Tennessee Supreme Court Cases
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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].
Tennessee Supreme Court Cases
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| View Entry | Year | Case Name | County | Cause/Crime | Case Description | Division | Location | # Pages | Order |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Entry | 1928 | Bryan Mayo v. State | Hawkins | Child Support |
Plaintiff is appealing the charge of "Non support of children." Case is incomplete; opinion only. |
East | Range: 5 Section: E Shelf: Box Number: 86 | 1 | Order A Copy |
| View Entry | 1876 | Charles E. Crockett v. State | Knox | Illegitimate Child/Bastardy |
Anna Kirk told the court in May 1875 that she was pregnant with Crockett's child. The case details that Kirk had financial means to support the child, but Crockett confessed to being the father. [Four years later Kirk filed another bastardy case against Thomas J. Donahue. The case settling his estate, & attempting to legitimate the child is in box ET 643, ET 623, ET 467.] |
East | Range: 5 Section: B Shelf: Box Number: 16a | 24 | Order A Copy |
| View Entry | 1868 | Henry Williams v. State | Robertson | Illegitimate Child/Bastardy |
Henry Williams is the father. Anna Vester is the mother. |
Middle | Range: 32 Section: E Shelf: Box Number: 319 | 0 | Order A Copy |
| View Entry | 1926 | H. G. Payne v. State | Hamilton | Child Support |
Order only. |
East | Range: 5 Section: D Shelf: Box Number: 70 | 1 | Order A Copy |
| View Entry | 1946 | Jasper Fillers v. State | Greene | Child Support | East | Range: 6 Section: A Shelf: Box Number: 246 | 42 | Order A Copy | |
| View Entry | 1931 | Jessie Lafollette v. State | Washington | Illegitimate Child/Bastardy |
Bessie Tittle is 28 and lives in Johnson City with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. C. H. Tittle. She accuses the Pla. in error of fathering her illegitimate child. Bessie worked at a small store owned by her family. Pla. delivered ice and coal to the store. Bessie was 26 when she and the pla. were first intimate. Bessie originally planned on marrying Roy Crockett, a soldier, but she had not seen him for two years while he was in the army. When he came home, she was pregnant. Exhibit: Post Card from Pla. |
East | Range: 10 Section: B Shelf: Box Number: 1339 | 66 | Order A Copy |
| View Entry | 1850 | John S. Stanley v. State | Knox | Child Support |
Official cause of action: Bastardy, although child support was a result of court decision. Widow Polly Ault gave birth to a male child on Sept. 9, 1849, in Knox Co. John S. Stanley was reputed to be the father. The court adjudicated the paternal relationship and decreed support to be given Polly for child's upkeep. |
East | Range: 9 Section: D Shelf: Box Number: 1136 | 12 | Order A Copy |
| View Entry | 1877 | John P. Green v. State | Monroe | Illegitimate Child/Bastardy |
John P. Green was charged with being the father of an illegitimate child in Monroe County. The mother was listed as Mary Jane Wilson. |
East | Range: 19 Section: J Shelf: Box Number: 1663 | 47 | Order A Copy |
| View Entry | 1878 | Polk Haynes v. State | Henry | Illegitimate Child/Bastardy |
Additional parties: Elizabeth Hawkins |
West | Range: 84 Section: F Shelf: Box Number: 113 | 0 | Order A Copy |
| View Entry | 1922 | Robert Thomas v. State | Giles | Child Support |
Robert Thomas is charged with unlawfully and willfully failing and refusing to provide for the support and maintenance of his two minor children. He claims he is not their father. Inez Gordon Thomas is the wife of the defendant and the mother of his two children. |
Middle | Range: 33 Section: A Shelf: Box Number: 400 | 83 | Order A Copy |
| View Entry | 1874 | State v. Linsley Arnold | White | Illegitimate Child/Bastardy |
Linsley Arnold was charged with bastardy, having fathered a child with Mahala Cope of White County in 1874. He was charged to provide support for Mahala and their child. |
Middle | Range: 20 Section: E Shelf: Box Number: 13a | 28 | Order A Copy |
| View Entry | 1855 | State v. John Oneal | Bedford | Illegitimate Child/Bastardy |
Mother of the "illegitimate child" is not named. |
Middle | Range: 32 Section: C Shelf: Box Number: 247 | 0 | Order A Copy |
| View Entry | 1881 | State v. Vit Pursley | Jackson | Illegitimate Child/Bastardy |
The State charged Pursley with "begetting an illegitimate child upon the body of his wife's sister. His wife was Fannie (Carter) Pursley and his wife's sister was named Dorthula (Carter) Stout. The circuit court jury sentenced his to 2 years hard labor in the state penitentiary. |
Middle | Range: 37 Section: A Shelf: Box Number: 1115 | 40 | Order A Copy |
| View Entry | 1834 | State v. William Smith | Montgomery | Illegitimate Child/Bastardy |
