Laura Dianne Cowan Cooper, age 60, of Kodak, TN, passed away in Somerset, KY, on Thursday, January 21, 2009.

Laura was well known in the East Tennessee area as a genealogy researcher, consultant, and instructor. Although not a church member, she was the chief family history volunteer at the Sevierville Family History Center of the Mormon Church for over 12 years. She was a Board Member and Treasurer of the Sevier County Heritage Museum.

Laura was esteemed by thousands of genealogists whose lives she touched throughout North America and Europe. Surnames she personally researched include the following: Cowan, Cooper, Pearson, Buchanan, Thomas, Gregory, Quarles, Rice, Stewart, Walker, Kepley, Turner, Hall, Savage, Connell, Worrock, Willis, Byrn, Hoke, Hogan, Peay, Cabaniss, Woods, Scott, Breckenridge, Silver(s), Ward, Goodrum, Campbell, Duncan, Parker, Pitman, Mercer, Harper, Dingle, Luther, Householder, and Lewis.

Those commercials that ask, "What's in your wallet?" always make your Webmistress think of the genealogical equivalent: "What's in your files?"

More than likely, you have SOME transcribed information -- even bits and pieces -- from records that could help someone else.

Perhaps you've copied family Bibles or old letters, and you've transcribed the information to include it in your research database. Why not browse through and see what you have to share, then send it to us for posting on this site. You will retain ownership/copyright, and you will receive credit for the submission.

Updated 22 Jan 2010

The TNGenWeb project's WebBBS queries system was hacked in Spring, 2009. If you submitted a query after January 1, 2009, please resubmit (see link in Menu).

Queries prior to January 1, 2009, were not damaged. They will be back on-line as soon as the new system is functional.

While the system is down, queries will be posted to this site as they are received.

The Webmistress happily stumbled across an archive of the old Sevier County Library genealogy site. A good deal of the information there is no longer available on-line -- or else it's not obvious!

Because the photos are important, we're going to incorporate them into the on-line Photo Album associated with this Web site (see link in Menu). We will identify the original owners, if noted, and will remove any photo if requested to do so by an owner.

Many of the photos were not archived. As we go through the images, we will identify the "missing" items below. If you can help us locate a copy of one or more of the images, please Contact Us.

Have you visited the on-line Photo Album?

Random images from the Album are displayed on this page (left). We're adding to the Album as time permits.

If you have photos of Sevier County people, places, events, or items of interest, please Contact Us!

Are you looking for something or someone specific during your visit to this site?

Of course we would love for you to browse around, since nuggets often pop up serendipitously.

However, you can use the site's Search feature (link in the Menu) to look for specific names, locations, or other information.  Just be sure to search for ALL spelling variations, or you might miss something!

In 1997, Billie McNamara started a mailing list, called DumplinTN, primarily for Jefferson and Sevier County researchers. Discussions also include Jefferson County's parents (Hawkins and Greene, pre-1792) and other children (Cocke, Hamblen, and part of Blount).

To subscribe to the list or learn more about it, visit the list information page (http://www.discoveret.org/mailman/listinfo/dumplintn/).

In addition to adding content to this site, we're listing lots of great stuff available elsewhere in the Web Links section. Be sure to check it out periodically. If you have links to recommend, please click Contact Us and let us know!

One of the most-active parts of this site is the queries section, where researchers leave information about their ancestors and others so anyone else with the same interests can make contact.

Click here to post a query.

The TNGenWeb queries system was damaged in the Spring of 2009. Individual queries are not lost, but they are not available for viewing at this time. Please bear with the volunteer technical staff as they resolve the programming issues.

Sevier County, formed in 1794 from Jefferson County, is located in East Tennessee, one of the state's three "grand divisions."   It is bordered to the west by Blount, to the northwest by Knox, to the north by Jefferson, and to the east by Cocke Counties.  The southeast and south are bordered by Swain County, NC.