Breckinridge County, Kentucky Genealogy

United States

Kentucky

Breckinridge County

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

County Facts County seat: Hardinsburg Organized: December 9, 1799 Parent County(s): Hardin Neighboring Counties Grayson  • Hancock  • Hardin  • Meade  • Ohio  • Perry (IN) 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 John Breckinridge. The County has Hardinsburg as its seat and the County was created 1799. The County is located in the central area of the state.

County Courthouse

Breckenridge County Courthouse
Courthouse Square
PO Box 538
Hardinsburg, KY 40143
Phone: 270-756-2246
Breckenridge County Website

Breckinridge 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
1853	1800	1853	1803	1800	1800	1810
Statewide registration for births and deaths started in 1911. General compliance by 1917.

Record Loss

1958 A courthouse disaster resulted in the loss of some records. For suggestions about research in places that suffered historic record losses, see: Burned Counties Research in the FamilySearch Research Wiki. Arlene Eakle, When the Records are Gone in the Tennessee Genealogy Blog. Michael John Neill, Burned Counties in Family History Circle.

Boundary Changes

1799--Breckinridge County was created 9 December 1799 from Hardin County. County seat: Hardinsburg 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
Cloverport	Hardinsburg (county seat)	Irvington
Towns
Constantine Hites Run	Kingswood	Mount Merino
Unincorporated communities
Addison Ammons Axtel Basin Spring Bewleyville Big Spring Buras Cannons Point Cave Spring Centerview Chenaultt Clifton Mills Cobblers Knob Codyville Corners Custer Dempster Dyer Falls of Rough	Fairfield Fisher Frymire Garfield Glen Dean Harned Holt Graysville Hensley High Plains Hinton Hills Horn Back Mill Hudson Kirk Locust Hill Lodiburg Madrid Mattingly McCoy	McDaniels McQuady Mook Mooleyville Mystic Raymond Rockvale Roff Rosetta Sample Se Ree Stephensport Stinnettsville Tar Fork Union Star Vanzant Webster Westview Woodrow

Resources

Biographies

• KY Biographies, Jeff Murphy's Kentucky Biographies Project

Cemeteries

Cemeteries of Breckinridge, 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 Kentucky Cemeteries
See Kentucky Cemeteries for more information

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

• Interment.net, Kentucky cemetery records by county.
• Cemetery Junction, Links to cemetery transcriptions
• Naming the Forgotten, The Eastern State Hospital Project

Census Records

Historical populations
Census	Pop.		%±
1810	3,430		—
1820	7,485		118.2%
1830	7,345		−1.9%
1840	8,944		21.8%
1850	10,593		18.4%
1860	13,236		25.0%
1870	13,440		1.5%
1880	17,486		30.1%
1890	21,034		20.3%
1900	20,534		−2.4%
1910	21,034		2.4%
1920	19,652		−6.6%
1930	17,368		−11.6%
1940	17,744		2.2%
1950	15,528		−12.5%
1960	14,734		−5.1%
1970	14,789		0.4%
1980	16,861		14.0%
1990	16,312		−3.3%
2000	18,648		14.3%
2010	20,059		7.6%
http://ukcc.uky.edu/~census/21027.txt

For tips on accessing Breckinridge County, Kentucky Genealogy census records online, see: Kentucky Census.

• Kentucky Census Transcriptions 1850-1930, USGenWeb
• Census Images, 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.

• Kentucky Christian Church Directory, ChurchAngel
• Catholic Parishes in the Diocese of Lexington
• Catholic Parishes in the Archdiocese of Louisville

Court Records

• Abstracts of Early Kentucky Supreme Court Cases, KYGenWeb

Directories

• Inventory of the county archives of Kentucky: Breckinridge County at Ancestry ($)

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

Genealogies

• [Kasey] Schorn, Catherine Scott. "Kaseys in Bedford County, Virginia," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 31, No. 4 (Oct.-Dec. 1987):243-248; Vol. 32, No. 1 (Jan.-Mar. 1988):24-32. Digital version at American Ancestors ($). FHL Book 975.5 B2vg v. 31 (1987)-v. 32 (1988).
• [May] Coke, Ben H. John May, Jr. of Virginia: His Descendants and Their Land, with an Account of Some Early Descendant Families, Including Cocke, Coke, Joplin, Love, Percefull, Perrin, Tompkins. Baltimore, Md., 1975. Digital version at FamilySearch Books Online - free.
• [Seaton] Katheder, Thomas. "Seaton of Fauquier County, Virginia," The Virginia Genealogist, Vol. 44, No. 2 (Apr.-Jun. 2000):83-102. Digital version at American Ancestors ($). FHL Book 975.5 B2vg.

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.

