Pulaski County, Kentucky Genealogy

United States &gt; Kentucky &gt; Pulaski County

County Courthouse
The Pulaski County, Kentucky Courthouse is in the process of moving its records to the newly built courthouse.

Parent County
1798--Pulaski County was created 10 December 1798 from Lincoln and Green Counties. County seat: Somerset

Record Loss
1871--A disaster destroyed some records.

Neighboring Counties

 * Casey
 * Laurel
 * Lincoln
 * McCreary
 * Rockcastle
 * Russell
 * Wayne

Cemeteries
The website http://www.pulaskispast.com/ has an impressive cemetery section maintained by Scott Burton and has an ongoing project to photograph every tombstone in every cemetery in Pulaski County, Kentucky.

Somerset Cemeteries
Sinking Creek Baptist Church Cemetery (First church in Somerset). Another transcription of the Sinking Creek Cemetery, showing different data, and including a grave location map is found in FHL US/CAN Book 976.963 H25P Pulaski County, KY Historical Society Newsletter. Nov 1992.

Baptist
Flat Lick Baptist Church

Sinking Creek Baptist Church

Court
'''The Orders of the Circuit Court books are found at the Courthouse in Somerset, Pulaski County, Kentucky. The volumes contain orders from cases about debt, slander, stealing, and swearing; with an occasional reference to an administration record and/or land of heirs being sold. Vol 4, p 5 mentions the publishing of one particular case's information in the August [Argus?] Western America newspaper.'''

Orders of the Circuit Court Vol 1, 1804-1805 contains an index at the front. (FHL US/CAN Film 800,722)

Orders of the Circuit Court Vol 3, 1810-1815 has 565 pages in it, with no index at the beginning or end of the volume. (FHL US/CAN Film 800,722)

Orders of the Circuit Court Vol 4, 1816-1820 has 504 pages in it, with no index at the beginning nor end of the volume. (FHL US/CAN Film 800,723 item 1). The entries make no mention of case numbers.

Orders of the Circuit Court Vol 5, 1820-1823 has 437 pages in it, with no index at the beginning nor end of the volume. (FHL US/CAN Film 800, 723 item 2)

The Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives has some Pulaski county court records, including:

Executions 1803-1928, Circuit Court

Commissioners Reports of Sales, 1838-1919

Commonwealth Cases, 1839-1912

Cases, 1800-1920, Pulaski County (Ky) Circuit Court

Commissioners' Deeds 1816-1956, Pulaski County (Ky) County Clerk

Account Ledger Books of Mercantile Establishments, 1849-1897, Pulaski County (Ky) County Clerk

Land
There is an article on the early Kentucky/Virginia land grants as it pertains to Pulaski County in the Oct 1990 edition of the Pulaski County, Kentucky Historical Society's Newsletter.

The FHL has the real estate conveyances indexes, 1799-1936 on microfilm. The FHL catalog states: "This is an index to deeds, commissioner's deeds, mortgages, chattel mortgages and divisions of land."

FHL also has index to deeds, 1799-1934 and Deeds, 1799-1901 on microfilm.

The periodical Kentucky Genealogist, Louisville, Ky Jan 1967 has deeds of Pulaski county: Vol 6 Iss 2 & 3 has 1799-1803 [FHL US/CAN Book 976.9 B2kg v. 6] Vol 8 Iss 4 [FHL US/CAN Book 976.9 B2kg v. 8 no. 4] and Vol 9 Iss 1 [FHL US/CAN Book 976.9 B2kg v. 9 no. 1] has 1803-1806

For an index to the above consult Kentucky genealogical index: an every name index to Kentucky Ancestors, Kentucky Genealogist, Kentucky Pioneer Genealogy & Records, The East Kentuckian, all issues through 1980 [FHL US/CAN Book 976.9 D22Kg]

Newspapers
There is a list of newspapers known to be published in Pulaski County in the Nov 1998 edition of the Newsletter of the Pulaski County Kentucky Historical Society. (FHL US/CAN Book 976.963 H25P)

Probate
There are several sources available to make your search of Pulaski County probate records easier. No single source is all inclusive. Each offers it own help that the others don't. As there is variation among counties in how probate records are organized, the reader will find it helpful to know that in Pulaski county the will books include wills, administrations, inventories, bills of sale, and settlements.

The organization Strictly By Name provides free online indexes to early Pulaski County probate records. They offer a record retrieval service to photocopy and transcribe microfilm copies of the original documents for a small fee. Available indexes:
 * 1) Will Book 1: 1801-1816; Will Book 2: 1817-1829; Will Book 3: 1829-1838

Pulaski County Kentucky Index to Wills 1800 to 1950 (FHL US/CAN Book 976.963 P22p) was published by the Pulaski County Historical Society in 1991 and replaces it 1977 edition (FHL US/CAN Book 976.963 P22pu). In creating the index, the compilers searched the original will books at the Somerset Courthouse, the courthouse's 1935 typed index and microfilms. The powerful index found in the 1991 edition contains two sections. The first is an index to the wills, inventories and appraisements, settlements, sale of land, dower allotment, etc. The second is an index to "original copies of all the early Pulaski County wills" (see title page). Page 79 states, "the Pulaski County Historical Society has zerox [sic] copied all early original documents from the will files at the Pulaski County Courthouse. These documents are in the actual hand writing of the person who prepared the document. This list also includes some wills that were rejected by the court and were not recorded in the will books."

Abstracts of wills in Pulaski County, Kentucky, vol. 1 (FHL US/CAN Book 976.963 P2b) compiled by Annie Walker Burns doesn't give the will book volume and page number of the wills abstacted, but it's index does include executors and witnesses, which is something Pulaski County Kentucky Index to Wills 1800 to 1950 does not. Abstracts of wills in Pulaski County, Kentucky, vol. 1 only covers 1803-1850.

Pulaski County, Kentucky Will Book Number Two (1817-1829) compiled by Margaret Dunn Frye includes an index to "deceased persons and their heirs". So she has created a devisee index for us, which again is something "Pulaski County Kentucky Index to Wills" didn't do. Additionally, in her typescript abstracts she includes the names of buyers, executors, commr, etc. Although these buyers are not indexed, her book (FHL US/CAN Film 855,033 item 4) is only 37 pages of typescript and so it is a relatively easy read if you want to know if your ancestor was a buyer in an estate sale during this time period.

There also a book, "Abstract of will book one of Pulaski County, Kentucky" prepared by Margaret Dunn Frye in the Kentucky Historical Society's collection (Call Number: 976.902 P981f) in Frankfort, Ky.

Societies and Libraries
Pulaski County Historical Society

PO Box 36

Somerset, KY 42502-0036

606 679-8401

Hours: M-Sat 10:00 am to 4:00 pm

Offices are in basement of Pulaski County Public Library

304 South Main St

Somerset, KY 42502-0036

Websites

 * USGenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the state, then the county.
 * Pulaski County, Kentucky: A Part of KYGenWeb
 * Family History Library Catalog