Kentucky Colonial Records

Kentucky Wiki Topics

Beginning Research

Guided Research Research Strategies Record Finder

Record Types

Adoption Bible Records 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 Substitute Records Substitute Records Taxation Vital Records Voter Records

Kentucky Background

Biography Further Reading Gazetteers History Law & Legislation 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. Colonial Records

Kentucky

Colonial Records

History

In 1736, The French established a trading village along the Ohio River, creating the first European settlement in Kentucky. In 1774, the Transylvania Company purchased land rights to all of Kentucky and parts of Tennessee. Fort Boonesborough and Harroldsburg were established by the British and settlers from Virginia during the 1770s. Kentucky was a part of Virginia until it became its own state in 1792.

Civil Records and Sources

Kentucky was established as Kentucky County in 1776 from Fincastle County, Virginia. The Supreme Court of Kentucky was established in 1783. Marriages were originally solemnized by county courts because of a lack of clergy in Kentucky.

• A brief of wills and marriages in Montgomery and Fincastle counties, Virginia, 1773-1831 compiled by Anne Lowry Worrell, (Roanoke, Virginia: s.n., 1959).
• [https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/431250?availability=Family%20History%20LibraryKentucky State Land Office. Virginia Land Grant Surveys in Kentucky, 1774-1796, film 0272939. Online digital images.
• Virginia Land Office. Commonwealth grants or patents, 1779-1794, 1801 now in Kentucky, (Richmond: Virginia State Library, 1949, film 0007811). Online digital images.
• Indexes to Court Records, Madison County, Kentucky: 1787-1852, (Frankfurt: Kentucky Public Records Division, 1981, film 1534019). Online digital images.
• Master Index, Virginia Surveys and Grants 1774-1791 by Joan E. Brookes-Smith, (Frankfort: Kentucky Historical Society, 1976, film 1320833).
• Fincastle and Kentucky County, Virginia-Kentucky Records and History by Michael L. Cook, (Evansville, IN: Cook Publishing, 1988).
• Virginia Supreme Court: District of Kentucky, Order Books, 1783-1792 by Michael L. Cook, (Evansville, IN: Cook Publishing, 1988).
• Virginia Tax Payers, 1782-1787, Other Than Those Published by the United States Bureau by Augusta B. Fothergill, (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1974).
• Early Kentucky Land Records, 1773-1780 by Neal O. Hammon, (Louisville: Filson Club, 1992).
• The Committees of Safety of Westmoreland and Fincastle: Proceedings of the County Committees, 1774-1776 by Richard Barksdale Harwell, (Richmond: Virginia State Library, 1974).
• Soldiers of Fincastle County, Virginia, 1774 by Mary B. Kegley, (Dublin, VA: The Author, 1974).
• Petitions of the Early Inhabitants of Kentucky to the General Assembly of Virginia, 1769-1792 by James R. Robertson, (1915, reprint, New York: Arno Press, 1971, film 1425691).

Additional Reading

• Kentucky, Settlement and Statehood, 1750-1800 by George Morgan Chinn, (Frankfort: Kentucky Historical Society, 1975).
• The Big Sandy Years: A history of the People and Country from the Earliest Settlement to the Present Time by William Ely, (Baltimore: Genealogical publishing Co., 1969).
• Some Kentucky Marriages, 1775-1799 by Cecil D. McDonald, (n.p., n.d.m film 1036829).
• Kentucky Baptist History, 1770-1922 by William Dudley Nowlin, (Louisville: Baptist Book Concern, 1922, fiche, 6087434).
• Marylanders to Kentucky, 1775-1825 by Henry C. Peden, *Westminster, MD: Family Line Publications, 1991).
• The Wilderness Road: A Description of the Routes of Travel by Which the Pioneers and Early Settlers First Came to Kentucky by Thomas Speed, (1886, reprint, New York: Burt Franklin, 1971, film 0897452).
• A History of Kentucky Baptists: From 1769 to 1885, Including More than 800 Biographical Sketches by John H. Spencer, 2 Vols., (Cincinnati: J.R. Baumes, 1886 film 0896971).