Kentucky, United States Genealogy

United States   Kentucky Welcome to the Kentucky page, the Bluegrass StateMost unique genealogical features:
 * 70,000 walked/rode horseback on the Wilderness Road to KY before 1796
 * County marriages are the earliest and most complete vital record for KY
 * Eloping couples went to Mason Co., or Pike Co. to avoid waiting to marry
 * KY/TN border was disputed to 1859 - some did not know where they lived - look for family land records in both
 * Some early KY records are in Virginia

Counties
Extinct Counties: Beckham | Fincastle | Josh Bell | Kentucky

Click on the map below to go to a county page. Hover over a county to see its name. To see a larger version of the map, click here.

Major Repositories
Kentucky State Archives, Frankfort· Filson Library, Louisville· Martin F. Schmidt Research Library, Frankfort· National Archives Southeast Region (Atlanta)· Allen County Public Library (Fort Wayne, Indiana)

Migration Routes
Cumberland River· Green River· Kentucky River· Licking River· Mississippi River· Ohio River· Tennessee River· Louisville and Portland Canal· Buffalo Trace· Catawba Trail· Cumberland and Great Lake Trail· Cumberland and Ohio Falls Trail· Great Valley Road· Kentucky Road· Maysville Turnpike· Nashville-Saline River Trail· Russellville-Shawneetown Trail· Tennessee, Ohio and Great Lakes Trail· Warriors Path· Wilderness Road· Zane's Trace

Research Tools

 * The Kentucky GenWeb Project provides county information about formation date, parent county, county seat, bibliography, cemeteries, census, churches, towns, history, look ups, obituaries, queries, repositories, surname registry, and many Internet links.
 * Kentucky Online Resources list of Internet links arranged by topic to help with Kentucky genealogy research.
 * Kentucky Pioneers blog of name lists in wills, genealogies, estates, Bible records, and gedcom files; enticing you to buy transcript books.
 * BYU Kentucky Research Outline largely duplicates these Wiki pages. Includes some bibliographic lists from BYU Library, 1988, 2000.

Featured Content
Kentucky was a "state-land" state, meaning the state government appropriated all land within its borders. Land was surveyed in odd-sized lots in much of the state, but west of the Tennessee River it was surveyed in townships. Several types of land grants were issued in Kentucky. Warrants authorizing surveys of the desired land were issued to persons qualified to receive grants for military service (military warrants) or cash payments (treasury warrants). Read more about land and property records in the Kentucky Land and Property article.

The following databases are available online at the Kentucky Land Office website:


 * Virginia Patent Series and Old Kentucky Patent Series.
 * Revolutionary War Warrants database.
 * West of Tennessee River Military Patents database
 * Certificates of Settlement and Preemption Warrants database.
 * Virginia Treasury Warrants Register,
 * Lincoln Entries database.
 * County Court Order Patents database.
 * Jackson Purchase database.
 * West of Tennessee River Non-Military Patents Database.

Did you know?

 * The most prominent early Indian tribes in Kentucky were the Cherokee, Chickasaws, and Shawnee. Most of these tribes were eliminated from Kentucky by about the early 1800s either through warfare or resettlement to other territories by the federal government. No separate records were kept for people with American Indian blood.
 * Did you know you can find your infamous Kentucky ancestors at Kentucky Blacksheep Ancestors?

Things you can do
Below list some of the many tasks you can help with: