Rockcastle County, Kentucky Genealogy

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

County Facts
County seat: Mount Vernon
Organized: January 8, 1810
Parent County(s): Knox, Lincoln, Madison, Pulaski[1]
Neighboring Counties
Garrard  • Jackson  • Laurel  • Lincoln  • Madison  • Pulaski
See County Maps
Courthouse
Rockcastle County Courthouse, Mount Vernon, KY
Location Map
Ky-rockcastle.png
Adoption
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County Information[edit | edit source]

Description[edit | edit source]

Rockcastle County was named for Rockcastle River. The county is located in the central area of the state.[2]

County Courthouse[edit | edit source]

Rockcastle County Courthouse
205 W Main Street Street
Mount Vernon, KY 40456-0365
Phone: 606-256-2831[3]
Rockcastle County Website

Rockcastle County, Kentucky Record Dates[edit | edit source]

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[4]
Birth* Marriage Death* Court Land Probate Census
1852 1873 1852 1873 1873 1855 1810
*Statewide registration for births and deaths started in 1911. General compliance by 1917.

Record Loss[edit | edit source]

1871, 1874--Courthouse disasters destroyed many of the records.

For suggestions about research in places that suffered historic record losses, see:

Boundary Changes[edit | edit source]

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[edit | edit source]

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:[6]

Cities
Unincorporated communities
  • Hummel
  • Johnetta
  • Level Green
  • Luner
  • Maretburg
  • Mullins
  • Orlando
  • Ottawa
  • Pine Hill
  • Pongo


History Timeline[edit | edit source]

Resources[edit | edit source]

Bible Records[edit | edit source]

Biographies[edit | edit source]

Business, Commerce, and Occupations[edit | edit source]

Cemeteries[edit | edit source]

Cemeteries of Rockcastle, Kentucky online and in print
Tombstone Transcriptions Online
TombstoneTranscriptions in Print (Often more complete)
List of Cemeteries in the County
See Kentucky Cemeteries for more information

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

Census Records[edit | edit source]

Historical populations
Census Pop. %±
1810 1,731 —
1820 2,249 29.9%
1830 2,865 27.4%
1840 3,409 19.0%
1850 4,697 37.8%
1860 5,343 13.8%
1870 7,145 33.7%
1880 9,670 35.3%
1890 9,841 1.8%
1900 12,416 26.2%
1910 14,473 16.6%
1920 15,406 6.4%
1930 15,149 −1.7%
1940 17,165 13.3%
1950 13,925 −18.9%
1960 12,334 −11.4%
1970 12,305 −0.2%
1980 13,973 13.6%
1990 14,803 5.9%
2000 16,582 12.0%
2010 17,056 2.9%
Source: "Wikipedia.org".

1810, 1820, 1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, and 1930 federal population schedules of Rockcastle 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.

Church Records[edit | edit source]

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.


List of Churches and Church Parishes

Court Records[edit | edit source]

Directories[edit | edit source]

Emigration and Immigration[edit | edit source]

Ethnic, Political, and Religious Groups[edit | edit source]

African Americans[edit | edit source]

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

Funeral Homes[edit | edit source]

Genealogies[edit | edit source]

  • [Clark] Clark, Lily May McLemore. Wallis Clark, Sr. of Rockcastle County, Kentucky. Mount Vernon, Ky.: Rockcastle County Historical Society, 1990. FHL Book 929.273 C547cLL
  • [Cummins] Funk, Frances. Cummins Ancient, Cummins New: A History of the Cummins Family of Rockcastle County, Kentucky. Washington, D.C.: McGregor and Werner, 1978. FHL Book 929.273 C912a
  • [Harper] Harper, Joseph Doyle. The Harper's of Pulaski and Rockcastle Counties, Kentucky:A Genealogical and Historical Narrative. Livingston, Montana: The Shields' Valley Publishing Co., 1990. FHL Book 929.273 H231hh
  • [Hasty] Hasty, Warren H. Archibald Hasty and Descendants: of Pulaski & Rockcastle County, Kentucky. Minneapolis, Minn.: W.H. Hasty, 2004. FHL Book 929.273 H279hwa
  • [Johnson] Yates, William Allen. Johnson Genealogy: Descendants of George W. Johnson of Scott County, Virginia and Rockcastle County, Kentucky and Descendants of Benjamin Johnson of Smyth County, Virginia. Stevensville, Montana: W.A. Yates, 1992. FHL Book 929.273 J632y
  • [Owen] Owens, Charles Sterling. David Owen, Revolutionary War Soldier, and His Descendants Wilkes County, North Carolina to Rockcastle County, Kentucky. Knoxville, Tenn.: C.S. Owens, 1991. FHL Book 929.273 Ow2owc
  • [Rogers] Irwin, Lyndon N. The Rogers Family of Paint Lick and Crab Orchard: Ancestry and Descendants Joseph and Ellen Steward Rogers of Garrard, Rockcastle, and Lincoln Counties in Kentucky. Bois D'Arc, Missouri: L. Irwin, 1994. FHL Book 929.273 R632i
  • [Wallins] Heflin, Donald L. The Wanderin' Wallins from Henry County, Virginia, to Rockcastle County, Kentucky. Georgetown, Ky.: D.L. Heflin, 1994. FHL Book 929.273 W158h

