Index to Tennessee State Death Certificates 1914 - 1929
Tennessee State Library and Archives

When using this index, please keep the following in mind:

1. Check for alternate spellings of the surname.  Handwriting is not always legible and could be misread.  Spelling variations are common.  A surname such as Hale might be spelled Hale,  Hayle or  Hail;  a surname such as Dickson might be spelled Dickson,  Dixon,  or Dixson.
2. Check for alternate spellings of the first name.  The name William A. Smith may be listed as Smith, William  or  Smith, Will  or  Smith, Wm.  or  Smith, Bill  or  Smith, W.  or  Smith, W.A.   The first name may have an abbreviation that is not in current usage, such as Jas. for the name James.
3. Some records did not include the given name of the deceased.  These records are listed at the beginning of each surname, such as  Williams, (blank)  or King, (unknown) .
4. Many death records for young children did not list a first name for the child.  These listings appear in the index as Smith, Infant of  or  Jones, Infant of John.   There are also listings for older children, such as White, Son of John  or  Case, Child of Henry.
5. Death certificates for some married women are listed under the name of the husband, such as Adams, James (Mrs) .
6. Titles relating to occupation will be listed after the first name of the individual:  Johnson, Martin (Rev.)  or  Hibbert, John (Dr.) or  Blake, Charles (Maj.).
7. If the individual died out of state, there will not be a death certificate issued in Tennessee, even if the body was returned here for burial.
8. Death certificates during this time period were filled out by funeral directors.  If the deceased was buried in a family cemetery and no funeral home was involved, there will not be a death certificate on file in Tennessee. 
9. There are some death records for individuals who could not be identified  ("unknown white male, in late 40s").  These are not included in this index.

PLEASE NOTE:  The death index is made up of large files.  Slower modems many take 45 - 60 seconds for the page to load completely.

Copies of Death Certificates found in this index may be obtained from the Hamilton County Genealogy Society.