Order Cases Online
The files located in the Tennessee Supreme Court Cases represent an especially valuable resource for historical and genealogical research at the Tennessee State Library and Archives [TSLA].
Use quotes for an exact search. ex. "J. W."
View Entry | Year | Case Name | County | Cause/Crime | Case Description | Division | Location | # Pages | Order |
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View Entry | 1935 | Brookside Mills v. Railway Express Agency | Knox | Child Custody |
REA wanted to collect $741.13 due on a check executed by the Brookside Mills and drawn on the mills' account at the East Tennessee National Bank of Knoxville. Local REA agent John I. Dale had no authority to endorse a check made to his company, so he sent it to the main office in Atlanta where it was deposited. However, the check was not paid by the ETNB because it had suspended operations. Sole question being argued was whether plaintiff presented check for payment with reasonable time. |
East | Range: 6 Section: D Shelf: Box Number: 876 | 65 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1869 | Barbara Maurer et al. v. Jacob Keeny | Hamilton | Child Custody |
Additional Plaintiff: Annie Mauer. Both defendants are minors and represented by their Next Friend Joseph Ruohs. The defendants state that their deceased father, before dying, asked Ruohs to administer his estate and take custody of his daughters. Plaintiffs accuse Keeny of unjustly filing for guardianship. Plaintiffs state Keeny is unsuited to be guardian due in part to his lack of belief in the Bible. |
East | Range: 9 Section: E Shelf: Box Number: 1182 | 73 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1874 | Christopher Brewer v. Abraham Jefferson | Fayette | Child Custody |
The issue is paternity. Two men claim to be the father of an orphan child, Brewer insisting that the mother, Florida Mason, told him on her death bed that he is the father, and he wants to adopt her and make her legitimate. Jefferson insists someone named York Cooper is the father, and Cooper wants Jefferson to continue caring for the child. |
West | Range: 84 Section: C Shelf: Box Number: 38 | 0 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1843 | Charles B. Crawford v. Benjamin Clayton | Rutherford | Child Custody | Middle | Range: 33 Section: A Shelf: Box Number: 385 | 20 | Order A Copy | |
View Entry | 1921 | E. Busher et al. v. State ex. Rel H. M. White | Davidson | Child Custody |
Claimant, a widower, is sued to regain custody of his daughter, age 3, who has been in the care of his wife's mother since the wife died. |
Middle | Range: 21 Section: J Shelf: Box Number: 169 | 0 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1855 | Eliza Ann Buxton alias Eliza Ann Jenno v. Catlett G. Hurtt | Morgan | Illegitimate Child/Bastardy |
"Catlett G. Hurtt who has been accused on oath by me Eliza A. Buxton otherwise called Eliza A. Jenno, a single woman of having begotten the female bastard child called Sarah Ann, of which she was delivered in said County on or about the 21st day of November, 1852, to be dealt with as the law directs." |
East | Range: 9 Section: E Shelf: Box Number: 1164 | 19 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1933 | Florence Dale v. N. S. Dale | Shelby | Child Support |
Pltf. sued dfnt., an employee of the I. C. R. E. and NonConnah, for child support, noting dfnt. had not paid anything toward support of child (unnamed). |
West | Range: 76 Section: A Shelf: Box Number: 2170 | 16 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1905 | Hyman Scheffler v. Mrs. Adolph (Mattie) Schaffer | Shelby | Child Custody |
Custody of child, Rosa, whose father- Hyman Scheffler, sues for custody over stepmother, Mrs. Adolph (Mattie) Schaffer. |
West | Range: 80 Section: A Shelf: Box Number: 999 | 189 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1825 | John Lawson v. James Scott | White | Illegitimate Child/Bastardy |
James Scott was accused of having illegitimate child with Elizabeth Campbell. The child was named Rochell Scott. |
Middle | Range: 21 Section: J Shelf: Box Number: 185 | 0 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1949 | Margaret P. Calhoun v. Charles M. Calhoun | Unicoi | Child Support |
Exhibit: original copy of divorce certificate from Transylvania County, NC. |
East | Range: 7 Section: C Shelf: Box Number: 556 | 56 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1932 | Margaret Fuller by next friend et al. v. Robert C. Fuller | Roane | Child Support |
Margaret Fuller is the infant daughter of Mary D. Fuller and the Defendant Robert C. Fuller. Mary and Robert separated in 1931 and later divorced. Mary was granted exclusive custody of Margaret. Mary now accuses Robert of refusing to pay child support. |
East | Range: 10 Section: E Shelf: Box Number: 1429 | 33 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1923 | May Ethel Pennington v. O. C. Ferguson | Lauderdale | Child Support |
