Bourbon County, Kentucky Genealogy

United States

Kentucky

Bourbon County

Guide to Bourbon County, Kentucky ancestry, genealogy and family history, birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

Kentucky Online Genealogy Records

County Facts County seat: Paris Organized: October 17, 1785 Parent County(s): Fayette Neighboring Counties Bath  • Clark  • Fayette  • Harrison  • Montgomery  • Nicholas  • Scott See County Maps Courthouse Location Map Adoption Adopt-a-wiki page This page adopted by: KYGenWeb Project who welcome you to contribute. Adopt a page today

County Information

Description

The County was named for House of Bourbon. The County is located in the northeast area of the state.

County Courthouse

Bourbon County Courthouse
310 Main Street
Paris, KY 40361
Phone: 859.987.2142
Bourbon County Website

Bourbon County, Kentucky Record Dates

Information for this chart was taken from various sources, often containing conflicting dates. This information should be taken as a guide and should be verified by contacting the county and/or the state government agency.

Known Beginning Dates for Major County Records
Birth*	Marriage	Death*	Court	Land	Probate	Census
1852	1786	1852	1786	1786	1786	1810
Statewide registration for births and deaths started in 1911. General compliance by 1917.

Record Loss

1872, 1901--Courthouse disasters caused the loss of some records. Lost censuses: 1790, 1800 For suggestions about research in places that suffered historic record losses, see: Burned Counties. By Michael John Neill. Online at: Family History Circle. When the Records are Gone. By Arlene Eakle. Online at: Tennessee Genealogy Blog. Burned Counties Research in the FamilySearch Research Wiki.

Boundary Changes

1785--Bourbon County was created 17 October 1785 from Fayette County. County seat: Paris Chronological Changes Map for Bourbon County For animated maps illustrating Kentucky county boundary changes, "Rotating Formation Kentucky County Boundary Maps" (1776-1939) may be viewed for free at the MapofUS.org website.

Populated Places

For a complete list of populated places, including small neighborhoods and suburbs, visit Hometown Locator. The following are the most historically and genealogically relevant populated places in this county:

Cities
Millersburg	North Middletown	Paris
Unincorporated communities
Austerlitz Blacks Crossroads Brentsville Bunker Hill Centerville Clintonville Currentsville	Escondida Ewalt Crossroads Hopewell Hutchison Jacksonville Jackstown Kiserton	Little Rock Monterey Plum Ruddels Mills Shawhan Sidville Stony Point
Ghost towns
Cane Ridge

Resources

Biographies

• Bourbon County Kentucky Biographies

Cemeteries

Cemeteries of Bourbon, Kentucky online and in print
Tombstone Transcriptions Online	Findagrave.com KYGenWeb KYGenWeb Archives Tombstone Project Kentucky Gravestones Billion Graves
TombstoneTranscriptions in Print (Often more complete)	Family History Library WorldCat
List of Cemeteries in the County	Findagrave.com Billion Graves Graveyards of Kentucky FamilySearch Places
See Kentucky Cemeteries for more information

The following web sites have additional information on Bourbon county cemeteries.

• Kentucky Cemeteries lists the national cemeteries in Kentucky with links to their web sites. The first link under Online Kentucky Cemeteries goes to the Kentucky section of Interment.net

Census Records

Historical populations
Census	Pop.	%±
1790	7,837	—
1800	12,825	63.6%
1810	18,009	40.4%
1820	17,664	−1.9%
1830	18,436	4.4%
1840	14,478	−21.5%
1850	14,466	−0.1%
1860	14,860	2.7%
1870	14,863	0.0%
1880	15,956	7.4%
1890	16,976	6.4%
1900	18,069	6.4%
1910	17,462	−3.4%
1920	18,418	5.5%
1930	18,060	−1.9%
1940	17,932	−0.7%
1950	17,752	−1.0%
1960	18,178	2.4%
1970	18,476	1.6%
1980	19,405	5.0%
1990	19,236	−0.9%
2000	19,360	0.6%
2010	19,985	3.2%
Source: "Wikipedia.org".

1810, 1820, 1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, and 1930 federal population schedules of Bourbon County are available online. For tips on accessing census records online, see Kentucky Census. If you're having trouble finding your ancestors in online indexes, try checking printed indexes. Created by local experts familiar with the area's families, these indexes are often transcribed more accurately than online nationwide indexes.

See Kentucky Population Schedule Indexes: Fiche, Film, or Book for more information about statewide printed indexes.

1790 - Lost, but a substitute is available, see Taxation.

