The Formation of Kentucky Counties

Formation of Kentucky County, Va In 1777 Fincastle County, Virginia's General Assembly divided Fincastle County into three parts and created Washington, Montgomery, and Kentucky Counties. The act creating these counties described Kentucky County as being "to the south and westward of a line beginning on the Ohio at the mouth of Great Sandy creek and running up the same and the main, or northeasterly, branch thereof to the Great Laurel Ridge of Cumberland Mountain, then south westerly along the said mountain to the line of North Carolina." In 1780, Kentucky County was divided into three counties -- Jefferson, Fayette, and Lincoln. Within just a few years, six more counties had been carved out of those three. Between 1784 and 1792, people living in those counties held ten conventions on the question of statehood; on 18 December 1789 Virginia's General Assembly passed an act allowing Kentucky to apply for statehood and on 1 June 1792, those nine counties became a state, with the full consent of Virginia. The Library of Virginia has the following records pertaining to counties that are part of Kentucky.
Personal Property Tax Lists Bourbon county: 1787-1791 Fayette County: 1787-1793 Jefferson County: 1789-1793 Lincoln County: 1787-1791 Madison County: 1787-1792 Mason County: 1790-1791, 1793 Mercer County: 1787, 1789 Shelby County: 1792 Washington County: 1792 Woodford County: 1790, 1792-1793 Militia Commissions, 1776 to 1792 Land Grants, to 1792	Legislative Petitions Bourbon County: no date shown Fayette County: 1781-1791, 1824 Harlan County: 1831 Jefferson County: 1783-1791, 1826 Kentucky County: 1776-1780 Lincoln County: 1783-1790 Madison County: 1788-1789 Mercer County: 1786-1789 Nelson County: 1787-1789 Pike County: 1849 Shelby County: 1825 Woodford County: 1789-1791 Land Tax Lists Bourbon County: 1789
The Library of Virginia has no original court records of the counties that are now part of Kentucky.
Daphne Gentry Publications and Educational Services Division The Library of Virginia dgentry@leo.vsla.edu 804-692-3725 Copyright by The Library of Virginia; re-publication of any part of this essay without written permission is strictly prohibited. My Thanks to Daphne Gentry for permission to place this on the KyGenWeb page.