Mother of the children is Lethy Crockett |
Middle | Range: 33 Section: A Shelf: Box Number: 374 | 7 | Order A Copy |
| View Entry | 1944 | State ex Rel. Claude Chambers v. Mollie Chambers | Hamilton | Child Custody |
Child is Mattie Jean Chambers. |
East | Range: 5 Section: F Shelf: Box Number: 136 | 148 | Order A Copy |
| View Entry | 1891 | State v. Robert Carpenter | Haywood | Illegitimate Child/Bastardy |
Defendant accused of having an illegitimate child with his wife's sister, Maria Belle Reed. Carpenter's wife was Nannie Carpenter. |
West | Range: 83 Section: E Shelf: Box Number: 328 | 33 | Order A Copy |
| View Entry | 1897 | State v. S. O. Wilson | Obion | Illegitimate Child/Bastardy | West | Range: 82 Section: A Shelf: Box Number: 473 | 75 | Order A Copy | |
| View Entry | 1936 | State, Upon Relation of Anna Christine Dyer v. Ella F. Smith Admr. | Knox | Illegitimate Child/Bastardy | East | Range: 8 Section: H Shelf: Box Number: 982 | 27 | Order A Copy | |
| View Entry | 1855 | State v. Thomas P. Reed | Sullivan | Illegitimate Child/Bastardy |
Elizabeth (Betsy) Ann Williams, single woman, testified that Reed was the father of her illegitmate child, leading to prosecution of Reed for bastardy. Williams lived at Reed's house in the fall before the child was born. Lots of witnesses, including some who testified that, on one day, Reed's wife went to her brother-in-law's, Reed & Williams stayed at home, & Reed's children were seen playing in the yard & barn. |
East | Range: 9 Section: E Shelf: Box Number: 1165 | 43 | Order A Copy |
| View Entry | 1938 | State, ex rel. Ruth Cupp v. Clayton Maples | Blount | Child Support |
Cupp, a single woman, accused Maples with bastardy and asked the court to recognize him as the father. He admitted to having relations with her, but denied the child was his. Ruth asked for the maintenance of the child until he/she was 12. The child was born January 30, 1935. Ruth filed a pauper oath, which could result in the child becoming a county charge. Hon. Sue K. Hicks (prosecutor at the 1925 John T. Scopes trial) presided. Precedent cited was William Goddard v. State. |
East | Range: 9 Section: H Shelf: Box Number: 1252 | 59 | Order A Copy |
| View Entry | 1919 | State v. H. C. Swayne | Carroll | Illegitimate Child/Bastardy |
Katie Sneed was the child's mother and the one who brought the situation to the state's attention. |
West | Range: 78 Section: A Shelf: Box Number: 1636 | 73 | Order A Copy |
| View Entry | 1869 | State v. Charles Burton | White | Illegitimate Child/Bastardy |
Charles Burton is accused of fathering the illegitimate child of Jennie Jones. |
Middle | Range: 32 Section: C Shelf: Box Number: 274 | 49 | Order A Copy |
| View Entry | 1876 | State v. Jordan Jones | Benton | Illegitimate Child/Bastardy | West | Range: 84 Section: E Shelf: Box Number: 86 | 0 | Order A Copy | |
| View Entry | 1855 | State v. James L. Thomas | Cannon | Illegitimate Child/Bastardy | Middle | Range: 32 Section: C Shelf: Box Number: 247 | 0 | Order A Copy | |
| View Entry | 1858 | State v. William H. Jones | Marshall | Illegitimate Child/Bastardy |
Mother is unnamed. |
Middle | Range: 32 Section: D Shelf: Box Number: 285 | 0 | Order A Copy |
| View Entry | 1849 | State v. James M. Cannon | DeKalb | Illegitimate Child/Bastardy | Middle | Range: 33 Section: A Shelf: Box Number: 382 | 11 | Order A Copy | |
| View Entry | 1837 | State v. Archibald Sawyer | Cocke | Illegitimate Child/Bastardy | East | Range: 7 Section: F Shelf: Box Number: 678 | 6 | Order A Copy | |
| View Entry | 1848 | State, on complaint of Ann S. McCoy v. Michael Fooshee | Meigs | Illegitimate Child/Bastardy |
Ann, a single woman, accused Michael of being the father of her child born July 27, 1846, & the court found that he was & ordered him to pay maintenance for the child. |
East | Range: 9 Section: D Shelf: Box Number: 1142 | 19 | Order A Copy |
| View Entry | 1860 | State v. Sylvester Adkins | Union | Illegitimate Child/Bastardy |
For fathering the illegitimate child of Mary Jane Gross. |
East | Range: 9 Section: F Shelf: Box Number: 1207 | 11 | Order A Copy |
| View Entry | 1931 | State v. Walter Madison | Blount | Child Support |
Tried in the Juvenile and Criminal Courts of said county for the neglect and refusal to provide for and support his child Dorothy Madison, who is under 16 years old. |
East | Range: 10 Section: B Shelf: Box Number: 1355 | 43 | Order A Copy |
| View Entry | 1881 | William Carter v. M. Hogain | Illegitimate Child/Bastardy |
Child: Polk Durham. County: Unknown. Opinion only. |
East | Range: 5 Section: D Shelf: Box Number: 78 | 1 | Order A Copy | |
| View Entry | 1917 | W. S. Poindexter v. State | Davidson | Child Support |
Willie Lee Poindexter was the daughter of W. S. Poindexter. |
Middle | Range: 21 Section: C Shelf: Box Number: 97 | 0 | Order A Copy |