• The KY Land Office

Local Histories

Local histories are available for Breckinridge 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.

• The Archives of Appalachia

Maps and Gazetteers

Click a neighboring county
for more resources

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

Military Records

• Military Resources, Revolutionary War through Civil War

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

World War I

• Fallen Soldiers in WWI from KY

Korean War

• Korean War Memorial, Korean War Memorial for Soldiers from KY, KYGenWeb

Newspapers

• USNPL, Kentucky, Kentucky newspaper index with links
• World-Newspapers, Kentucky, Kentucky newspaper index with links
• Kentucky Newspapers on Microfilm

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

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

Obituaries

• Kentucky Footsteps Archives, KYGenWeb
• Kentucky Obituary Sources, KYGenWeb
• Links to research and locate obituaries
• Browning Genealogy Database, Compiled by Charles Browning.
• Kentucky 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

Other Records

• Kentucky Postcards, USGenWeb

Probate Records

Probate records are held by the Breckinridge County, Kentucky Genealogy Clerk of Court and are housed at the Breckinridge 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 ($) — index and images
• 1800 - 1893 Images of Wills, Inventories, Appraisements, Guardianships, Book No. 1 Kentucky Pioneers ($)
• 1894 - 1935 Images of Wills, Inventories, Appraisements, Guardianships, Book No. 2 Kentucky Pioneers ($)
• 1936 - 1966 Images of Wills, Inventories, Appraisements, Guardianships, Book No. 3 Kentucky Pioneers ($)
• 1966 - 1975 Images of Wills, Inventories, Appraisements, Guardianships, Book No. 4 Kentucky Pioneers ($)

The organization Strictly By Name provides free online indexes to early Breckinridge County probate records. They offer a record retrieval service to photocopy and transcribe microfilm copies of the original documents for a small fee.

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.

• 1800 - 1800 Tax List of Breckinridge County, Kentucky Genealogy is included in Clift's Second Census of Kentucky 1800, digitized by Ancestry ($).
• Search Tax, Criminal, Land and Wills Records, Ancestry ($)

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 Breckinridge County Clerk, with divorce records 1849-1958 located with the Breckinridge 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
• 1852-1861 - Breckinridge County Birth Index 1852-1861. Batch C517131 at FamilySearch - free.
• 1875 - Breckinridge County Birth Index 1875. Batch C394971 at FamilySearch - free.
• 1911-1912 - Searchable KY Birth Index

Marriage

• 1609-2016 - Kentucky, United States Marriages at FindMyPast — index $
• 1785-1979 - Kentucky Marriages, 1785-1979 at FamilySearch
• 1797-1954 - Kentucky, County Marriages, 1797-1954 at FamilySearch — index and images
• 1852-1862 - Breckinridge County Marriage Index 1852-1862. Batch M517131 at FamilySearch - free.
• 1874-1876 - Breckinridge County Marriage Index 1874-1876. Batch M517132 at FamilySearch - free.
• 1875-1878 - Breckinridge County Marriage Index 1875-1878. Batch M517133 at FamilySearch - free.
• 1973-2000 - Searchable KY Marriage Records
• 1973-2000 - Kentucky Marriage Records 1973-2000

Death

• 1843-1970 - Kentucky Deaths and Burials, 1843-1970 at FamilySearch
• 1911-1965 - Kentucky Death Records, 1911-1965 at FamilySearch — index
• 1911-2000 - Searchable KY Death Index
• The Social Security Death Index - Searchable
• The Kentucky Vital Records Project, Transcriptions and Images of Kentucky Death Certificates

Divorce

• 1973-2000 - Kentucky Divorces 1973-1993, University of Kentucky Vital Records Databases

Research Facilities

Archives

• Breckinridge County Archives
  Courthouse
  P.O. Box 538
  Hardinsburg, KY 40143
  Phone: 270-756-6112

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.

• Introduction to Family History Centers

Societies

• Breckinridge County Historical Society
  PO Box 498
  Hardinsburg, KY 40143-0498
  Telephone: 270-756-2876
  Website
  
• Ancestral Trails Historic Society, Inc
  PO Box 573
  Vine Grove, KY 40175
  Telephone: 270-982-0881
  Email: info@aths.com
  Website
• Ancestral Trails Historical Society
  PO Box 1796
  Elizabethtown, KY 42702-1796
  Telephone: 270-982-0881
  Website
• Links and addresses to Kentucky genealogical and historical societies

Websites

• Breckinridge County, KY History, Records, Facts and Genealogy (Genealogy Inc)
• KYGenWeb project. Has maps, name indexes, history or other information for each county. Select the county.
• State of Kentucky Website
• USGenWeb Kentucky Archives
• USGenweb 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)
• Breckinridge 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