Deed Book A

INTRODUCTION TO DEED BOOK A

            Deed Book A, sometimes known as the “Watauga Purchase” book, contains the earliest land records for what became the state of Tennessee. It was the first deed book for Washington County, Tennessee’s first county. In March 1775, the settlers of the Watauga Association and those of the Nolichucky settlement (in what became southern Washington County) negotiated at Sycamore Shoals for the purchase of land from the Cherokee chiefs Oconostota, Attakullakulla, Tennesy Warrior, and Willinawaugh. Prior to this time, the settlers had been leasing the land from the Cherokee. Settlement leaders took the opportunity of Richard Henderson’s negotiations with the chiefs for the Transylvania Purchase (Kentucky) at Sycamore Shoals to acquire outright ownership of the land on which they resided.

            This volume contains the indentures (or deeds) made between the settlers and the Cherokee chiefs, as well as subsequent deeds made to the settlers by Charles Robertson, trustee for the Watauga Association, and Jacob Brown, on behalf of the Nolichucky settlement. Also included are related land patents, as well as land grants issued by the state of North Carolina. In total, the land records in Deed Book A span the period 1775-1782, a period covered by the Watauga Association, the Washington District, and early Washington County.

Deed Book A Index