Among the many historic documents that were lost when the British burned the Capitol in Washington during the War of 1812 were the first two censuses of Kentucky, the earliest one compiled while Kentucky was still a part of Virginia. Owing to the destruction of these census records, genealogists doing research in Kentucky have been obliged to reconstruct the lost data from a number of related records, particularly tax records. Those printed here represent all the tax lists ever published in "The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society" and are among the earliest Kentucky tax records in existence. In a few cases these tax records date from a period either immediately before or after the 1790 and 1800 enumerations, and show, by comparison with the reconstructed census records for 1790 and 1800, published by Charles B. Heinemann and G. Glenn Clift respectively, the movement of early Kentuckians from one county to another. In other cases the records serve both as an adjunct and a corrective to the Heinemann and Clift works, though the vast majority of these tax lists--giving the names of about 12,000 taxpayers, their counties of residence, and the number of persons and chattels attached to their households--do not appear in either work.

By: Willard Rouse Jillson, Pub. 1926, Reprinted 2018, 582 pages, soft cover, Index, ISBN #0-89308-949-4. This is a complete index to the earliest land records of Kentucky alphabetically arranged under the names of the grantees, giving the number of acres, dates, locations, and page references in the original records. The bulk of the work is devoted to the early Fayette, Lincoln, and Jefferson county records which were turned over to Kentucky by Virginia in 1792. Also included are Military Warrants 1782-1793, Court of Appeals Deeds-Grantees 1783-1909, Court of Appeals Deeds-Grantors 1783-1909, Court of Appeals Deeds-Wills 1779-1850, and Court of Appeals Deeds-Power of Attorneys 1781-1853.

With more than 1,800 entries, The Encyclopedia of Louisville is the ultimate reference for Kentucky's largest city. For more than 125 years, the world's attention has turned to Louisville for the annual running of the Kentucky Derby on the first Saturday in May. Louisville Slugger bats still reign supreme in major league baseball. The city was also the birthplace of the famed Hot Brown and Benedictine spread, and the cheeseburger made its debut at Kaelin's Restaurant on Newburg Road in 1934. The "Happy Birthday" had its origins in the Louisville kindergarten class of sisters Mildred Jane Hill and Patty Smith Hill. Named for King Louis XVI of France in appreciation for his assistance during the Revolutionary War, Louisville was founded by George Rogers Clark in 1778. The city has been home to a number of men and women who changed the face of American history. President Zachary Taylor was reared in surrounding Jefferson County, and two U.S. Supreme Court Justices were from the city proper. Second Lt. F. Scott Fitzgerald, stationed at Camp Zachary Taylor during World War I, frequented the bar in the famous Seelbach Hotel, immortalized in The Great Gatsby. Muhammad Ali was born in Louisville and won six Golden Gloves tournaments in Kentucky.

When originally published, A New History of Kentucky provided a comprehensive study of the Commonwealth, bringing it to life by revealing the many faces, deep traditions, and historical milestones of the state. With new discoveries and findings, the narrative continues to evolve, and so does the telling of Kentucky's rich history. In this second edition, authors James C. Klotter and Craig Thompson Friend provide significantly revised content with updated material on gender politics, African American history, and cultural history. This wide-ranging volume includes a full overview of the state and its economic, educational, environmental, racial, and religious histories. At its essence, Kentucky's story is about its people -- not just the notable and prominent figures but also lesser-known and sometimes overlooked personalities. The human spirit unfolds through the lives of individuals such as Shawnee peace chief Nonhelema Hokolesqua and suffrage leader Madge Breckinridge, early land promoter John Filson, author Wendell Berry, and Iwo Jima flag--raiser Private Franklin Sousley. They lived on a landscape defined by its topography as much as its political boundaries, from Appalachia in the east to the Jackson Purchase in the west, and from the Walker Line that forms the Commonwealth's southern boundary to the Ohio River that shapes its northern boundary. Along the journey are traces of Kentucky's past -- its literary and musical traditions, its state-level and national political leadership, and its basketball and bourbon. Yet this volume also faces forthrightly the Commonwealth's blemishes -- the displacement of Native Americans, African American enslavement, the legacy of violence, and failures to address poverty and poor health. A New History of Kentucky ranges throughout all parts of the Commonwealth to explore its special meaning to those who have called it home. It is a broadly interpretive, all-encompassing narrative that tells Kentucky's complex, extensive, and ever-changing story.