Kentucky Directories

Kentucky Wiki Topics

Beginning Research

Guided Research Research Strategies Record Finder

Record Types

Adoption Bible Records Biography Cemeteries Census Church Records Colonial Records Correctional Institutions Court Records Crime & Punishment Directories Divorce Records Emigration & Immigration Funeral Homes Genealogies Guardianship Land & Property Military Records Naturalization & Citizenship Newspapers Obituaries Occupation & Business Records Online Collections Periodicals Probate Records Public Records Taxation Vital Records Voter Records

Kentucky Background

Biography Further Reading Gazetteers History Maps Migration

Cultural Groups

African Americans Indigenous Peoples Cultural Groups Swedish American

Local Research Resources

Archives & Libraries Societies Find a FamilySearch center

United States

U.S. Directories

Kentucky

Directories

Online Resources

• US City Directories, Kentucky
• Kentucky Online Historical Directories - listed by county
  
• 1881-1882 Kentucky State Gazetteer And Business Directory, 1881 - 1882 at MyHeritage — images ($)

History

Directories have been published for various Kentucky cities and counties since the early 1800s, though they may not exist for every year. Some directories focus on the businesses or occupations of an area, while others include heads of households, landowners, and voters.

City and county directories are similar to present-day telephone books and are useful records for locating people. They were often published annually, listing heads of households and employed household members, their occupations, and their addresses. They can be used with census records or as substitutes for them.

Directories are particularly helpful for research in large cities, where a high percentage of the people were renters, new arrivals, or temporary residents. In fact, a directory may be the only source to list an ancestor if he or she was not registered to vote and did not own property. Most households were included because the directories were created for salesmen, merchants, and others interested in contacting residents of an area.

Directories have other clues that may require careful study to discover. For example, people in similar or related occupations were often relatives, in-laws, or friends. A year-by-year study of directories may reveal the movements of ancestors and relatives within the city and sometimes to or from other cities.

Resources for Kentucky Directories

Libraries and Archives

The FamilySearch Library, Kentucky Historical Society, Filson Club, Kentucky Room at the Lexington Central Public Library, University of Kentucky, and other Kentucky repositories have collections of city and county directories.

Many groups have created directories of their organizational structure and members or personnel. Companies may create directories of their subscribers. The directories that were published for public distribution are the ones most likely to find their way into libraries and archives. Typical examples of directories that may be found in an archive are city directories, telephone directories, church directories, occupational directories, farmers directories, or rosters of society members. These directories may range in scope from local to international. Often the most recent edition of a directory is the only one an archive will have available.

The FamilySearch Library has directories from throughout the state of Kentucky. Many were published as county directories listing inhabitants of major towns in the county. Rural directories collected information on farmers, dairymen, and other rural residents.

Online Directories

City Directories

Louisville City Directories 1861, 1864-1923 –Fold3.com ($) available online.

Kentucky Schools, Directories and Church Histories Ancestry.com ($). Scroll through the list of available cities.

• Governors of Kentucky, 1792-1942 at Ancestry.com (Free/$)
• Polk's Lexington (Kentucky) city directory, 1927 : embracing a complete alphabetical list of business firms and private citize at Ancestry.com (Free/$)

City directories also exist for Covington and Newport from the mid-1800s to the 1930s. Some of them are published with Cincinnati directories. During these years Covington was more populous than Lexington.

• Kentucky City Directories at Ancestry.com (Free/$)

State Directories

Directories pertaining to the state of Kentucky include:

• Kentucky (State) Directories. Woodridge, Connecticut: Research Publications, 1980–1984. FS Library fiche 6044020 The directory includes the years 1859 to 1860 and is arranged alphabetically by city.
• Kentucky : a guide to the Bluegrass State at Ancestry.com (Free/$)

• Reprints of Littell's Political transactions in and concerning Kentucky : and letter of George Nicholas to his friend in Virgi at Ancestry.com (Free/$)
• Annual report of the quarter-master general to the governor of the state of Kentucky for the year 1865-6 at Ancestry.com (Free/$)

• Kentucky Directories

For a directory to Kentucky businesses, see Kentucky Places and People: R.L. Polk and Co.’s Kentucky State Gazetteer and Business Directory for 1895–96, mentioned in Kentucky Gazetteers FS Catalog book 976.9 E4k .

Multiple-city directories exist for some Kentucky cities and their neighboring cities in adjacent states, such as:

• Gardner and Gaines. Business Directory: Of Bowling Green, Hopkinsville, Russelville, Clarksville, Woodburn, Franklin, Gallatin & Glasgow for 1876–77. 1876. Reprint, (Franklin, KY: Simpson County Archives, 199–). FS Library fiche 6111317; book 976.9 E4g This directory is arranged by town and then by occupation and alphabetically by name.

FamilySearch Library

The FamilySearch Library has city directories for various years from throughout the state of Kentucky including:

Louisville

1861, 1864-1935 FS Library film 1376990 (first of 57 films)

Lexington

1806-1935 FS Library fiche 6044043–6; film 1759869 (first of 8 films) (many of the directories for the earlier years are missing or were never published)

Current telephone directories can also be found on the Internet and may help you find living relatives. The FamilySearch Catalog has compact discs that incorporate telephone directories for most of the United States. See United States Directories for more detailed information on these directories.

To find directories, consult the Place Search of the FamilySearch Catalog under:

KENTUCKY, [COUNTY] — DIRECTORIES

KENTUCKY, [COUNTY], [TOWN] — DIRECTORIES

Websites

• US City Directories This web site identifies printed, microfilmed, and online directories and their repositories.

This website requires a paid subscription for full access. Some subscription websites are available for free at your local FamilySearch Center or Affiliate Library.

To access available information, first log into FamilySearch.