Laurel County, Kentucky Genealogy

Guide to Laurel County, Kentucky ancestry, family history, and genealogy birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

County Courthouse


Laurel County Courthouse 101 S Main Street London, KY 40741 Phone: 606.864.5158 County Clerk has marriage, land, probate and court records. Clerk has marriage, land, probate, and court records. Land, probate &amp; court records from 1826.

Parent County
1825--Laurel County was created 12 December 1825 from Clay, Rockcastle, Whitley and Knox Counties. County seat: London

Boundary Changes
For animated maps illustrating Kentucky county boundary changes, "Rotating Formation Kentucky County Boundary Maps" (1776-1939) may be viewed for free at the MapofUS.org website.

Record Loss
1958 A disaster destroyed some records.

Neighboring Counties

 * Clay
 * Jackson
 * Knox
 * McCreary
 * Pulaski
 * Rockcastle
 * Whitley

African American
The following have information concerning African American research. Both should be used:


 * the KY African American Griots Project ~ The Kentucky African American Griots Project
 * Sandi Gorin's Tips ~ Hangings in Kentucky 1792 - 1900
 * African American Research (US) has more information about the kinds of records
 * Kentucky Minorities has information specific to Kentucky African Americans.

Biographies

 * KY Biographies ~ Jeff Murphy's Kentucky Biographies Project

Cemeteries
The following web sites have additional information on Laurel county cemeteries.


 * Interment.net Kentucky cemetery records by county.
 * Cemetery Junction ~  Links to cemetery transcriptions


 * Naming the Forgotten ~ Naming the Forgotten - The Eastern State Hospital Project


 * ePodunk list of Laurel County cemeteries gives the names of the cemeteries in the county with a link to more information such as address, phone number, and web site.

Census

 * USGenWeb Census Project ~ Kentucky Census Transcriptions 1850 - 1930
 * The USGenWeb Census Images ~ The USGenWeb Census Images Project
 * Kentucky Census Transcriptions ~ The USGenWeb Census Project
 * Census Online ~ Census Online

Church

 * Kentucky Christian Church Directory ~ ChurchAngel
 * Catholic Parishes in the Diocese of Lexington
 * Catholic Parishes in the Archdiocese of Louisville

Court

 * Abstracts of Early KY Court Cases Abstracts of Early Supreme Court Cases ~ KYGenWeb Special Project
 * Kentucky Court of Justice Research &amp; Reference

Directories

 * Inventory of the county archives of Kentucky: Laurel County at Ancestry.com (Free /$)

Land

 * The KY Land Office

Local Histories

 * ~ The Archives of Appalachia

Maps

 * Maps of Kentucky (1776-1939)
 * KYGenWeb compiled list of maps
 * Click on the county to go to the KYGenWeb site

Military

 * Military Resources ~ Revolutionary War through Civil War

Civil War
Online Records
 * 1861-1865 - at FamilySearch — index
 * 1861-1865 - at FamilySearch — index
 * 1861-1865 - U.S., Confederate Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865 at Ancestry — index (free)
 * 1861-1865 - U.S., Union Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865 at Ancestry — index (free)
 * 1912-1950 - at FamilySearch — index and images.


 * - 2nd Regiment, Kentucky Cavalry (Union), Company M
 * - 6th Regiment, Kentucky Cavalry (Union), Company E
 * - 7th Regiment, Kentucky Cavalry (Union), Company D
 * - 26th Regiment, Kentucky Infantry (Union), Company K

Civil War Battle
The following Civil War battle was fought in Laurel County:


 * October 21, 1861 = Camp Wildcat, also known as Wildcat Mountain


 * Map showing Civil War battles in Kentucky.

World War I

 * Fallen Soldiers in WWI from KY ~ Fallen Soldiers in WWI from Kentucky

Korean War

 * Korean War Memorial Korean War Memorial for Soldiers from KY ~ KYGenWeb

Miscellaneous

 * Kentucky Postcards ~ The USGenWeb Archives Penny Postcard Project
 * The KYGenWeb Footsteps ~ The Kentucky Footsteps Archives ~ KYGenWeb Special Project

Newspapers

 * Kentucky News -  Kentucky Newspaper Index with links
 * Another Kentucky Newspaper Index with links
 * Kentucky Newspapers on Microfilm  -   Kentucky Newspapers Available On Microfilm

