MONROE COUNTY, TN
CHANCERY COURT
LOOSE RECORDS
The first Court in Tennessee was the Circuit Court. Around 1830 the court system became over crowded and the State saw a need to start a Chancery Court system. The first Chancery Courts in Tennessee were Districts Courts, encompassing several counties. The Monroe County, TN Chancery Court was established as a District Court for the counties of Monroe, McMinn, and Blount. The first Chancery Court was began and held at the Courthouse in the Town of Madisonville on the 2nd day of April, 1832. James A. Coffin was appointed Clerk and Master. (In the time period of McMinn County's establishment, 1819, until the Great Removal in 1838-39, McMinn County, judicially speaking, was considered to stretch from the Monroe County line to the Georgia state line....even though it was Cherokee lands.)
Blount County established its own Chancery Court in 1850, but Monroe County remained a District Court for both Monroe and McMinn until 1871
Therefore, these Chancery Court loose records encompass the counties of Monroe, McMinn, and Blount.
These loose records coincide with the Monroe County, TN Chancery Court Minute Book 1832-1842. When the loose record does not contain a docket number, it has been given the docket number of “P-(number)”, which means the case can be found in the Monroe County, TN Chancery Court Minute Book for 1832-1842 on that particular page.
These loose records consist of original complaints, answers, depositions, final decrees, and summons, etc. Some files are complete, while some consist of only a few pages.
Copies from the original loose records will be limited to those that are deemed sturdy enough to be copied.
Please email any copy requests to [email protected]
(These records and the formation of the District Court is a very recent discovery for our Archivist. The importance of the discovery of this fact will explain many records thought missing for McMinn and Blount Counties.
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CHANCERY COURT RECORD INDEX 1832-1842
Chancery Court Records Index 1843-1852
A thru D E thru H I thru L M thru P Q thru T U thru Z
The article inserted below will help explain the Chancery Court changes.