1800 - Lost, but a substitute is available:

• USGenWeb Census Project, Kentucky Census Transcriptions 1850-1930
• Census Images, USGenWeb
• Kentucky Census Transcriptions, USGenWeb
• KY Census Online, Links to online census records

Church Records

Church records and the information they provide vary significantly depending on the denomination and the record keeper. They may contain information about members of the congregation, such as age, date of baptism, christening, or birth; marriage information and maiden names; and death date. For general information about Kentucky denominations, view the Kentucky Church Records wiki page.

1801-- Cane Ridge, Bourbon County, Kentucky. Home to a large camp meeting that drew thousands of people and had a lasting influence as one of the landmark events of the Second Great Awakening. The event was led by eighteen Presbyterian ministers, but numerous Methodist and Baptist preachers also spoke and assisted. The Second Great Awakening introduced new thoughts and opinions on religion.

Baptist

• Baptist History Homepage, Transcriptions of a large number of church annual meeting minutes, Baptist newspapers, etc.
• Bourbon County Baptist Notes, Silas Run Church Register
• History of Kentucky Baptists p. 276-277, Flat Lick - Mt. Dependence Baptist Church.

Presbyterian

• Shane, John Dabney and Presbyterian Historical Society. Shane Manuscript Collection. Original records, Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia, Penn. FHL US/CAN Film 948631.
• Kentucky Christian Church Directory, ChurchAngel
• Catholic Parishes in the Diocese of Lexington
• Catholic Parishes in the Archdiocese of Louisville

List of Churches and Church Parishes

• FamilySearch Places
  

Court Records

• Abstracts of Early KY Supreme Court Cases, KYGenWeb
• Kentucky Court of Justice Research & Reference

Emigration and Immigration

• Coldham, Peter Wilson. North American Wills Registered in London 1611-1857. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 2007. Includes will of a resident of Bourbon County proved in London. These records often help establish an immigrant's place of origin.

Ethnic, Political, and Religious Groups

African Americans

More information about African American resources in Kentucky can be found on the Kentucky African Americans and the United States African Americans Wiki pages.

• The Kentucky African American Griots Project
• Kentucky Minorities has information specific to Kentucky African Americans.
• Sandi Gorin's Tips, Hangings in Kentucky 1792-1900

Genealogies

• [Duncan] - The Duncans of Bourbon County, Kentucky at Ancestry ($)
• [McCune] - Some of the descendants of Robert and Jane ( ) McCune of Bourbon and Nicholas County, Kentucky at Ancestry ($)
• [Miller] - The Millers of Millersburg, Kentucky at Ancestry ($)
• Bourbon County, Kentucky Genealogy, list of more than 100 genealogies published about Bourbon County families.

Land and Property Records

Land and property records can place an ancestor in a particular location, provide economic information, and reveal family relationships. Land records include: deeds, abstracts and indexes, mortgages, leases, grants and land patents.

See Kentucky Land and Property for additional information about early Kentucky land grants. After land was transferred to private ownership, subsequent transactions were usually recorded at the county courthouse and where records are currently housed.

Land Grants and Patents

• Virginia Land Office. Commonwealth's Grants or Patents 1779-1794, 1801 (Now in Kentucky). Original records, Virginia State Land Office, Richmond, Va. FHL US/CAN Film 7811 Item 1. Index. Some of the land was situated in Bourbon County.
• Kentucky Land Office - land patents
• Bourbon County Land Records - Surveys before 1800
• Bourbon County Property Records links to Deed Books 1786-1902

Local Histories

Local histories are available for Bourbon County, Kentucky Genealogy. County histories may include biographies, church, school and government history, and military information. For more information about local histories see the wiki page section Kentucky Local Histories.

• Everman, H.E. The History of Bourbon County, 1785-1865. n.p.: Bourbon Press, 1977. FHL US/CAN Book 976.9423 H2e.
• The Archives of Appalachia
• Bourbon, Harrison, Nicholas, and Scott Counties, Kentucky History at Ancestry ($)

Maps and Gazetteers

Click a neighboring county
for more resources

• 1877 Atlas of Bourbon County
• KYGenWeb compiled list of maps
• Click on the county to go to the KYGenWeb site
• FamilySearch Places:Cities and Towns- How to Use FS Places

Military Records

• Bourbon County Military

French and Indian War

• Bockstruck, Lloyd DeWitt. Virginia's Colonial Soldiers. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1988. Available at FHL. Identifies a Bourbon County veteran; see place name index.

Revolutionary War

• Bell, Annie W.B. Record of Pension Abstracts Pertaining to Soldiers of the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, and Indian Wars: Who Settled in Bourbon County, Kentucky. 1934. FHL US/CAN Book 976.942 M23b.

War of 1812

• Bell, Annie W.B. Record of Pension Abstracts Pertaining to Soldiers of the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, and Indian Wars: Who Settled in Bourbon County, Kentucky. 1934. FHL US/CAN Book 976.942 M23b.