Guardianship[edit | edit source]

Land and Property Records[edit | edit source]

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.

Local Histories[edit | edit source]

Local histories are available for Rockcastle 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.

Maps and Gazetteers[edit | edit source]

Garrard CountyMadison CountyJackson CountyLaurel CountyPulaski CountyLincoln CountyKY ROCK CASTLE.PNG
Click a neighboring county
for more resources

Migration[edit | edit source]

Military Records[edit | edit source]

Civil War[edit | edit source]

Online Records

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

- 2nd Regiment, Kentucky Cavalry (Union), Companies A, B, C, D, E, F, G, I and J.
- 2nd Regiment, Kentucky Infantry (Union), Companies A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I and J.
- 2nd Regiment, Kentucky Veteran Cavalry (Union), Companies A, B, and C.

World War I[edit | edit source]

Korean War[edit | edit source]

Naturalization and Citizenship[edit | edit source]

Newspapers[edit | edit source]

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

Obituaries[edit | edit source]

Other Records[edit | edit source]

Periodicals[edit | edit source]

Probate Records[edit | edit source]

Probate records are held by the Rockcastle County, Kentucky Genealogy Clerk of Court and are housed at the Rockcastle 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

School Records[edit | edit source]

Social Security Records[edit | edit source]

Tax Records[edit | edit source]

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.

Rockcastle County Tax Lists, 1811-1875, are available for purchase as digital images in PDF format on CD from Jeff Renner's Genealogical Resources. When the PDF files are viewed in a program such as Acrobat Pro you can bookmark pages/images with year changes, ancestors names, etc. You can also drag an image/page out of Acrobat Pro and throw it into Photoshop to enhance viewing or you can just save that extracted page/image to be used as an attachment to your ancestor in whatever Record Manager (ie: Legacy, RootsMagic, etc) program you use.

Vital Records[edit | edit source]

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 Rockcastle County Clerk, with divorce records 1849-1958 located with the Rockcastle 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[edit | edit source]

Marriage[edit | edit source]

Death[edit | edit source]

Divorce[edit | edit source]

Research Facilities[edit | edit source]

Archives[edit | edit source]

Listed below are archives in Rockcastle County. For state-wide archival repositories, see Kentucky Archives and Libraries.

  • Archives of Appalachia
    East Tennessee State University
    Website

Family History Centers[edit | edit source]

Family History Centers provide one-on-one assistance, free access to center-only databases, and to premium genealogical websites.
FamilySearch Affiliate Libraries have access to most center-only databases, but may not always have full services normally provided by a family history center.

Local Centers and Libraries

Libraries[edit | edit source]

Listed below are libraries in Rockcastle County. For state-wide library facilities, see Kentucky Archives and Libraries.

Museums[edit | edit source]

Societies[edit | edit source]

Listed below are societies in Rockcastle County. For state-wide genealogical societies, see Kentucky Societies.

Websites[edit | edit source]

Research Guides[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed. (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), Kentucky. At various libraries (WorldCat); FHL Book 973 D27e 2002.
  2. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Rockcastle County, Kentucky" in Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia, "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockcastle_County,_Kentucky."
  3. ↑ Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed. (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), Rockcastle County, Kentucky page 274, At various libraries (WorldCat); FHL Book 973 D27e 2002.
  4. ↑ Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed. (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), Rockcastle County, Kentucky. Page 268-276 At various libraries (WorldCat); FHL Book 973 D27e 2002; Alice Eichholz, ed. Ancestry’s Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources, Third ed. (Provo, Utah: Ancestry, 2004), 251-254.
  5. ↑ Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed. (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), Kentucky. At various libraries (WorldCat); FHL Book 973 D27e 2002.
  6. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Rockcastle County, Kentucky," in Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockcastle_County,_Kentucky, accessed 10 September 2018.
  7. ↑ Genealogical Society of Utah, Parish and Vital Records List (July 1998). Microfiche. Digital version at https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/images/7/75/Igikentuckymz.pdf.



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