Our History
KYGenWeb traces its roots to early 1996, when a group of genealogists set out to create a central home for Kentucky online family history resources. Their goal was simple but ambitious: build a single entry point for all Kentucky counties, gather contributed databases in one place, and index them so researchers could follow a person across county lines.
Volunteers quickly stepped forward to coordinate each county's materials and maintain local pages. These early county sites offered essential services such as queries, lookups, and a place to share records at a time when online genealogy was still new.
The idea grew quickly. Within months, nearly every Kentucky county had a coordinator, and the project expanded beyond state borders. The Kentucky model helped inspire a nationwide effort that became USGenWeb, followed a short time later by WorldGenWeb.
Today KYGenWeb continues that original purpose: preserving freely accessible resources, encouraging volunteer contributions, and helping researchers trace the families who shaped Kentucky history.
Read about more of our early founders.