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You don't actually have to travel to county court houses to find information. Some is available on microfilm through a variety of sources in a variety of places. I'm fortunate to live near the Dallas Public Library, which has a great many records for my easy access. They are also a Family History Lending Library. There aren't a lot of records, other than land for Marion Co, TN, but there are some real 'finds' in them. I wanted information on my Chambers and Dunham lines and knew that Esquire was there in 1830 from the census records. Other records indicated there was a John, Jeremiah, and Elijah also in the area. Jeremiah on the census, John in deeds and Elijah in a vague church record.
The first records for the county are the land entry and land survey books. I found several entries for Elijah in the land entry book dated 1824 and 1826. There were also entries in the survey book and that is where I was able to tie the names together. Squire as Esquire is recorded in most records, was the chain carrier for Elijah and a Dunham brother-in-law. The two pieces of land were next to each other. This put the Dunham's and Chambers in the same place at the same time!
