Kentucky Public Records

Portal:Kentucky

Many records created by city, county, and state governments do not fit into the record types used in this outline. Records of mayors, commissioners, overseers of the poor, schools, and a variety of others are examples of government sources that may give information about ancestors not contained in other records. Some collections that contain a variety of records such as land, history, tax, or court records may be classified as "public records." These records can be found on the state, county, and sometimes town/township level. Two examples are:

Treasurers’ Fee Books for Kentucky, 1785–1854. Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1958. (Family History Library films 174940–2.) This is a microfilm of a manuscript at Lexington, Kentucky. The fee books for several years are missing. There is a partial index at the beginning of each year listed. The record contains the following information: date of fee; name of person, with the county in parentheses following the name; the service for which the fee was rendered; and the amount of the fee.

University of Kentucky (Lexington). Matriculate Registers, 1869 –1889. Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1958. (Family History Library film 175019.) This is a microfilm of a manuscript at Lexington, Kentucky. The record is arranged by the year of matriculation and may show the person’s name, graduating year, rank in class, age, parent’s names, and city and state of residence.

To find various types of Kentucky public records, use the Place Search of the Family History Library Catalog under:

KENTUCKY- PUBLIC RECORDS

KENTUCKY, [COUNTY]- PUBLIC RECORDS

KENTUCKY, [COUNTY], [TOWN]- PUBLIC RECORDS

KENTUCKY- SCHOOLS

KENTUCKY, [COUNTY]- SCHOOLS

KENTUCKY, [COUNTY], [TOWN]- SCHOOLS

KENTUCKY- MEDICAL RECORDS

KENTUCKY, [COUNTY]- MEDICAL RECORDS

KENTUCKY, [COUNTY], [TOWN]- MEDICAL RECORDS

Kentucky - Correctional Institutions, 1848-present : Prison Records Prisoner registers begin in 1848. They contain name, type of crime, sentence received, county of crime, term of court, age, education, place of birth, marital status, physical description.

Available on microfilm from the KY Department of Libraries and Archives.

At the Family History Library: Traces, vol 30, issue 2, Summer 2002. FHL 976.9 B2s FILED UNDER PLACE - Kentucky TOPIC - Court TOPIC - Public records Prison Records can also be viewed at StateGovRecords.com $$   Kentucky - Public Records 1769 - 1792 : Petitions of the Early Inhabitants  The index in James Rood Robertson's Petitions of the Early Inhabitants of Kentucky to the General Assembly of Virginia, 1769 to 1792, gives the names of the people with a page number. However, the number is frequently the page on which the petition begins. Therefore, if you do not find the person's name on the page, the person was a signer of the petition. [Information from Beth Longley]

Petitions of the Early Inhabitants of Kentucky to the General Assembly of Virginia, 1769 to 1792: US/CAN Book 976.9 N2r 1998 US/CAN Film 1425691 Item 6 Google Books has a limited preview

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