Baptisms by Year in Middle Tennessee

One of the records use in my research on Tennessee Mormon families is a Record book for Middle Tennessee used until about 1920. It had pretty good records going back to 1894, but it is a little less reliable before that.

I have been working on transcribing portions and created an index for county and one for baptism year. I'm slow at transcribing the rest, mostly because the names have been crossed out and are difficult to read. But the index allows me to work in certain areas so I don't have to finish transcribing the whole thing before I can use it.

Using the index on baptism year, I can see a larger picture for when there were lots of baptisms and when there were lulls. I hope to super impose the number of missionaries in Tennessee over this.

A few things jump out at me. I know, for example, that the numbers before 1894 were poorly reported. In this case the record serves as a compilation of collected records from people who still lived in Tennessee but had been baptized earlier. Families that already emigrated would not have been included.

Another thing that jumps out at me is the drop between 1901 (91) and 1902 (16). Not sure what is going on there, but it gives me a reason to go looking. And there is a drop in 1916 (21), less than half the value in 1915 and 1917. Yes it was during WWI, but the US didn't enter the was until 1917.

Lots of other thoughts. What are yours?