Old records treasure for genealogists

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January 4, 2010

By GINA KINSLOW The Glasgow Daily Times Mon Jan 04, 2010, 12:11 PM CST

The discovery of old records by deputies in the Fayette County Clerk’s office recently will be a treasure trove of information for genealogists.

Land and census records from the late 1700s to the early 1900s were at government archives in Frankfort and several years’ worth of marriage licenses were in the Fayette County clerk’s storage area.

Deputy Fayette County Clerk Linda Potter found out about a large volume of applications for land patents from a magazine article, which referred to it as the “Doomsday Book,” and said it could be found at the Fayette County Clerk’s office. The book contains the names of the state’s earliest settlers, but Potter was unaware of the book.

After some research, Potter and deputy clerks Emily Gentry and Jennifer Tapia found that the Doomsday Book had been moved to the Kentucky Land Office in Frankfort in the early 1970s. It contains the names of settlers who applied for land patents from 1779 to 1780 when Kentucky was still part of Virginia.

In addition to the land and census records, the deputy clerks recovered the “Land Entry Book,” which contains similar information from 1783 to 1784.

“This discovery will be of great benefit to researchers — even here in southcentral Kentucky. Many of our earliest settlers came from Fayette County, Ky., which was one of the first three counties formed. It is a shame that it took people so long to find these records. But, it will hopefully fill in a lot of gaps such as when the settlers first came to what became Fayette County and marriages conducted there of which we had no record,” said Sandi Gorin, a Barren County genealogist. “I am thrilled with their discovery and am hoping that the records will be available soon for researchers to see — either online or in printed format.”

Dayton Birdwell, a Monroe County genealogist, said old records are important because of what they reveal.

Those researching family history can use old land records to trace how a parcel of land was passed down through a family and therefore it will reveal the names of a person’s heirs. Old marriage records are also helpful in tracing family histories, he said.

“Those are really important,” Birdwell said. “There weren’t very many counties (back then) so it would cover a large area.”

The Fayette County clerk’s office has a DVD copy of many of the records in the Doomsday Book and it can be viewed at the clerk’s office. However, the information has not been indexed so searching for a particular name could take awhile.

Associated Press information contributed tothis article.

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