Bourbon County, KY Data Collection

The County Data Collections are dependant on submissions by individual researchers. Please consider contributing your genealogical data. 

African American Cemeteries in Bourbon County

• African Cemetery Company - Deeds to burial plots.

• Cedar Heights Cemetery    Register with images (partial)

• Prescott Pike Cemetery, North Middletown

  • Prescott Pike Cemetery Information at blackhorsemen.com(off site)

  • Prescott Pike Cemetery Deed

• Miscellaneous Graves

  • Bonapar & Lucy Baty

Individual Records

• Abel Thornton (free person of color)

• Whaley Family in Kentucky: Tracing the Census - Jesse R. Whaley

Apprenticeships

• Apprentice Bond Book, Colored Indenture of Apprentices 1866 - 1878 - Images of bonds

Biographies

• African American's of Bourbon County

Births

• 1853, 1854, 1855, 1856

Court Orders

• Guardianships

• Poor House & Colored Cemetery Orders

Deaths

• Coffin List - List of coffins purchased in Nicholas Co., KY and includes some listings for Bourbon Co. Some data included: name, age, race, relationship, date and place of burial

African American Will & Estate Records

• Hickman, James - Will 1912

Census - African Americans in Bourbon County

• 1850 Bourbon County, KY  Census

  • Free African Americans in 1850

• 1870 Bourbon Co. KY Census

  • Centerville

  • Hutchinson

  • Middletown

  • Millersburg

  • North Middletown

• 1860 Slave Schedule

  • Slave Entries for Brutus Clay

  • Dist 1, Pages 1 - 5

  • Dist 1, Pages 6 -10

  • Dist 1. Pages 11 - 20

  • Dist 1. Pages 21 - 32

  • East Division Pages 1 - 15

Deeds

• Miscellaneous Bourbon County Deeds Naming Slaves

• Humble/Mann Deeds naming slaves

• M.E. Church (Colored) Flat Rock, Deed from B. F. Wilson, July 13, 1888 - jpg image

• Brown Comstock of Madison Co. to William Alexander of Paris: Deed naming slaves

Marriages

• Marriages

  • Early Marriages

  • Colored Marriage Bond Book I - partial listing

  • Partial Marriages 1866 - 1935

  • Jackson Marriages

  • Marriage Register of Colored Persons, Volume 1, Pages 1-115, 1866-1877

Military

• African American Veterans of Bourbon County : A-J

• Civil War - Soldiers or widows who applied for pension

Newspaper Articles

• Paris Daily Enterprise - "Colored Notes"

  • Colored Notes 1943

  • Colored Notes 1944

• Bourbon News 1900

• Bourbon News, 1906 & 1907

• The Kentuckian Citizen

• Misc. Newspaper Article Abstracts

• Margie Bailey's Scrapbook - Newspaper clippings from Bourbon, Nicholas and surrounding counties.

  • Beneath Gracious Home Relic of Slavery: from Margie Bailey's Scrapbook

• Bourbon County Related News

  • Murder of Mrs. George Adair

  • Removal of Elias Ridge from Vinta Jail

• Western Citizen Newspaper Excerpts

• Off site articles

  • 1911 - Cynthia VEACH, Negro Child Burned to Death in Cabin

School Census

• 1897 Bourbon Co., KY Colored School Census

Slave Records

• Bill of Sale

  • Henry Talbott to Thomas Baker negro girl Let

• Will & Estate Records

  • Basye Estate Records

  • Bowels: Will of David Bowels - slaves listed

  • Hickman, Will & Estate Records

  • Hughes: James Hughes Inventory

  • Misc. Estate Records -  slaves mentioned

  • McClanahan, Thomas

  • Mountjoy: Will of William Mountjoy - (father of Elizabeth Mountjoy Garrard wife of Gov. James Garrard)

  • Respass: Will & Inventory Thomas Respass

  • James Thomas Will

  • Thornton Slave Records

• Misc. Records

  • John Edwards Sr. - will and other records wherein slaves are named

• Slaves Imported Records

  • Eldridge, Mary - Virginia

  • Grimes, William A. - Missouri

• Deeds of Manumission

  • Deed of Manumission Abstracts  

  • Miscellaneous Deeds of Manumission

    Individual Transcriptions taken from Deed of

  • Bourbon Co. Court Orders

    • Emancipation Court Order Abstracts - Index to abstracts of emancipation orders taken from the Bourbon Co. court orders

    • Court Orders - transcriptions of emancipation and other orders

  • Probate Records

    • Bourbon County Women’s Probate Records 1786-1850

Western High School

• Western High School Football & Basketball Team

Bourbon County Online Resources

• Bourbon Co. KyGenWeb

• Bourbon Co., USGenWeb Archives

• Bourbon County Message Board

• Bourbon Co. Genealogical Society - offers research services for a fee

• Blackhorsemen.com - A History of Black Horsemen in the Twentieth Century; Prescott Pike Cemetery News

  • Black Horsemen Museum and Heritage Center

• Newspaper Abstracts - Bourbon County

• Funeral Homes

  • Lusk McFarland

• Documenting the American South - UNC at Chapel Hill Libraries

  • Rev. Elisha W. Green - born Bourbon Co.

