“I hope to have God on my side, but I must have Kentucky.”
Abraham Lincoln
Kentucky joined the United States of America when it was admitted to the Union as the fifteenth state on June 1, 1792. Originally a part of Virginia, Kentucky grew rapidly during the nineteenth century with many migrants coming to the state through the Cumberland Gap of the Appalachian Mountains and by way of the Ohio River. 
While thousands of Kentuckians departed the state for opportunities in the Midwest and elsewhere, others remained and today there are many in Kentucky whose ancestors have called the Bluegrass State home for generations. The state remained in the Union during the Civil War and by 1900 there were 2,147,174 residents enumerated in the federal census. The capital of Kentucky is Frankfort.
Many useful resources are available for genealogists to search for ancestors in Kentucky. Kirk Woosley Patton of Fincastle Ancestry Research is a member of the Kentucky Genealogical Society and has experience researching in courthouses, churches, cemeteries, newspapers, libraries and archives within the state.
Kentucky Genealogy & History
Kentucky Postings
- Kentucky Genealogical Society 2015 Seminar to Feature John Philip Colletta
- A Scots-Irish Year
- Fincastle Ancestry Research
- William Taylor Woosley: A Soldier of World War II
- Memorial Day Remembrance
- Kentucky Genealogical Society Annual Seminar 2014
- A Sweet Kentucky Tradition
- The Appalachian Mountains
- The Kentucky Highway
