The legal records abstracted in this volume of entries from the Superior Court of Law and Equity Mero District of Tennessee cover all of early middle Tennessee from the years 1803 to 1805 and pre-date any surviving census of the region which makes them all the more valuable to genealogists and historians. By providing details, which are grounded in fact and official records, they contribute depth and substance to our understanding of daily life in early America. Debts and divorces, domestic and business disputes as well as more heinous misdeeds like forgery, robbery and murder are described briefly and the results of these proceedings are given in straight-forward paragraphs which supply names, and when given, the occupations of those parties involved. Hundreds of surnames, indexed for easy reference, are available in this book, and many of the people named may not be found in other existing documents. Mentioned frequently among the records is Andrew Jackson in the role of judge, witness, plaintiff and defendant. Some of the legal outcomes are unpredictable and perhaps foreshadow the future with their surprising resolutions. These early legal abstracts offer a unique perspective on the first settlers of America who, while struggling to survive in a rough and uncertain landscape, looked to old traditions of law and order to help define their new society. Perhaps this is why so many of them, memorialized in lists in this book, traveled over 200 miles to fulfill their obligation of jury duty. Now you can share the details of legal matters that they were willing to journey so far to hear.

Tennessee genealogists and historians will revere this text. Its information has been taken from the original Davidson County deed books. The work includes transcripts of deeds and new indexes of the data. Such a text as this, however, was needed because the original index is arranged solely by the names each transaction was registered under. In most cases, many more names lie within the body of the document. The author of this book has endeavored to make every recorded name accessible, via index, to aid the researcher. These records identify family members (and relationships) for both white and black families in Davidson County between 13 February 1829 and 27 August 1835, a time when the census identified only the white "head of household;" a time when many wills identified only the husband, leaving his property "to my beloved wife and children;" a time when there was no other record for the slave family. The book's index listing refers to the original deed book page entry. Included are the deed records, whose inventories of personal property give a truly unique picture of the society of the day. Indexes cover first and last names, slave names, and places.

This is an abstracted copy of the surviving docket book of the Superior Court, which was replaced by the various County Circuit Courts and the Supreme Court in 1809. The Minute Book or Books for this period either do not survive or have not been found. Th