Civil War

Online Records

• 1861-1865 - Kentucky Civil War Service Records of Confederate Soldiers, 1861-1865 at FamilySearch — index
• 1861-1865 - Kentucky Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers, 1861-1865 at FamilySearch — index
• 1861-1865 - U.S., Confederate Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865 at Ancestry — index (free)
• 1861-1865 - U.S., Union Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865 at Ancestry— index (free)
• 1912-1950 - Kentucky Confederate Pension Applications 1912-1950 at FamilySearch — index and images

Regiments. Men in Bourbon County served in various regiments and companies. Those listed below were specifically formed in this county:

- 7th Regiment, Kentucky Cavalry (Union), Companies A, B, E, G, H, K and M.

- 11th Regiment, Kentucky Cavalry (Union), Company G.

- 18th Regiment, Kentucky Infantry (Union), Company A, B, D and E.

- 40th Regiment, Kentucky Infantry (Union), Company E.

World War II

• Bourbon County Woman's Club (Paris, Ky.). Bourbon County Men and Women Who Served in World War Two. Digital version at University of Kentucky.

Newspapers

• Kentucky News, Newspaper Index with links
• Another Kentucky Newspaper Index with links
• Kentucky Newspapers on Microfilm
• Kentucky Pioneers ($) Deaths, Obituaries, Marriages from The Bourbon News, Millersburg, Kentucky for 1882

Additional newspapers abstracts can sometimes be found using search phrases such as Bourbon County, Kentucky Genealogy newspapers in online catalogs like:

• WorldCat (For instructions see WorldCat Online Catalog).
• Do a Bourbon County, Kentucky Genealogy Place-name search for these and other records in the FamilySearch Catalog (For instructions see FamilySearch Catalog Place-name Search).

Obituaries

• KY Footsteps Archives, KYGenWeb
• KY Obituary Sources,KYGenWeb
• Links to research and locate obituaries
• Browning Genealogy Database, Compiled by Charles Browning.
• Obituaries, USGenWeb
• Afrigeneas ~ African American death notices, obituaries and funeral programs compiled by users from current newspapers and historical sources
• Obituary Depot, Kentucky Newspaper Citations
• Obituary Daily Times, Citations to over 15,000,000 obituaries (Ancestry)
• Nashville Christian Advocate Death Abstracts
• Kentucky Pioneers ($) Deaths, Obituaries, Marriages from The Bourbon News, Millersburg, Kentucky for 1882

Other Records

• KY Postcards, USGenWeb

Probate Records

Probate records are held by the Bourbon County, Kentucky Genealogy Clerk of Court and are housed at the Bourbon County, Kentucky Genealogy Courthouse. Microfilmed records can be found online at Kentucky, Probate Records, 1792-1977 for Caldwell, Henry, Hickman, Russell and Trimble counties. See the wiki page Kentucky Probate Records for information about how to use probate records.

Content: Probate Records may give the decedent's date of death, names of his or her spouse, children, parents, siblings, in-laws, neighbors, associates, relatives, and their place of residence.

Record types: Wills, estates, guardianships, naturalizations, and adoptions.

Online Probate Records

• 1774–1999 Kentucky Wills and Probate Records 1774-1999 at Ancestry ($) — index and images
• 1786-1795 Will Book A: 1786-1795 - Strictly By Name provides free online indexes to early Bourbon County probate records. They offer a record retrieval service to photocopy and transcribe microfilm copies of the original documents for a small fee.
• 1786-1871 Will Books A to R (1786-1871) have been digitized by FamilySearch - free.
• 1786-1799 Images of Wills, Inventories, Estates, Book A, 1786-1799 Kentucky Pioneers, ($)
• 1795-1805 Will Book B: 1795-1805 - Strictly By Name provides free online indexes to early Bourbon County probate records. They offer a record retrieval service to photocopy and transcribe microfilm copies of the original documents for a small fee.
• Bourbon County Wills and Estates

London Court

• Coldham, Peter Wilson. North American Wills Registered in London 1611-1857. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 2007. Includes will of a resident of Bourbon County proved in London. These records often help establish an immigrant's place of origin.

Tax Records

Taxes were levied on free white males over 21 and slaves aged 21 to 60. These persons are referred to as "polls." Tax listings, or digests, of a county generally list the taxable landowners and other polls and the amount of tax. The records for each county are divided by militia district. For more background information and state-wide resources see the wiki page Kentucky Taxation.

