Follow Friday – Tennessee Marriages, Divorces, and Deaths Indexed

Most of my ancestors were born, married and died in Tennessee and one of the resources that I find myself using on an almost daily basis is the Shelby County Register of Deeds website. You will find extensive (though I am told only partial) indexes of Marriages and Divorces 1980 –2005, and more importantly Deaths 1949-2005 that occurred throughout the state of Tennessee. This has been a great resource that I can not recommend highly enough. I have been able to locate information on whether a person was married, widowed or divorced at time of death and many maiden names of relatives that I was never sure had been married or divorced. As someone who’s research can sometimes be restricted by the need for more recent vital records that aren’t typically available to extended family, having such recent indexes is great. If you have ancestors or relatives that live in Memphis all the better because they have an amazing offering of Memphis and Shelby County records.. unfortunately none of my ancestors ever settled there.