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.

• Kentucky State Land Office. Virginia Land Grant Surveys in Kentucky, 1774-1796, film 0272939 ff.
• Virginia Land Office. Commonwealth grants or patents, 1779-1794, 1801 now in Kentucky, (Richmond: Virginia State Library, 1949, film 0007811).
• Indexes to Court Records, Madison County, Kentucky: 1787-1852, (Frankfurt: Kentucky Public Records Division, 1981, film 1534019).
• 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 Bureeau by Augusta B. Fothergill, (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1974).
• Early Kentucky Land Records, 1773-1780 by Neal O. Hammon, (Louisville: Filson Club, 1992).