Register of Deeds Office
103 E. Main St., Jonesborough, TN 37659 (Courthouse)
P.O. Box 69, Jonesborough, TN 37659
Ginger Jilton, Register of Deeds
Phone: (423) 753-1644
Email: gjilton@titlesearcher.com
8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday-Friday

About the Office

The register is elected to a four-year term, and operates under a fee system to pay salaries and other expenses, while remitting excess fees quarterly to the county general fund. The register's primary function is to make and preserve a record of instruments required or allowed by law to be filed or recorded, including but not limited to deeds, powers of attorney, morgages, liens, contracts, plats, leases, papers under the Uniform Commercial Code and other types of instruments. The register provides public notice of property ownership, liens, contracts and other transactions that affect the public interest. The register's office is in the county seat, and the records and papers must remain in the office at all times.

The register has specific directions on how to index, record and maintain the records. This includes the following functions:

• require specific information on instruments registered in the office;
• perform the assigned tasks in a diligent manner;
• carefully place the time of receipt of instruments into the notebook;
• record the instruments into the correct book;
• index the instrument properly;
• keep accurate records of the fees, commissions and taxes collected;
• keep accurate office expense records;
• made reports on the fees, commissions, and expenses to the county;
• make reports on the taxes collected to the revenue department.

About Ginger Jilton

After serving 23 years in the Register of Deeds office, including over 20 years as chief deputy, Ginger Jilton was elected to her first term as Register in August, 1998, and was re-elected in August 2010 to serve her fourth term.

Her arrival in the top position coincided with state funding for modernization of register of deeds offices becoming available statewide. She has pledged to research the possibilities of making online computer services available to regular users of the office, and to open a satellite office in the Johnson City for the convenience of the citizens, which could be linked by computer to records in the Jonesborough Courthouse.

In addition, Ms. Jilton and her staff have scanned and are in the process of indexing the oldest books of record in the office, beginning in 1783 to 1924 (141 years). In 2008 she implemented an E-filing system which enables the office to receive and record instruments by E-mail, further accommodating the public.

To reach Ginger Jilton, call (423) 753-1644 or e-mail gjilton@washingtoncountytn.org.