In a message dated 12/9/2007 12:29:01 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, [email protected] writes: Someone told me that Sullivan and Hawkins were old counties originally in North Carolina..................if so, records could be spread across state lines. Washington County, North Carolina was formed in 1777 and has records dating back to 1778. The northern limit was Virginia at 36 degrees 30 minutes north latitude all the way to the Mississippi River. That is about seven miles south of the present day state line. Sullivan County, North Carolina in 1779 and Greene County, North Carolina in 1783 were formed from Washington. Hawkins County, North Carolina was formed from Sullivan in 1787. In 1784, the ill-fated State of Franklin was created (records now mostly lost and/or duplicated in TN county records), but that is another story. All these counties are older than the State of Tennessee! Except where burned by the Union Army, the records of all four counties go back to their creation as North Carolina counties. About 1880 teams of surveyors set out to determine the line starting at what is today the easternmost part of Tennessee. The Virginia team was headed by Thomas Walker, the North Carolina team by Richard Henderson. They had a problem finding the old line and ran what was later called the Walker line to Carters Valley. The Henderson team thought the line was to far south and at the suggestion of the Virginia team went back to the start and ran a parallel line about two miles north of the present day state line which was called the Henderson line. Both lines extended to Cumberland Gap. North Carolina honored the Walker line as the state line as long as the area was a part of North Carolina. Then along about 1790 North Carolina ceded to area to the United States which the became the Territory of the United States South of the Ohio River. which became Tennessee by an Act of Congress in June 1, 1796. Virginia granted land to the Walker line until about 1800. Tennessee was claiming to the Henderson line as the boundary. Collection of taxes and the general administration of the area between the Walker and Henderson lines from North Carolina to Cumberland Gap was difficult and gained the name "The Squabble State. Then about 1800 teams from Tennessee and Virginia met and agreed to a boundary midway between the Walker and Henderson lines. That became the present day state line between Tennessee and Virginia. The line was not marked in stone until 1902. Jim Brown **************************************Check out AOL's list of 2007's hottest products. (http://money.aol.com/special/hot-products-2007?NCID=aoltop00030000000001)