Obituaries

 * KY Footsteps Archives ~ KY Footsteps List Archives - thousands of obituaries here ~ KYGenWeb Project
 * KY Obituary Sources ~ Kentucky Obituary Sources ~ Compiled by the KYGenWeb Project
 * Links to research and locate obituaries
 * Browning Genealogy Database ~ The Browning Genealogy Database - A Collection of Obituaries Compiled by Charles Browning.
 * USGenWeb Archives Obituary Project ~  Kentucky Obituary Project
 * Afrigeneas ~ African American death notices, obituaries and funeral programs compiled by users from current newspapers and historical sources
 * Obituary Depot ~ Kentucky Newspaper Citations
 * Obituary Daily Times ~ Citations to over 15,000,000 obituaries including interactive search function
 * Nashville Advocate ~ Death Abstracts from the Nashville Christian Advocate

Probate
Online Probate Records


 * 1774 – 1999 Kentucky Wills and Probate Records 1774-1999 at Ancestry.com — index and images $
 * 1727 – 1990 at FamilySearch — images

1826-1939 - have been digitized by FamilySearch - free.

Taxation
Laurel County Tax Lists from 1827-1863 are available for purchase as digital images in PDF format on CD from Jeff Renner's Genealogical Resources. When the PDF files are viewed in a program such as Acrobat Pro you can bookmark pages/images with year changes, ancestors names, etc. You can also drag an image/page out of Acrobat Pro and throw it into Photoshop to enhance viewing or you can just save that extracted page/image to be used as an attachment to your ancestor in whatever Record Manager (ie: Legacy, RootsMagic, etc) program you use.

Vital Records
See also How to order Kentucky Vital Records

Birth

 * 1839-1960 - KY Births and Christenings ~ Kentucky Births and Christenings, 1839-1960 Family Search
 * 1852-1861 - Laurel County Birth Index 1852-1861. Batch at FamilySearch - free.
 * 1874 - Laurel County Birth Index 1874. Batch at FamilySearch - free.
 * 1875 - Laurel County Birth Index 1875. Batch at FamilySearch - free.
 * Searchable KY Vital Records ~ Searchable databases of KY Births, Deaths and Marriages

Marriage

 * 1783-1979 - KY Marriage Records ~ KY Marriages 1783 - 1979 ~ Family Search
 * 1797-1954 - at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1852-1861 - Laurel County Marriage Index 1852-1861. Batch at FamilySearch - free.
 * 1875 - Laurel County Marriage Index 1875. Batch at FamilySearch - free.
 * 1876-1878 - Laurel County Marriage Index 1876-1878. Batch at FamilySearch - free.
 * 1973-2000 - Kentucky Marriage Records 1973 - 2000  ~ Kentucky Marriage Records - 1973 - 2000
 * Searchable KY Vital Records ~ Searchable databases of KY Births, Deaths and Marriages

Death

 * 1843-1970 - KY Deaths and Burials ~ KY Deaths and Burials 1843 - 1970
 * 1911-1963 - at FamilySearch — index and images
 * The Kentucky Vital Records Project Transcriptions of and Images of KY Death Certificates - A Work in Progress ~ The KY Vital Records Project
 * Searchable KY Vital Records ~ Searchable databases of KY Births, Deaths and Marriages
 * The Social Security Death Index The Social Security Death Index - Searchable

Divorce

 * 1973-1993 - KY Divorces 1973 - 1993 ~ Kentucky Divorce Records 1973 - 1993 ~ University of Kentucky Vital Records Databases

Societies and Libraries
Laurel County Historical Society 310 West 3rd Street London, Kentucky 40741 Telephone: 606-864-0607 Website

Corbin Genealogical Society 99 Boone Avenue PO Box 353 Corbin KY 40701 E-mail:[mailto:searcher130@hotmail.com searcher130@hotmail.com] Website


 * Links and addresses to Kentucky genealogical and historical societies

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to LDS Family History Centers

Websites

 * Laurel County, KY History, Records, Facts and Genealogy
 * Laurel County KYGenWeb
 * KYGenWeb project. Has maps, name indexes, history or other information for each county. Select the county.
 * State of Kencucky Website
 * USGenWeb Kentucky Archives ~ Kentucky in the USGenWeb Archives ~ Vital statistics, maps, obituaries, Bible records, tombstone transcriptions and many other records.
 * The USGenWeb project May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the state, then the county.
 * Laurel County, Kentucky Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)
 * Laurel County KY Genealogy (Kentucky Genealogy)
 * Laurel County KY Genealogy (Kentucky Genealogy)