Ms. Pennington is seeking to recover $300.00 in child support from O.C. Ferguson who is the father of her two small boys (aged 3 and 1). For the past seven months prior to the filing of this suit, Ferguson has failed and refused to support the children. For the sake of the children, Pennington , who has legal custody of the boys, has supported them. Pennington and Ferguson are not married. See WT1749 for Breach of Promise to Marry suit. |
West | Range: 78 Section: E Shelf: Box Number: 1744 | 159 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1931 | Nina Hackett Bevil v. John Bevil | Shelby | Child Support |
Bevil is also spelled Bevill. Dfnt. asserted the solemnization of their union occurred while he was too drunk to remember or object to the proceedings. He also claimed the child born unto the couple was not his, and refused support for the child. Connected to Bevil v. Bevil in WT1957. |
West | Range: 77 Section: F Shelf: Box Number: 2045 | 193 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1937 | Paul Green, by next friend Alpha Green v. Grant Green | Sullivan | Child Support | East | Range: 8 Section: E Shelf: Box Number: 910 | 33 | Order A Copy | |
View Entry | 1912 | Pearl Walker v. W. M. Stanford | Carroll | Child Custody |
Pearl and W. M. were previously married and had a son named John. Case concerns the shared custody arrangement. Pearl Walker claimed W. M. was not honoring the agreed upon custody arrangement. |
West | Range: 79 Section: A Shelf: Box Number: 1324 | 46 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1876 | State v. Jake Carter | Henry | Illegitimate Child/Bastardy |
Geraldine Porter mother of the child who was born 8 December 1876. |
West | Range: 84 Section: E Shelf: Box Number: 85 | 0 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1899 | State v. D. L. Williams | Hamblen | Illegitimate Child/Bastardy |
Case is incomplete; brief only. |
East | Range: 5 Section: E Shelf: Box Number: 90 | 15 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1886 | State ex. Rel Susie Butler v. King Whitley | Tipton | Child Support |
Whitley is ordered to pay support of the bastard child of Butler, who says he is the child's father. |
West | Range: 83 Section: E Shelf: Box Number: 309 | 25 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1887 | State v. William Milner | Weakley | Child Support |
The suit is filed on behalf of Lizzie Latham, the mother of two young children fathered by the defendant who promised to marry her (and didn't) and promised to provide for the children (and didn't). The defendant's name is sometimes spelled Millener. An accompanying legal brief describes the situation as "a case of Bastardy." |
West | Range: 83 Section: H Shelf: Box Number: 396 | 27 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1907 | State, Ex. Relator, Estella Hart v. W. B. Eason | Haywood | Illegitimate Child/Bastardy | West | Range: 81 Section: H Shelf: Box Number: 963 | 18 | Order A Copy | |
View Entry | 1914 | State ex rel Mrs. Thomas M. Scruggs & Mrs. W. Warren Jones v. Mrs. Mary B. West | Shelby | Child Custody |
Defendant is listed as the Supt. of Juvenile Court |
West | Range: 80 Section: D Shelf: Box Number: 1105 | 66 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1936 | State Ex Rel, Stanley Hardy v. Juanita Hardy | Child Custody |
On 16 Feb. 1835 the plaintiff was granted a divorce form Juanita Hardy. The decree also granted him custody of their only child, George William Hardy, but his former wife has refused to give the child to him. Plaintiff asks the court to force her to relinquish custody of their son as Juanita Hardy is immoral, unfit to care for any child, and is now pregnant by "some man". |
East | Range: 8 Section: H Shelf: Box Number: 982 | 19 | Order A Copy | |
View Entry | 1915 | State v. Raymond McCormack | Henry | Illegitimate Child/Bastardy |
child with Edna McChristian, the wife of his sister; plaintiff in error case; includes copies of the Southern Reporter with the case of Watson v. State being applied to this case. |
West | Range: 79 Section: D Shelf: Box Number: 1431 | 250 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1849 | State & Katharine Garner v. Andrew Duncan | Blount | Illegitimate Child/Bastardy |
Katharine Garner was pregnant at the time of the trial with the defendant's child. |
East | Range: 9 Section: E Shelf: Box Number: 1170 | 14 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1873 | State by Relator Addie Wheeler v. Miles Shields | Hamilton | Illegitimate Child/Bastardy |
Defendant is accused of having a child out of wedlock with Addie Wheeler |
East | Range: 9 Section: G Shelf: Box Number: 1235 | 21 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1925 | State v. Jas. J. Nowell | Madison | Child Support |
