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Kentucky Research Outline |
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Table of Contents
Records Of The Family History Library
Familysearch™
Family History Library Catalog
Archives And Libraries
Archives
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Emigration And Immigration
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Statewide Collections And Publications
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Indexes To Land Grants And Surveys
County Records
Reference Tools
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Military Records
French And Indian War (1754–1763)
Revolutionary War (1775–1783)
War Of 1812 (1812–1815)
Mexican War (1846–1848)
Civil War (1861–1865)
Spanish-american War
World War I (1917–1918)
Vietnam War (1963–1972)
Other Military Records
Minorities
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Naturalization And Citizenship
Newspapers
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Occupations
Periodicals
Probate Records
Public Records
Societies
Taxation
Vital Records
Birth And Death Records Prior To 1852
Birth, Marriage, And Death Records, 1852–1910
Birth And Death Records, 1911–present
Birth And Death Records Kept By Cities Before 1911
Marriage Records
Guide To Vital Records
Voting Registers
For Further Reading
Comments And Suggestions
Probate records are court records created after an individual’s death that relate to a court’s decisions regarding the distribution of his or her estate to heirs or creditors and the care of the deceased’s dependents. You may find the individual’s death date; the names of family members, including married daughters; family relationships; and residences. You may also learn about the adoption or guardianship of minor children and dependents. These documents are important to family history researchers because they usually exist for time periods before civil birth and death records were kept.
Probate records of Kentucky are kept by the county clerk. Copies of probate records are also available at the Department of Libraries and Archives and the Kentucky Historical Society.
The Family History Library has microfilm copies of probate records from most counties. Probate records may include such documents as wills, letters of administration, guardianships, probate journals, probate packets, and adoptions. The probate packets, which contain all documents pertaining to a probate case, have the most genealogical information, but few are available at the Family History Library.
Two sources for Kentucky probate records are:
Index to Kentucky Wills to 1851, the Testators. Salt Lake City: Accelerated Indexing Systems, 1979. (FHL book 976.9 P22i 1979; computer number 94408.) This index shows the testator’s name, county, year of the will, volume, and page number.
King, Junie Estelle Stewart. Abstract[s] of Early Kentucky Wills and Inventories. 1933. Reprint, Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing, 1961. (FHL book 976.9 S2k 1969; film 897212 item5; fiche 6051356; computer number 221180.) This contains a surname index.
See the United States Research Outline (30972) for more information on probate records and their genealogical value.
Probate records are listed in the Locality Search of the Family History Library Catalog under:
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PROBATE RECORDS
KENTUCKY, [COUNTY]- PROBATE RECORDS
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Version of Data: 6/9/2001]