KYGenWeb: County Collection: Boyle
Member of the USGenWeb® Project

Start Your Boyle County Research

Boyle County, located in the Bluegrass region of central Kentucky, was formed from Lincoln and Mercer Counties on 15 February 1842. It was the 94th county to be formed in Kentucky and was named for Judge John Boyle, a former chief justice of the Kentucky Court of Appeals and later a federal judge for Kentucky.
The area that became Boyle County was one of the earliest settled parts of what was then Kentucky County, Virginia. Danville grew as a frontier town and legal center, and by the 1780s it served as the meeting place for a series of constitutional conventions that pressed for separation from Virginia. After ten conventions held in Danville between 1784 and 1792, Kentucky entered the Union as the 15th state on 1 June 1792. Isaac Shelby, a Revolutionary War officer who lived just outside Danville, became the state’s first governor. Today, Boyle County is known for its historic neighborhoods, educational institutions, and nearby Civil War battlefield at Perryville.

Kentucky map with Boyle County highlighted
Boyle County within Kentucky

Research Highlights

Boyle County researchers will encounter a strong mix of early frontier, civic, and educational records. Danville’s role as an early political capital and legal hub means that court orders, land transactions, and early town records are especially important. Later materials reflect the growth of Centre College, the Kentucky School for the Deaf, churches and academies, and the county’s experience during the Civil War, particularly around the Battle of Perryville. Researchers can also expect good coverage from local newspapers, cemetery readings, church histories, and family files held in Danville.

County at a Glance

  • County seat: Danville
  • Established: 15 February 1842
  • Parent counties: Lincoln County, Mercer County
  • Counties formed from Boyle: None
  • Early settlements: Danville, Perryville, Junction City (Shelby City), Parksville, Mitchellsburg, Alum Springs
  • Key roads: U.S. 127, U.S. 150, U.S. 68, KY 33, KY 34, KY 52, KY 300
  • Early industries: diversified agriculture (Bluegrass stock farms, tobacco, hemp), milling and small manufacturing, trade and services tied to education and the nearby Wilderness Road
  • Nearby landmarks: Perryville Battlefield, Constitution Square Historic Site, Centre College, Kentucky School for the Deaf, historic downtown Danville

Record Loss:

  • Courthouse fire in 1860. A fire destroyed an earlier courthouse and resulted in the loss of some county records, particularly among the earliest volumes.
  • Good survival for post–Civil War records. Deeds, marriages, and court records from the later 1800s forward are generally well preserved and often microfilmed.
  • Check parent counties for pre-1842 research. For families in the area before county formation, key deeds, tax lists, and court orders will be in Lincoln and Mercer County record sets.

Adjacent Counties

Map showing adjacent counties

Repositories & Records

The Boyle County Courthouse in Danville houses deeds, marriage records, probate files, and circuit and district court orders from the county’s formation forward. The Boyle County Clerk’s Office provides access to recorded land and marriage records, while the Office of the Circuit Court Clerk oversees court case files. Many older volumes have been microfilmed and can be accessed through the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives (KDLA).

The Boyle County Public Library in Danville maintains a strong local history and genealogy collection, including family files, local and regional histories, cemetery readings, and historic newspapers. Its Kentucky Room and digital projects support research on Boyle County as well as the earlier Lincoln and Mercer County records that cover the “pre-Boyle” era.

Notes

Notable Places: Key communities in Boyle County include Danville (county seat), Perryville, Junction City, Parksville, Mitchellsburg, Alum Springs, and Forkland. Constitution Square in Danville preserves the site where Kentucky’s early constitutional conventions met, while nearby Centre College and the Kentucky School for the Deaf have generated rich institutional records. The Perryville Battlefield, just west of Danville, marks one of the largest Civil War engagements fought in Kentucky.

Research Notes: Because Boyle County was formed in 1842, earlier land and tax records for residents in this area will be found in Mercer and Lincoln County series. The 1860 courthouse fire created gaps among the earliest Boyle County volumes, so it is worth checking overlapping records in neighboring counties, private papers, and church minutes. For the Civil War period, materials relating to the Battle of Perryville, veterans’ records, and local newspaper coverage can help reconstruct families who were displaced, wounded, or killed during the conflict. The presence of multiple schools and colleges in Danville also means that yearbooks, student rosters, and institutional histories may provide unexpected genealogical details.

Centre College Archives in Danville is another key repository for Boyle County research. The archives preserve faculty and student records, campus publications, historical photographs, diaries, maps, and manuscript collections connected to Danville families and civic life. Because Centre has been a major educational institution since 1819, its holdings often include materials from the “pre-Boyle” period and can help document residents who appear only briefly in county records.

Migration Patterns: Boyle County lies along routes once tied to the old Wilderness Road and later highways U.S. 150 and U.S. 127. Many early settlers came from Virginia and the Upper South, filtering through Lincoln and Mercer Counties before Boyle County was formed. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, families moved in and out of the area with changes in farming, rail connections, and employment in Danville’s businesses and schools. There is frequent movement between Boyle and its neighbors—especially Lincoln, Mercer, and Casey Counties—so researchers should be prepared to follow families across county lines over several decades.

Map is from the 1891 Appleton Map of Kentucky. Found in the David Rumsey Map Collection.