"The County and Circuit Court Minutes abstracted in this book are new to family historians. So untouched for the last 170 years that the pages have never been numbered, these minutes open to us new insights on life in Dickson County in the early 1800s." Court minutes may provide the missing link in some family histories. Questions about family relationships may be answered by paternity suits; relatives may be found when orphans are given guardians or impoverished folk are provided with care-givers. For example: "Richd M Jones allowed $36 each for maintaining for one year Jno, Robt, & Mary Jordan minor orphans of Seth B Jordan decd." These minutes contain all of the county court business for the years 1816-1828, including divorces, administration of estates, deeds of conveyance, debts, and more. Presiding officials, names of jurors, and names of parties involved in the court proceedings are also included. The witness docket names the principal parties in each case, the witness, and the number of days and miles they spent travelling to court. (Sometimes witnesses were called from other counties or even other states.) These minutes were abstracted from microfilm and appear in chronological order. Every name written in the original minutes is in this book, which includes a handy index.