• 1787 - Schreiner-Yantis, Netti and Florene Speakman Love. The 1787 Census of Virginia: An Accounting of the Name of Every White Male Tithable Over 21 Years, the Number of White Males Between 16 & 21 Years, the Number of Slaves over 16 & Those Under 16 Years, Together with a Listing of Their Horses, Cattle & Carriages, and Also the Names of All Persons to Whom Ordinary Licenses and Physician's Licenses Were Issued. 3 vols. Springfield, Va.: Genealogical Books in Print, 1987. FHL. The source of this publication is the 1787 personal property tax list. Bourbon County is included in Vol. 1.
• 1790-1791 - Heinemann, Charles B. "First Census" of Kentucky 1790. Washington, D.C.: n.p., 1940. 1981 reprint: FHL US/CAN 976.9 X2ph 1981; digital version at Kentucky Kinfolks. ("8 pages of 1790 were used and 3 volumes of 1791. There is some duplication of names.")
• 1800 - 1800 Tax List of Bourbon County, Kentucky Genealogy is included in Clift's Second Census of Kentucky 1800, digitized by Ancestry ($).

Vital Records

Vital records consist of birth, death, marriage and divorce records. Although Kentucky enacted a statute in 1852-1862 requiring registration of births and deaths,many counties did not comply. A second law was written in 1874-1879, and 1892-1910 but, again, was not always followed. By 1911, the law was more clearly defined and kept by 1920. Any existing births 1852-1960 and death records 1852-1953 can be accessed online. See How to Find Kentucky Birth Records and How to Find Kentucky Death Records for links to indexes and images.

Original marriage records are held at the office of the Bourbon County Clerk, with divorce records 1849-1958 located with the Bourbon County Circuit Court. For more information see How to Find Kentucky Marriage Records. For Kentucky divorce records see the wiki page Kentucky Vital Records.

Birth

• 1839-1960 - Kentucky Births and Christenings 1839-1960 at FamilySearch
• 1852-1859 - Bourbon County Birth Index 1852-1859. Batch C517081 at FamilySearch - free.
• 1874 - Bourbon County Birth Index 1874. Batch C517082 at FamilySearch - free.
• Searchable KY Vital Records, Searchable databases of KY Births, Deaths and Marriages
• 1911-1999 Kentucky Births, 1911-1999 at MyHeritage ($) — index

Marriage

• 1609-2016 - Kentucky, United States Marriages at FindMyPast — index $
• 1786-1800 - Bourbon County Marriages - marriage bonds 1786 - 1798; marriages 1786 - 1800, etc.
• 1786-1800 - Bourbon County, Kentucky Marriage Records, 1786-1800 at Ancestry ($)
• 1797-1954 - Kentucky, County Marriages, 1797-1954 at FamilySearch — index and images
• 1853-1860 - Bourbon County Marriage Index 1853-1860. Batch M517081 at FamilySearch - free.
• 1876-1879 - Bourbon County Marriage Index 1876-1879. Batch M517083 at FamilySearch - free.
• Kentucky Marriage Records, from the Register of the Kentucky Historical Society. Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1983. FHL US/CAN Book 976.9 V2km. Includes marriages from Bourbon County.
• Shane, John Dabney and Presbyterian Historical Society. Shane Manuscript Collection. Original records, Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia, Penn. FHL US/CAN Film 948631.
• Marriage records for Bourbon County, Kentucky at Ancestry ($)
• 1960-1993 Kentucky Marriages, 1960-1993 at MyHeritage ($) — index

Death

• 1843-1970 - Kentucky Deaths and Burials 1843-1970 at FamilySearch
• 1911-1965 - Kentucky Death Records, 1911-1965 at FamilySearch — index
• 1900-1999 Kentucky Deaths, 1900-1999 at MyHeritage ($) — index

Kentucky Death Records

• The Kentucky Vital Records Project, Transcriptions of and Images of Kentucky Death Certificates
• Searchable Kentucky Vital Records, Searchable databases of Kentucky Births, Deaths and Marriages
• United States Social Security Death Index

Research Facilities

Family History Centers

Family History Centers provide one-on-one assistance and free access to premium genealogical websites. In addition, many centers have free how-to genealogy classes.

• For current information about a center near you, go to the Family History Center Map

Societies

• Bourbon County Kentucky Genealogical Society
  PO Box 951
  Paris, KY 40362
  Email: BourbonCountian@aol.com
  Website
  
• Links and addresses to Kentucky genealogical and historical societies

Websites

• Bourbon County, KY History, Records, Facts and Genealogy (Genealogy Inc)
• Bourbon County KYGenWeb project. Maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county.
• KYGenWeb project. Has maps, name indexes, history or other information for each county. Select the county.
• State of Kentucky Website
• Kentucky Archives, USGenWeb Archives
• USGenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the state, then the county.
• Boone County, Kentucky Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)
• Bourbon County KY Genealogy (Kentucky Genealogy)
• FamilySearch Catalog . Free - The FamilySearch catalog contains descriptions and access information for all genealogical materials (including books, online materials, microfilm, microfiche, and publications) in their collection.  Use Historical Records to search for specific individuals in genealogical records