Source:Goodspeed. History of Tennessee from the Earliest Times to the Present, Together with an Historical and a Biographical Sketch of

This source may refer to multiple editions of the same book. If it is important to you to refer to a specific edition, you may create a separate Source page for that edition with the year of the edition in parentheses after the title.

Background

From the TNGenWeb Project:

The Goodspeed Publishing Company of Nashville and Chicago issued A History of Tennessee from the Earliest Times to the Present, together with an Historical and a Biographical Sketch of … [County names go here] . . during 1886 and 1887. Unfortunately, the project was not completed and therefore not all Tennessee counties are represented in this series. A total of eighty-two counties were recorded, however, the histories of Davidson County and twelve rural counties of the Cumberland Plateau were never published.

The original volumes combined a general state history (repeated in each volume for the first 796 pages), followed by a group of county histories and related biographies. Most reprints have published the general state history as a one volume, and published the county history and biography section of the original work (page 797 forward) as separate volumes. Most reproductions have maintained the county groupings of Goodspeed (see reprints, below).

The orginal volumes were grouped as follows:

• Cannon, Coffee, DeKalb, Warren, and White Counties
• Carroll, Henry and Benton Counties
• Chester, McNairy, Decatur, and Hardin Counties
• City of Jackson and the County of Madison
• County of Knox and the city of Knoxville
• Fayette and Hardeman Counties
• Giles, Lincoln, Franklin and Moore Counties
• Hamilton, Knox and Shelby Counties
• Lauderdale, Tipton, Haywood and Crockett Counties
• Lawrence, Wayne, Perry, Hickman and Lewis Counties
• Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Bedford and Marshall
• Montgomery, Robertson, Humphreys, Stewart, Dickson, Cheatham, and Houston Counties
• Sumner, Smith, Macon and Trousdale Counties
• The History of Thirty East Tennessee Counties:

Anderson, Bledsoe, Blount, Bradley, Campbell, Clairborne, Cocke, Grainger, Greene, Hamblen, Hamilton, Hancock, Hawkins, James, Jefferson, Johnson, Knox, Loudon, McMinn, Meigs, Monroe, Morgan, Polk, Rhea, Roane, Sevier, Sullivan, Unicol, Union, and Washington [Only one Bledsoe County Biography appears in the Book. The entire Bledsoe County section was omitted by Goodspeed.]

Usage Tips

Digital versions of portions of this book may be read for free online at Goodspeed's History of Tennessee, courtesy: TNGenWeb Project. The online versions have been extracted county by county, and thus do not generally preserve the original pagination or groupings of the original Goodspeed volumes. The county sections of the original volumes have been collected on microfilm and may be ordered from the nearest Family History Center. WorldCat provides information on local libraries with copies of these titles.

FHL Filming of County sections from 1886/87 publication

• 899865: East Tennessee, county sections: James, Bradley, Polk, Monroe, McMinn, Meigs, Rhea, Roane, Loudon, Blount, Sevier, Anderson, Morgan, Campbell, Claiborne, Union, Grainger, Jefferson, Cocke, Hamblen, Hancock, Hawkins, Greene, Washington, Unicoi, Carter, Sullivan, Johnson, Knox, Hamilton
• 899866: Middle Tennessee, county sections: White, Warren, Coffee, DeKalb, Cannon, Sumner, Smith, Macon, Trousdale, Giles, Lincoln, Franklin, Moore, Montgomery, Robertson, Humphreys, Setwart, Dickson, Cheatham, Huston, Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Bedford, Marshall, Lawrence, Wayne, Perry, Hickman, Lewis
• 899867: West Tennessee, county sections: Carroll, Henry, Benton, Henderson, Chester, Decatur, McNairy, Hardin, Madison, Gibson, Obion, Weakley, Dyer, Lake, Lauderdale, Tipton, Haywood, Crockett, Fayette, Hardeman, Shelby

Reprints

For details about reprints, see Goodspeed's History of Tennessee. WorldCat provides information on local libraries with copies of these titles.