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Formation of Kentucky Counties & Dates of Courthouse Disasters
County	Date Formed	Parent County	County Seat	Approx. Year of Disaster
Adair	1801	Green	Columbia
Allen	1815	Barren, Warren	Scottsville	1902
Anderson	1827	Franklin, Mercer, Washington	Lawrenceburg	1859, 1915
Ballard	1842	Hickman, McCracken	Wickliffe	1880
Barren	1798	Green, Warren	Glasgow
Bath	1811	Montgomery	Owingsville	1864
Bell	1867	Knox, Harlan	Pineville	1914, 1918, 1944, 1976
Boone	1798	Campbell	Burlington	1880s
Bourbon	1785	Fayette	Paris	1872, 1901
Boyd	1860	Carter, Lawrence, Greenup	Catlettsburg
Boyle	1842	Mercer, Lincoln	Danville	1860
Bracken	1796	Campbell, Mason	Brooksville	1848
Breathitt	1839	Clay, Estill, Perry	Jackson	1866, 1873
Breckinridge	1799	Hardin	Hardinsburg	1958
Bullitt	1796	Jefferson, Nelson	Shepherdsville
Butler	1810	Logan, Ohio	Morgantown	1872
Caldwell	1809	Livingston	Princeton	1864
Calloway	1822	Hickman	Murray	1906
Campbell	1795	Harrison, Mason, Scott	Alexandria & Newport
Carlisle	1886	Graves, Ballard	Bardwell	1980
Carroll	1838	Gallatin, Henry, Trimble	Carrollton
Carter	1838	Greenup, Lawrence	Grayson
Casey	1806	Lincoln	Liberty
Christian	1797	Logan	Hopkinsville	1864
Clark	1792	Bourbon, Fayette	Winchester
Clay	1806	Madison, Floyd, Knox	Manchester	1936
Clinton	1835	Wayne, Cumberland	Albany	1864, 1980
Crittenden	1842	Livingston	Marion	1865, 1870
Cumberland	1796	Green	Burkesville	1826, 1865, 1933
Daviess	1815	Ohio	Owensboro	1865
Edmonson	1825	Grayson, Hart, Warren	Brownsville
Elliott	1869	Carter, Lawrence, Morgan	Sandy Hook	1957
Estill	1808	Clark, Madison	Irvine	1864
Fayette	1780	Kentucky Co., VA	Lexington	1803, 1897
Fleming	1798	Mason	Flemingsburg
Floyd	1799	Fleming, Mason, Montgomery	Prestonsburg	1808
Franklin	1794	Woodford, Mercer, Shelby	Frankfort	1995
Fulton	1845	Hickman	Hickman
Gallatin	1798	Franklin, Shelby	Warsaw
Garrard	1796	Madison, Lincoln, Mercer	Lancaster
Grant	1820	Pendleton	Williamstown
Graves	1823	Hickman	Mayfield	1864, 1887
Grayson	1810	Hardin, Ohio	Leitchfield	1864, 1896
Green	1792	Lincoln, Nelson	Greensburg
Greenup	1803	Mason	Greenup	1937
Hancock	1828	Daviess, Ohio, Breckinridge	Hawesville
Hardin	1792	Nelson	Elizabethtown	1864, 1932
Harlan	1819	Knox	Harlan	1863
Harrison	1793	Bourbon, Scott	Cynthiana	1851, 1997
Hart	1819	Hardin, Barren, poss. Green	Munfordville	1928
Henderson	1798	Christian	Henderson
Henry	1798	Shelby	New Castle	1804
Hickman	1821	Caldwell, Livingston	Clinton
Hopkins	1806	Henderson	Madisonville	1829, 1864
Jackson	1858	Rockcastle, Owsley, Madison, Clay, Estill, Laurel	McKee	1949
Jefferson	1780	Kentucky Co., VA	Louisville	1905
Jessamine	1798	Fayette	Nicholasville
Johnson	1843	Floyd, Morgan, Lawrence	Paintsville
Kenton	1840	Campbell	Independence Covington
Knott	1884	Perry, Breathitt, Floyd, Letcher	Hindman	1929
Knox	1799	Lincoln	Barbourville
LaRue	1843	Hardin	Hodgenville	1865
Laurel	1825	Whitley, Clay, Knox, Rockcastle	London	1958
Lawrence	1821	Floyd, Greenup	Louisa
Lee	1870	Owsley, Breathitt, Wolfe, Estill	Beattyville
Leslie	1878	Clay, Harlan, Perry	Hyden
Letcher	1842	Perry, Harlan	Whitesburg
Lewis	1806	Mason	Vanceburg
Lincoln	1780	Kentucky Co., VA	Stanford
Livingston	1798	Christian	Smithland
Logan	1792	Lincoln	Russellville
Lyon	1854	Caldwell	Eddyville
Madison	1785	Lincoln	Richmond
Magoffin	1860	Floyd, Johnson, Morgan	Salyersville	1957
Marion	1834	Washington	Lebanon	1863
Marshall	1842	Calloway	Benton	1888, 1914
Martin	1870	Lawrence, Floyd, Pike, Johnson	Inez	1892
Mason	1788	Bourbon	Maysville
McCracken	1824	Hickman	Paducah
McCreary	1912	Wayne, Pulaski, Whitley	Whitley City	1927, 1951
McLean	1854	Muhlenberg, Daviess, Ohio	Calhoun
Meade	1824	Hardin, Breckinridge	Brandenburg	1974
Menifee	1869	Powell, Wolfe, Bath, Morgan, Montgomery	Frenchburg
Mercer	1785	Lincoln	Harrodsburg	1928
Metcalfe	1860	Monroe, Adair, Barren, Cumberland, Green	Edmonton	1865, 1867
Monroe	1820	Barren, Cumberland	Tompkinsville	1863, 1887
Montgomery	1796	Clark	Mount Sterling	1851, 1863
Morgan	1822	Floyd, Bath	West Liberty	1862, 1925
Muhlenberg	1798	Christian, Logan	Greenville
Nelson	1784	Jefferson	Bardstown
Nicholas	1799	Bourbon, Mason	Carlisle
Ohio	1799	Hardin	Hartford	1864
Oldham	1823	Henry, Shelby, Jefferson	LaGrange	1873
Owen	1819	Scott, Franklin, Gallatin, Pendleton	Owenton
Owsley	1843	Clay, Estill, Breathitt	Booneville	1929, 1967
Pendleton	1798	Bracken, Campbell	Falmouth	1997
Perry	1820	Clay, Floyd	Hazard	1885, 1911
Pike	1821	Floyd	Pikeville	1977
Powell	1852	Clark, Estill, Montgomery	Stanton	1863, 1864
Pulaski	1798	Green, Lincoln	Somerset	1838, 1871
Robertson	1867	Nicholas, Bracken, Mason, Fleming, Harrison	Mt. Olivet
Rockcastle	1810	Pulaski, Lincoln, Madison	Mount Vernon	1871
Rowan	1856	Fleming, Morgan	Morehead	1864, 1880s
Russell	1825	Cumberland, Adair, Wayne	Jamestown	1976
Scott	1792	Woodford	Georgetown	1837, 1876
Shelby	1792	Jefferson	Shelbyville
Simpson	1819	Allen, Logan, Warren	Franklin	1882
Spencer	1824	Shelby, Bullitt, Nelson	Taylorsville	1865, 1914
Taylor	1848	Green	Campbellsville	1864
Todd	1819	Christian, Logan	Elkton
Trigg	1820	Christian, Caldwell	Cadiz	1864, 1892, 1920
Trimble	1836	Henry, Oldham, Gallatin	Bedford	1952
Union	1811	Henderson	Morganfield
Warren	1796	Logan	Bowling Green	1864
Washington	1792	Nelson	Springfield	1795, 1814
Wayne	1800	Pulaski, Cumberland	Monticello	1898
Webster	1860	Hopkins, Union, Henderson	Dixon
Whitley	1818	Knox	Williamsburg	1930
Wolfe	1860	Owsley, Breathitt, Powell, Morgan	Campton	1886, 1913
Woodford	1788	Fayette	Versailles	1965

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