The office of Register in Tennessee can be traced back to the period when this region was part of the English colony of Carolina. The office was provided for in the colony's first fundamental law, known as the "Concessions and Agreement" of 1665. This office was patterned along the English model which had been in existence at least since Norman times. The Register's general duties have always been to record various types of legal instruments and transactions, particularly those conveying the title to land. The Register's office in Carolina continued under the colony's "Fundamental Constitution" of 1715. The qualified voters elected three freeholders who became candidates for the office. The governor then appointed one of these three landowners to be Register.

When Tennessee became a state in 1796, the first constitution included a provision for a Register to be elected by the county court in every county. The term of the office was indefinite and the Register was to serve "during good behavior." The Tennessee Constitution of 1834 provided or the popular election of the Register, reflecting the trend of the Jacksonian era. Tennessee's Constitution of 1870 retained the office of Register and secured the term of four years. The 1978 amendments to the Tennessee Constitution retained the four-year term for the Register.

Jennifer Neill serves as the 18th Register of Deeds for Marshall County. Below is a listing of officeholders and the dates in which they served:

2024-Present Jennifer Neill 2002-2024 Dorris Wayne Weaver 1990-2002 Barbara Simmons 1958-1990 Hill Walker 1950-1958 Roy Foster 1942-1950 Grady Finley 1934-1942 Grady Ralston 1926-1934 J.T. Harris 1918-1926 W.O. Whitehead 1910-1918 J.A. Clark 1902-1910 J.R. Reynolds 1898-1902 J.M. McCrory 1890-1898 G.D. Sanders 1874-1890 J.A. Yarbrough 1862-1874 J.N. Waters 1856-1862 W.N. Cowden 1846-1856 J.J. Elliott 1836-1846 John Elliott

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