Contact us at sumnersettlers@yahoo.com.
Sumner County's collection of loose court papers is extensive and dates from the formation of the county in 1786. Consult the book Sumner County, Tennessee Index to the Loose Records: 1786 to 1930 by Shirley Wilson (available in many libraries and can still be purchased at the Sumner County Archives). It indexes and explains this huge collection. Copies of documents in this collection can be obtained from the Archives. Send an SASE and $5 search and processing fee for copies of the pages containing your family surname. There is a $20 fee for all returned checks. If you pay with a personal check please verify all information on your check is correct. If your phone number and valid driver’s license number is not printed on your check we will need you to write it on the check, preferable below your address.
If you already have access to this index, you may request an assessment of the cost of a particular lawsuit or estate. Be sure to send the same SASE and $5 search and processing fee. Because of the length of the lawsuits (some exceed 100 pages), the archives staff cannot search them for pertinent/specific information. When requesting copies of original Sumner County material posted on other websites, please recognize that the information posted may be all that is available (often the case in regard to tax lists) and include the source with your request so that the Archives can locate the material. Tax lists are particularly difficult because different and overlapping sources exist.
The Sumner County Archives has added a limited all name index which includes the Sumner County, Tennessee Index to the Loose Records: 1786-1930. Here you can search for your particular name before you send in your request. Case numbers are not listed on this index however it will save time by checking here before you mail in a search request.