898. He bought Woodrow Avenue property in 1904 and is buried in College Hill Cemetery.
- 1A 110 Langston High School
Langston High School, Johnson City's first public high school for Black students, opened in 1893, graduated its first class in 1897 and its last in 1963 before desegregation. Named for Congressman John Mercer Langston.
- 1A 111 Tipton-Haynes Historic Site
Home of John Tipton, Revolutionary officer and opponent of the State of Franklin; a skirmish between the factions was fought here February 27 to 29, 1788. Later owners were John Tipton Jr. and Landon Carter Haynes, Confederate senator.
- 1A 112 Tipton-Haynes Cemetery
The Tipton-Haynes cemetery holds John Tipton (1730 to 1813) and his second wife Martha Denton Moore, and publisher Lawson Gifford (1810 to 1879), his wife Mary Taylor Haynes (1818 to 1904) and some of their descendants.
- 1A 113 Battle of Limestone Station
On September 8, 1863, the 100th Ohio Infantry was surrounded at the bridge here by more than 1,000 of Gen. Alfred E. Jackson's men; 6 Union soldiers died and over 250 were captured, 85 of whom died in Confederate prisons. A lead for Ohio soldiers' prisoner and pension files.
- 1A 114 Knob Creek Church of the Brethren
Elder Samuel Garber of Virginia organized Knob Creek Church of the Brethren about 1799, the first Brethren congregation in Tennessee, with Isaac Hammer as first minister. Services were held in English and German, in homes until a log church was built in 1834.
- 1A 118 Tree Streets Historic District
James T. Young built the first recorded house here around 1780 with a burial ground beside it, and his 1812 brick house at 1117 Cedar Place is the oldest occupied house in Johnson City. A small family burial ground is worth asking about for Young descendants.
- 1A 120 Colored Christian Church and Colored School
Built in 1889 as the Colored Christian Church, now West Main Street Christian Church, this was also a school for Black children from 1889 to 1891. Dr. Hezekiah B. Hankal founded the church about 1869, and William Wolfe was principal of the school from 1888 to 1907.
- 1A 121 Keystone Pottery
German immigrant Charles F. Decker opened Keystone Pottery here in 1872. Besides household ware, the family made decorated grave markers, so a Decker stoneware marker in an area cemetery may date from these years.
- 1A 124 Battle of Blountville
On September 22, 1863, Confederates under Col. James E. Carter fought a Union brigade under John W. Foster at Blountville (Sullivan County); shells set the courthouse afire and much of the town burned. The courthouse fire matters for Sullivan County records lost in 1863.
- 1A 125 The Tester Brothers
Robert D., Glenn W. and James E. Tester, sons of Millard and Eliza Tester of New Victory, were killed in Europe in World War II and are buried side by side at Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery in Belgium.
- 1A 127 Dr. Hezekiah B. Hankal
Dr. Hezekiah B. Hankal, ordained by Boones Creek Christian Church in 1866, founded five churches, practiced medicine, supervised Black schools from 1873, was elected a Johnson City alderman in 1887 and helped found Langston Normal School in 1893. He is buried in West Lawn Cemetery.
- 1A 128 Warner Institute
Built by the Holston Baptist Association in 1854, this building housed Baptist and boys' schools until Quaker Yardley Warner bought it in 1876 for Warner Institute, which educated Black students and trained teachers until 1910 under Julia B. Nelson and the American Missionary Association.
- 1A 129 Fiddlin’ Charlie Bowman
A marker for the old-time fiddler Charlie Bowman. The THC layer currently repeats another marker's text for this entry, so we do not summarize it here; open the THC viewer for the official text. Bowman also appears on the Johnson City Sessions marker (1A 141).
- 1A 133 Andre Michaux
French botanist Andre Michaux visited present-day Tennessee in 1789, 1793, 1795 and 1796 and stayed at Col. John Tipton's home in May 1795 and March 1796, recording spring wildflowers.
- 1A 134 East Tennessee & Western North Carolina (ET & WMC) Depot
Built in 1891 as a union depot for the ET&WNC ("Tweetsie") and the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia railroads, it served passengers until 1940. A likely departure point for families leaving the mountains by rail.
- 1A 135 National Soldiers’ Home
The Mountain Branch of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, approved January 28, 1901, opened in October 1903 and housed over 2,500 Civil War and Spanish-American War veterans at its peak. National Home registers often give a veteran's service, birthplace and next of kin.
- 1A 139 Sulphur Springs Camp Meeting Grounds
Methodists have held camp meetings at Sulphur Springs since 1820; the first shed went up in 1842 and the present one in 1900. Families stayed two to three weeks, first in brush arbors and later in cabins.
- 1A 141 Johnson City Sessions
In October 1928 Frank Walker of Columbia Records recorded local musicians at 334 East Main Street, including Charlie Bowman and his brothers, Clarence Greene and the Roane County Ramblers, and returned in 1929 to record Clarence "Tom" Ashley.
- 1A 144 Desegregation of East Tennessee State College (University) 1956 and 1958
In January 1956 Langston teacher Eugene Caruthers became the first Black graduate student at East Tennessee State College, and in August 1958 Elizabeth Watkins Crawford, Clarence McKinney, George L. Nichols and Mary Luellen Owens Wagner enrolled as its first Black undergraduates.
- 1A 152 Keebler-Keefauver Home
Joseph Keebler's brick house was built in 1858 and 1859. In 1950 his grandson Joseph G. Keebler sold it with 120 acres to Weldon Faw and Malinda B. Keefauver, who sold it in 1964 to their son William J. and his wife Jean L. Keefauver. A chain of owners useful for both families.
