Lake County
Lake County was formed in 1870 from Obion County
(Acts of Tennessee 1870, Chapter 30).
The county seat is Tiptonville.
SELECTED PUBLISHED COUNTY HISTORIES
- History and Families : Lake County, Tennessee, 1870-1992 (Lake County Historical Society, 1993) [surname index]*
- History of Tennessee From the Earliest Times to the Present : Together with an Historical and a Biographical Sketch of Gibson, Obion, Dyer, Weakley and Lake Counties (Goodspeed, 1978)*
- Lake County Memories : History in Newsprint and Pictures (Davis, 1998) [surname index]*
Additional county and community histories can be found at the Bibliography of Tennessee Local History Sources: Lake County. The items in the bibliography may not all be available at the Tennessee State Library and Archives.
PUBLISHED LOCAL RECORDS
- 1880 Census Lake County, Tennessee (Sistler, 2002) [alphabetical by surname]
- Churches of Lake County, Tennessee, Past and Present (Lake County Historical Society, 1986)
- Dyer Co., Tennessee, Gibson Co., Tennessee, Lake Co., Tennessee, Obion Co., Tennessee, Weakley Co., Tennessee : Enumeration of Male Inhabitants of Twenty-One (Reed, 1990)
- Lake County Veterans of World War II (Lake County Historical Society, 1998) [alphabetical listings]
- Private Acts of Lake County, Tennessee (McIntyre, 1993)
LOCAL RECORDS ON MICROFILM
An inventory of microfilmed Lake County records is available on our web site. Individual reels of microfilm may also be purchased.
Earliest records include:
- marriages from 1883
- wills from 1871
- deed index from 1870
- chancery court minutes from 1896
- county court minutes from 1870
- circuit court minutes from 1892
- tax books from 1912
NEWSPAPERS ON MICROFILM
Newspapers were published in Ridgely and Tiptonville. Scattered early issues are available from 1908, and a complete run begins in 1937. Microfilms are loaned to Tennessee libraries. Individual reels may also be purchased. An Inventory of Newspapers on Microfilm at the Library and Archives is available on our web site.
- Henley Collection. Lake County, 1968-1982 (Microfilm Manuscript #721, 1 reel)*
CENSUS RECORDS
- Census on microfilm for Lake County: 1880, 1900-1930
- State-wide census index: 1880
- State-wide census index on microfilm (Soundex): 1880, 1900-1930
ADDITIONAL RESEARCH AIDS FOR LAKE COUNTY
- County Index to Tennessee Confederate Pension Applications
- Early Tennessee Tax Lists at the Tennessee State Library and Archives
- Funeral Home Records at the Tennessee State Library and Archives
- Index to Tennessee Death Records 1908-1912
- Index to Tennessee Death Records 1914-1933
- School Census Records
- Tennessee World War I Veterans
* Indicates this title may be borrowed on interlibrary loan from the Library and Archives.