Nowell indicted previously for leaving the state after abandoning his children, Robert J. Nowell, Hattie Louise Nowell and May Nell Nowell, leaving them destitute. All children under 16 years old. |
West | Range: 78 Section: G Shelf: Box Number: 1796 | 94 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1827 | State v. Jesse A. Bounds | White | Child Support |
The charge as stated is bastardy. Bounds is named by Nancy Bidwell to be the father of her female bastard child, and she is asking him to pay $90 for support and maintenance. |
Middle | Range: 21 Section: J Shelf: Box Number: 184 | 24 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1839 | State v. Abraham B. Young | Robertson | Illegitimate Child/Bastardy |
Child's mother was Judith Kirby. |
Middle | Range: 32 Section: A Shelf: Box Number: 201 | 0 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1873 | State v. W. L. Blankenship | Van Buren | Illegitimate Child/Bastardy |
In 1869, Eliza Sparkman, unmarried at the time, gave birth to a baby girl. She alleged that Wayman L. Blankenship was the father. Testimony revealed she had relationships with many boys in the area, but she claimed that Blankenship was the only person she was intimate with. |
Middle | Range: 20 Section: E Shelf: Box Number: 13a | 40 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1877 | State v. Henry Bugg (col.) | Sumner | Illegitimate Child/Bastardy |
Rachel Mitchell claimed that she gave birth to a child on June 18, 1875, and claimed that the father was Henry Bugg, who she was not married too. Bugg pleaded guilty to the charge, but the judge in the case decreed there was not enough proof. |
Middle | Range: 20 Section: E Shelf: Box Number: 25 | 68 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1921 | State ex Rel. Jack Barnes et al. v. Tennessee Children's Home Society et al. | Davidson | Child Custody |
Co-complainant Mary Barnes is the mother of a 2-year-old illegitimate child, William Thomas, who was taken from her and given to adoptive parents. Mary Barnes is now legally married to Jack Barnes, and they are asking that the child be returned to them. |
Middle | Range: 21 Section: J Shelf: Box Number: 169 | 0 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1817 | State v. Aaron Ingram | Knox | Illegitimate Child/Bastardy | East | Range: 5 Section: C Shelf: Box Number: 55 | 13 | Order A Copy | |
View Entry | 1880 | State v. James Henry | Knox | Illegitimate Child/Bastardy |
Case also involves a taxation dispute. Case incomplete; account records only. |
East | Range: 5 Section: E Shelf: Box Number: 102 | 1 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1948 | State ex Rel. Mack Whitson, Mr. & Mrs. Jessie A. Whitson & Floyd Whitson v. Mrs. Lillian S. Goddard & Children's Welfare Bureau, Inc. of Knox County TN | Knox | Child Custody | East | Range: 6 Section: B Shelf: Box Number: 266 | 44 | Order A Copy | |
View Entry | 1945 | State, ex rel. Hazel Ferguson v. Simeon Breeden | Knox | Child Support |
Plaintiff seeks to be released from child support due to bankruptcy. |
East | Range: 7 Section: B Shelf: Box Number: 535 | 41 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1844 | State v. Jack Edmonds | Jefferson | Illegitimate Child/Bastardy |
Edmonds charged with having a child out of wedlock with a single woman, Cassander Sheen. Sued by the state for $500, levied out of goods, cattle, and land. |
East | Range: 9 Section: D Shelf: Box Number: 1135 | 25 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1847 | State v. Jonathan Hartman | Washington | Illegitimate Child/Bastardy |
State prosecuting on the behalf of Elizabeth Good, a single woman who came to the court voluntarily with the illegitimate child of the defendant. |
East | Range: 9 Section: E Shelf: Box Number: 1167 | 6 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1911 | W. M. Stanford v. Pearl Stanford | Carroll | Child Custody |
W. M. Stanford sued to gain custody of their son, John Stanford, age indicated as 6 years old. |
West | Range: 80 Section: J Shelf: Box Number: 1288 | 103 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1860 | William P. Henson v. Rachel Hickey | Jefferson | Child Custody |
Case originally State v. Henson in which Henson was charged with bastardy. Martha Hickey, a single woman, declared Henson the father of her illegitimate child. Henson petitioned to change the name of his child from Sheadrick Hickey to Henson and to adopt the child as a legal heir. Rachel Hickey, Sheadrick's grandmother, suing Henson over custody. Court ruled in Henson's favor. Hickey appealed. |
East | Range: 9 Section: F Shelf: Box Number: 1206 | 19 | Order A Copy |
View Entry | 1940 | W. J. Coppinger, et al. v. James D Gillette | Hamilton | Child Support |
Additional Plaintiff: Ethel Gillette Coppinger. |
East | Range: 6 Section: D Shelf: Box Number: 340 | 48 | Order A Copy |