This publication provides wills for former Hawkins County, Tennessee residents during the years 1786 through 1864, with a surname index.
"The original will books of Hawkins County, Tennessee were destroyed in 1863. Some time after the end of the Civil War, The County Court Clerk copied all the original wills from surviving originals that he was able to decipher. ... The transcriptions in this volume are essentially verbatim copies of the re-recorded wills. Some of the standard religious preambles in use during the time span of this book were omitted or condensed for the sake of space. ... The people who settled Hawkins County were predominantly Scotch-Irish, Welch, English, Irish and German. ... From the last wills and testaments we are able to glimpse into the lives of the people: their dress, speech, religion, politics, their homes and farms, churches, burying customs, their homespun industries and their educational institutions. We learn that they built grist and saw mills, leather tanneries, made shoes, saddles, harnesses, wagons. Most farms had a still. There were cabinet makers who turned out plain as well as quality furniture. The women carded the wool, flax and cotton and spun the thread, made the cloth, then fashioned the clothing. They plucked the feathers from the geese and made the feather beds and pillows. ... Clothing was valued - not to be discarded as soon as new styles were introduced. ... Instructions were spelled out in many wills for the special care or the emancipation of their slaves at their death."