- 1A 154 Johnson City Home of Mountain Dew
Tri-City Beverage, owned by Charles O. Gordon, bottled Mountain Dew here from 1954, and plant manager Bill Bridgeforth created the citrus flavor that went into Mountain Dew bottles in 1960.
- 1A 156 Rich-N-Tone Records
James Hobart "Hobe" Stanton founded Rich-R-Tone Records, the first label devoted to bluegrass, and recorded over half of its 220 songs at 113 West Main Street between 1946 and 1952.
- 1A 157 Ford vs. Ford
Loyd Ford (1748 to 1843) freed five enslaved people and left them this farm; his children contested the will. In 1846 the Tennessee Supreme Court, in Judge Nathan Green's opinion in Ford v. Ford, upheld their right to sue to probate the will, and they kept their freedom and land.
- 1A 158 Freed African Americans Win First Inheritance Suit
When Lloyd Ford Sr. died in 1843 he freed his five enslaved children, John, Peg, Edward, Larkin and Rhoda, and left them land here. With Phoebe Stuart suing as their next friend, they won in Washington County and on appeal in Ford v. Ford.
- 1A 159 Plum Grove
During his first three terms as governor (1796 to 1801), John Sevier lived at Plum Grove on the north side of the Nolichucky, bought from John Clark Sr.; the river gave him the nickname "Nolichucky Jack."
- 1A 161 Wassom Farm
The Wassom farmhouse, built about 1828, stayed in the Wassom family until 2015, and many family members are buried in nearby Earnest Chapel Cemetery, founded in 1808. Part of the 1863 Battle of Limestone Station was fought on the farm.
- 1A 162 Johnson City Post Office
Johnson City's post office opened here in January 1911, was Tennessee's first Postal Savings Bank and served six rural routes; from 1940 to 1985 it was the Ashe Street Courthouse. If a county record from those years says Ashe Street, this is the building.
- 1A 163 Johnson City Senior Center
The Johnson City Senior Center was founded in 1961 at 607 E. Myrtle Avenue and in 2000 became the first senior center in Tennessee accredited by the National Council on Aging.
- 1A 164 Sherrill's Station
Sherrill's Station stood here in the bend of the Nolichucky from about 1776 to 1788. Samuel Sherrill and his sons Capt. Adam, Samuel Jr. and George Davidson Sherrill fought at King's Mountain, Boyd's Creek and Moncks Corner, leads for Revolutionary service and pension records.
- 1E 64 Isaac Hammer
Isaac Hammer, a Pennsylvania-born Church of the Brethren minister, built a two-story log house in 1793 on the Old Stage Road, often a stop for travelers. He is buried on the hill above the house.
- 1E 139 Roosevelt Memorial Stadium
The WPA built Roosevelt Memorial Stadium between 1933 and 1935 for the Science Hill and Langston High School football teams, and the Burley Bowl was played here from 1945 to 1956. It was demolished in 2010; the gate and the World War I Doughboy statue were preserved.
Structured transcriptions
-
Sample: Washington County TN deed-style abstracts (method demo)
Grantor Grantee Year Book:page Sample, Grantor Sample, Grantee 1790 A:5 Sample, A Sample, B 1810 B:22 Sample, C Sample, D 1830 C:9 -
Washington County finding-aid batch (parity expansion)
Grantor Grantee Year Book:page Grantor01, Example Grantee01, Example 1760 A:5 Grantor02, Example Grantee02, Example 1768 B:9 Grantor03, Example Grantee03, Example 1776 C:13 Grantor04, Example Grantee04, Example 1784 — Grantor05, Example 1792 — Grantor06, Example Grantee06, Example 1800 F:25 -
Washington County TN deed finding-aid batch (method)
Grantor Grantee Year Book:page PartyA01, Example PartyB01, Example 1790 A:10 PartyA02, Example PartyB02, Example 1797 B:13 PartyA03, Example PartyB03, Example 1804 C:16 PartyA04, Example PartyB04, Example 1811 — PartyA05, Example 1818 — PartyA06, Example PartyB06, Example 1825 F:25 -
Washington County, Tennessee Deed volunteer abstracts (USGenWeb Archives)
Grantor Grantee Year Book:page North Carolina William Frames North Carolina Jacob Hederick North Carolina William Hughes NC Grant Wm Hughes Washington Co 1796 1
Cemeteries & burial research
- Washington County cemeteries & churchyards
Societies & repositories
- Washington County public library / local history desk
- Washington County historical / genealogical societies
- Tennessee State Library & Archives (TSLA)
- Tennessee State Library and Archives (TSLA)
- Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture
- TeVA Digital Collections
- Chronicling America / TN newspaper research
- Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture
Vital records
Pre-statehood and early state events rarely have civil certificates—use church, court, and land.
Census
Federal schedules with early reconstruction via tax/land; Johnson City urban layers later.
Courthouse & contacts
Washington County courthouse, Jonesborough. Confirm early book survival and TSLA film.
If not found here, try…
- Formed 1777
- Parent / earlier jurisdiction Washington District (North Carolina western lands) — check district-era records before this county existed (districts guide).
Neighboring counties (deeds, marriages, newspapers, and kin often cross the line):
What to do next
Sources & further reading
- Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture
- County formation & boundaries
- Place-names & communities
- Tennessee State Library and Archives (TSLA)
- Chronicling America / TN newspaper research
- Chronicling America (Library of Congress)
- FamilySearch Wiki · TNGenWeb