Franklin County, Kentucky Genealogy

United States   Kentucky    Franklin County

Quick Dates
Franklin County's civil records start the following years:

*Many years between 1852 and 1911 are missing

County Courthouse
Franklin County Courthouse PO Box 338 219 St Clair Street Frankfort, KY 40602-0338 Phone: 502.875.8702

County Clerk has marriage, probate, land and court records 1795, Confederate Pension Applications; Clerk Circuit Court has divorce records Phone: 502-564-7013 or 502-564-8380



Parent County
1794--Franklin County was created 7 December 1794 from Woodford, Mercer, and Shelby Counties. County seat: Frankfort

Boundary Changes
1790--Franklin County was part of Jefferson, Woodford, and Mercer Counties. 1795--Franklin County was created. 1800--Franklin County included part of Anderson and Owen Counties. A section of Franklin County was included in Shelby County. 1810--Same as 1800. 1820--Franklin County included part of Anderson County. A small section of Franklin County was located in Henry County. 1830--The boundaries of Franklin County are permanently established.

Neighboring Counties

 * Anderson
 * Henry
 * Owen
 * Scott
 * Shelby
 * Woodford

African American Research

 * Bellardo, Lewis J. "Frankfort, Kentucky, Census of Free Blacks, 1842," National Genealogical Society Quarterly, Vol. 63, No. 4 (Dec. 1975):272-275.
 * the KY African American Griots Project ~ The Kentucky African American Griots Project
 * Sandi Gorin's Tips ~ Hangings in Kentucky 1792 - 1900
 * African American Research (US) has more information about the kinds of records
 * Kentucky Minorities has information specific to Kentucky African Americans.

Biographies

 * KY Biographies ~ Jeff Murphy's Kentucky Biographies Project

Cemeteries
Kentucky cemetery records often identify birth, death, relationship, and military information, as well as religious affiliation.


 * Franklin Co. KY USGenWeb Tombstone Project usually gives the names of the deceased in alphabetical order by last name with birth and death dates plus any remarks.
 * The KY Historical Society’s Cemetery Database
 * African American Cemeteries Online ~   Partial index/transcriptions of African American cemeteries
 * Cemetery Junction ~  Links to cemetery transcriptions
 * Naming the Forgotten ~ Naming the Forgotten - The Eastern State Hospital Project
 * 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
 * Find A Grave can be searched by the name of a person or family to find where a person is buried. Usually gives birth and death dates often with a picture of the tombstone.  May give obituaries, names of family members and links to their information in Find A Grave.
 * Find A Grave also gives a list of cemeteries in Franklin County and links to the information for the individuals buried there,
 * The Family History Library Catalog lists  Some of the books or others may be on Google Books or available at public libraries.
 * ePodunk list of Franklin County cemeteries gives the names of the cemeteries in the county with a link to more information such as address, phone number, and web site.
 * Cemetery records in Franklin County, Kentucky are difficult to find. A good source to search is Franklin County GenWeb Kentucky site

Individual Cemeteries:


 * Frankfort Cemetery, Frankfort BillionGraves
 * Frankfort State Hospital Cemetery, Frankfort BillionGraves

Census

 * USGenWeb Census Project ~ Kentucky Census Transcriptions 1850 - 1930
 * The USGenWeb Census Images ~ The USGenWeb Census Images Project
 * Kentucky Census Transcriptions ~ The USGenWeb Census Project
 * Census Online ~ Census Online

Church

 * Kentucky Christian Church Directory ~ ChurchAngel
 * Catholic Parishes in the Diocese of Lexington
 * Catholic Parishes in the Archdiocese of Louisville


 * A good resource for information concerning people living in the Forks of the Elkhorn area is:


 * Darnell, Ermina Jett. Forks of Elkhorn Church. Louisville, Kentucky : Standard Printing Co., 1946.

Court

 * Abstracts of Early KY Court Cases Abstracts of Early Supreme Court Cases ~ KYGenWeb Special Project
 * Kentucky Court of Justice Research &amp; Reference