• Bourbon County Clerks Office

  • 301 Main Street, Suite 106, Paris, KY 40361 859-987-2142; Records from 1786: Apprenticeship Bonds; Court Records; Deeds; Estate Records; Guardianship Bonds; Marriages; School Census

• Paris-Bourbon County Library  701 High Street, Paris KY 40361, 859-987-4419

  Beginning 4/17/2007, Mary Hatton will be available on Tuesdays from 1:00-3:30 at the library to assist with genealogy research. 

  Resources held: Local interest Books; Donated Family Records;

  Records on Microfilm

  • Bourbon County Marriages and Deaths: 1808-1865

  • Bourbon County Marriages: 1794-1845

  • Census: 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1890, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930

  • Death Certificates 1911 - 1956

  • Deeds: up to 1890

  • Local Newspapers: 1872-1882 July; 1808-1866 June (except 1827);1884-1895 Dec;1888 July-1889 Dec;1897-1940 (except 1915/16);1942 Feb - 1979 March (1977 Apr-June missing)

  • Tax Assessment Books: 1787-1793; 1795-1806; 1807-1820; 1821-1833; 1835-1849

  • Wills: 1786-2001

  • Vital Statistics Records: 1852-1910 for Bath, Boone, Bourbon

• John Fox Jr. Memorial Library, Duncan Tavern Historical Center, 323 High Street, Paris, KY 40361, (859) 987-1788; Large collection of genealogical and historical books pertaining to counties and states; also family histories and family vertical files. $4.00 fee for non-members.  Tuesday - Saturday 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. & 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

• The Bourbon Times/The Citizen Advertiser
  123 W 8th Street
  Paris, KY 40361
  859-987-1870

  Email: citadinc@aol.com

• The Bourbon News 1900 - 1910 Online - Kentuckiana Digital Library : type in Bourbon News in the search box

• Bourbon Photos at Kentuckiana Digital Library

• Archeological Investigations at Monterey - Monterey, An African American Settlement in Bourbon Co., KY - Monterey was the subject of extensive archaeological and historical investigations by the firm, Cultural Resource Analysts.  African-Americans associated with Monterey included Franky Robison (a free woman who purchased property there in 1834).

• Root and Branch - Slave Captives at Ruddles Mills and Martins Fork

• Kentucky in the 1873 Cholera Epidemic - the Bourbon County page list many African Americans.  Of special note is the mention of an African American settlement in the town of Millersburgh.

BOURBON COUNTY, KENTUCKY GENEALOGICAL HOLDINGS

Compiled by Sandi Gorin

COUNTY:

Deeds 1786-1900; Mortgages 1861-1900; Land Entries 1786-1835; Non-resident's land 1875; Marriage records 1786-1900; Inventories 1876-1900; Apprentice bonds 1814-1900; County Court Order Books 1812-1866; Wills 1789-1871; Guardians Book 1807-1900; Administrator's Bonds 1822-1900; Executors Bonds 1835-1900; County Minute Books 1806-1884; Depositions 1815-1885; Court Records (re trials, deeds, etc - used to be in basement) 1793-1784; Enrolled Militia (basement vault) 1861-1874; Settlement with Paymaster (basement - militia records) 1814-1848; Misc. Proceedings of County Court 1786-1889; Depositions, 1815-1885; Register of Claims 1847-1900; Deeds 1786-1900; Lein Transfers 18868-1900; Mechanics Liens 1874-1900; Slaves 1815-1865; Wills and Estates 1789-1900; Bonds 1853-1900; Minute Book 1786-1797.

CIRCUIT:

Civil Suits 1786-1900; Court Proceedings no date - VERY old; Commonwealth Order Book 1870-1900; Circuit Order Books 1806-1900; Index to same 1806-1900; Guardian Bonds 1898-1900; Lunatics & Idiot Requests 1892-1900; Master Commissioner's Report 1897-1900; Report of Commissioners on Land Division 1898-1900.