Because many of the reprint editions have modified the original title of the work, there are separate source pages in WeRelate for these editions. However, all of the reprints cited below are facsimile reprints of a portion of this original work. These reprint source pages should be used only when referencing a particular reprint edition of Goodspeed's work; if referencing the original work, this source page should be used in citations.

The Family History Library has collected the following reprints, which may be ordered from the nearest Family History Center. 

• Blount County History of Tennessee. (1887; reprint, n.p.:n.p., 200-?).
• Goodspeed's General History of Tennessee. (1886-1887; reprint, Nashville, Tenn.: C. and R. Elder Booksellers, 1973). Duplicate page
• The Goodspeed Histories of Fayette & Hardeman counties of Tennessee. (1886-1887; reprint, Columbia, Tenn.: Woodward & Stinson, 1973). Duplicate page
• The Goodspeed Histories of Giles, Lincoln, Franklin & Moore counties of Tennessee. (1886-1887; reprint, Columbia, Tenn.: Woodward & Stinson, 1972). Free digital version. Duplicate page
• The Goodspeed Histories of Lawrence, Wayne, Perry, Hickman and Lewis counties, Tennessee. (1886-1887; reprint, Columbia, Tenn.: Woodward & Stinson, 1975). Duplicate page
• The Goodspeed Histories of Madison County, Tennessee. (1886-1887; reprint: Columbia, Tenn.: Woodward & Stinson, 1972). Duplicate page
• The Goodspeed Histories of Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Bedford & Marshall Counties of Tennessee. (1886-1887; reprint, Columbia, Tenn.: Woodward & Stinson, 1971). Duplicate page
• The Goodspeed Histories of Montgomery, Robertson, Humphreys, Stewart, Dickson, Cheatham, Houston counties of Tennessee. (1886-1887; reprint, Columbia, Tenn.: Woodward & Stinson, 1972). Duplicate page
• The Goodspeed Histories of Sumner, Smith, Macon, Trousdale counties of Tennessee. (1886-1887; reprint, Columbia, Tenn.: Woodward & Stinson, 1972). Duplicate page
• Goodspeed's History of Hamilton, Knox and Shelby counties of Tennessee. (1886-1887; reprint, Nashville, Tenn.: C. and R. Elder Booksellers, 1974). Duplicate page
• Goodspeed's History of Tennessee Containing Historical and Biographical Sketches of Thirty East Tennessee Counties: Anderson, Blount, Bradley, Campbell, Carter, Claiborne, Cocke, Grainger, Greene, Hamblen, Hamilton, Hancock, Hawkins, James, Jefferson, Johnson, Knox, Loudon, McMinn, Meigs, Monroe, Morgan, Polk, Rhea, Roane, Sevier, Sullivan, Unicoi, Union, Washington. (1886-1887; reprint, Nashville, Tenn.: C. and R. Elder Booksellers, 1972). Duplicate page
• McDowell, Samuel R. East Tennessee History: Reprinted from Goodspeed's History of Tennessee. (1886-1887; reprint, Hartford, Ky.: McDowell Publications, 1978). Duplicate page

Name Indexes

Third parties have compiled personal name indexes for select counties, and the State of Tennessee has an index to all the biographies included in the series.

• Dean, Vera L. Family Name Index to Goodspeed's History of Wayne County, Tennessee, 1886. (Richmond, Calif.: V.L. Dean, 1976). Duplicate page
• McNamara, Billie R. Index to Goodspeed's History of Tennessee: 1887 edition, Jefferson, Cocke, Grainger, Hamblen & Sevier County Chapters. (Knoxville, Tenn.: B.R. McNamara, 1995). Duplicate page
• Waller, Jane Warren. Index, Goodspeed's History of Tennessee, Lincoln County Chapter, Pages 767-784 and 876-924. (Batavia, Ill.: n.p., 1971). Duplicate page
• Wimberly, Vera Meek. The Goodspeed Histories of Sumner, Smith, Macon, Trousdale counties of Tennessee Index. (Conroe, Texas: Montgomery County Genealogical and Historical Society, 1989). Duplicate page