Family Histories

 * [Brown] Buchanan, Paul C. and Susie M. Owens. "Henry Long and Some Descendants of Colonial Virginia," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 38, No. 2 (Apr.-Jun. 1994):115-126; Vol. 38, No. 3 (Jul.-Sep. 1994):190-200; Vol. 38, No. 4 (Oct.-Dec. 1994):263-273; Vol. 39, No. 1 (Jan.-Mar. 1995):27-31. Digital version at American Ancestors ($)..
 * [Clarke] Buford, Marcus Bainbridge. A Genealogy of the Buford Family in America, With Records of a Number of Allied Families. San Francisco, Calif., 1903. Digital version at Internet Archive - free.
 * [Head] Buchanan, Paul C. and Susie M. Owens. "Henry Long and Some Descendants of Colonial Virginia," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 38, No. 2 (Apr.-Jun. 1994):115-126; Vol. 38, No. 3 (Jul.-Sep. 1994):190-200; Vol. 38, No. 4 (Oct.-Dec. 1994):263-273; Vol. 39, No. 1 (Jan.-Mar. 1995):27-31. Digital version at American Ancestors ($)..
 * [Long] Buchanan, Paul C. and Susie M. Owens. "Henry Long and Some Descendants of Colonial Virginia," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 38, No. 2 (Apr.-Jun. 1994):115-126; Vol. 38, No. 3 (Jul.-Sep. 1994):190-200; Vol. 38, No. 4 (Oct.-Dec. 1994):263-273; Vol. 39, No. 1 (Jan.-Mar. 1995):27-31. Digital version at American Ancestors ($)..
 * [McAndre] Buchanan, Paul C. and Susie M. Owens. "Henry Long and Some Descendants of Colonial Virginia," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 38, No. 2 (Apr.-Jun. 1994):115-126; Vol. 38, No. 3 (Jul.-Sep. 1994):190-200; Vol. 38, No. 4 (Oct.-Dec. 1994):263-273; Vol. 39, No. 1 (Jan.-Mar. 1995):27-31. Digital version at American Ancestors ($)..
 * [Major] Harper, Lillie DuPuy VanCulin. Colonial Men and Times: Containing the Journal of Col. Daniel Trabue, Some Account of His Ancestry, Life and Travels in Virginia and the Present State of Kentucky During the Revolutionary Period; the Huguenots, Genealogy, with Brief Sketches of the Allied Families. Philadelphia, Pa.: Innes &amp; Sons, 1916. Digital version at Internet Archive;.
 * [Patteson] Smith, Ethel Marion. An Informal History of Virginia-Kentucky Pattesons in Illinois, Their Forbears and Their Kin Including the Lewises of Llangollen. Washington, 1948. Available at.

Land

 * The KY Land Office

Local Histories

 * ~ The Archives of Appalachia

Maps

 * KYGenWeb compiled list of maps
 * Click on the county to go to the KYGenWeb site

Military

 * Military Resources ~ Revolutionary War through Civil War
 * Korean War Memorial Korean War Memorial for Soliders from KY ~ KYGenWeb
 * Fallen Soldiers in WWI from KY ~ Fallen Soldiers in WWI from Kentucky

Miscellaneous

 * Kentucky Postcards ~ The USGenWeb Archives Penny Postcard Project
 * The KYGenWeb Footsteps ~ The Kentucky Footsteps Archives ~ KYGenWeb Special Project

Newspapers

 * Kentucky News -  Kentucky Newspaper Index with links
 * Another Kentucky Newspaper Index with links
 * Kentucky Newspapers on Microfilm  -   Kentucky Newspapers Available On Microfilm
 * The Kentucky Historical Society, in Frankfort, Kentucky, has a great newspaper collection.

Obituaries

 * KY Footsteps Archives ~ KY Footsteps List Archives - thousands of obituaries here ~ KYGenWeb Project
 * KY Obituary Sources ~ Kentucky Obituary Sources ~ Compiled by the KYGenWeb Project
 * Links to research and locate obituaries
 * Browning Genealogy Database ~ The Browning Genealogy Database - A Collection of Obituaries Compiled by Charles Browning.
 * USGenWeb Archives Obituary Project ~  Kentucky Obituary Project
 * 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 including interactive search function
 * Nashville Advocate ~ Death Abstracts from the Nashville Christian Advocate

Probate

 * 1785-1880 - have been digitized by FamilySearch - free.

Taxation

 * 1801 - 1801 Tax List of is included in Clift's Second Census of Kentucky 1800, digitized by Ancestry ($).

Vital Records

 * The Kentucky Vital Records Project Transcriptions of and Images of KY Death Certificates - A Work in Progress ~ The KY Vital Records Project
 * KY Births &amp; Christenings ~ Kentucky Births and Christenings, 1839-1960 Family Search
 * KY Deaths &amp; Burials ~ KY Deaths &amp; Burials 1843 - 1970
 * KY Marriage Records ~ KY Marriages 1783 - 1979 ~ Family Search
 * Searchable KY Vital Records ~ Searchable databases of KY Births, Deaths &amp; Marriages
 * Kentucky Marriage Records 1973 - 2000  ~ Kentucky Marriage Records - 1973 - 2000
 * KY Divorces 1973 - 1993 ~ Kentucky Divorce Records 1973 - 1993 ~ University of Kentucky Vital Records Databases
 * The Social Security Death Index The Social Security Death Index - Searchable


 * Births begin in 1852
 * Marriages begin in 1795
 * Deaths begin in 1852

The Family History Library has copies of the vital records starting with above dates.

To order vital records from Franklin County, you may order online at:

Franklin County Vital Records

Societies and Libraries
Paul Sawyier Library (Frankfort): http://www.pspl.org/

Kentucky Historical Society (Frankfort): http://history.ky.gov/

Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives (Frankfort): http://www.kdla.ky.gov/


 * Bald Knob
 * Bridgeport
 * Forks of the Elkhorn
 * Frankfort City
 * Peaks Mill

Family History Centers

 * Introduction to LDS Family History Centers

Web Sites

 * Franklin County, Kentucky: http://courts.ky.gov/counties/Franklin/
 * KYGenWeb project. Has maps, name indexes, history or other information for each county. Select the county.
 * State of Kencucky Website
 * USGenWeb Kentucky Archives ~ Kentucky in the USGenWeb Archives ~ Vital statistics, maps, obituaries, Bible records, tombstone transcriptions and many other records.
 * The USGenWeb project May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the state, then the county.
 * Franklin County, Kentucky Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)
 * Franklin County, Kentucky Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)