Kentucky Families

Historic Families of Kentucky is a basic history of the state, with considerable emphasis on the accomplishments of the pioneer families, including their public service in the nation's struggle for independence and existence. The objective of the book is to trace from their origin in this country a number of Kentucky families of Scotch-Irish extraction whose ancestors immigrated to America in the early 18th century and became pioneers of the Valley of Virginia. Descendants of these families of the Valley were among the early pioneers of Kentucky.

Known as the Great Compromiser, Henry Clay earned his title by addressing sectional tensions over slavery and forestalling civil war in the United States. Today he is still regarded as one of the most important political figures in American history. As Speaker of the House of Representatives and secretary of state, Clay left an indelible mark on American politics at a time when the country’s solidarity was threatened by inner turmoil, and scholars have thoroughly chronicled his political achievements. However, little attention has been paid to his extensive family legacy. In The Family Legacy of Henry Clay: In the Shadow of a Kentucky Patriarch, Lindsey Apple explores the personal history of this famed American and examines the impact of his legacy on future generations of Clays. Apple’s study delves into the family’s struggles with physical and emotional problems such as depression and alcoholism. The book also analyzes the role of financial stress as the family fought to reestablish its fortune in the years after the Civil War. Apple’s extensively researched volume illuminates a little-discussed aspect of Clay’s life and heritage, and highlights the achievements and contributions of one of Kentucky’s most distinguished families.

The publication of "Genealogies of Kentucky Families" offers researchers an unprecedented opportunity to acquire a complete collection of the two-hundred family history articles published originally in "The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society" and "The Filson Club History Quarterly." With the cooperation of both The Filson Club and the Kentucky Historical Society, we have excerpted the family history articles from the above-named journals (uniting the separate installments so that each article is complete in itself)

Profiles of several prominent Kentucky families and their histories.

Kentucky has a rich legacy of ghostly visitations. Lynwood Montell has harvested dozens of tales of haunted houses and family ghosts from all over the Bluegrass state. Many of the stories were collected from elders by young people and are recounted exactly as they were gathered. Haunted Houses and Family Ghosts of Kentucky includes chilling tales such as that of the Tan Man of Pike County, who trudges invisibly through a house accompanied by the smell of roses, and the famed Gray Lady of Liberty Hall in Frankfort, a houseguest who never left. Montell tells the story of a stormy night, shortly before Henry Clay's death, when the ghost of the statesman's old friend Daniel Boone calls upon him, and then recounts the more modern story of the ghouls that haunt the rehearsal house of the band The Kentucky Headhunters. Included are accounts of haunted libraries, mansions, bedrooms, log cabins, bathrooms, college campuses, apartments, furniture, hotels, and distilleries, as well as reports of eerie visitations from ghostly grandmothers, husbands, daughters, uncles, cousins, babies, slaves, Civil War soldiers, dogs, sheep, and even wildcats. Almost all of Kentucky's 120 counties are represented. Though the book emphasizes the stories themselves, Montell offers an introduction discussing how local history, local character, and local flavor are communicated across the generations in these colorful stories.

This is a basic history of Kentucky, with emphasis on the contributions of the early pioneer families, many of which are of Scotch-Irish extraction. Apart from the genealogical details of dates and marriages, the author outlines many of the public services provided by these individuals and families and the beneficent influence they have exerted upon the Commonwealth. The author's objective in this work is to trace from their origin in this country a number of Kentucky families of Scottish extraction, whose ancestors emigrated to America early in the eighteenth century and became the pioneers of the Valley of Virginia. A later generation of these same families of the Valley, were among the early pioneers of Kentucky. The Following families constitute some of those for whom narratives are provided: Alexander, Allen, Anderson, Andrews, Ball, Barbour, Bell, Benton, Birney, Blair, Bowman, Brashear, Breckinridge, Brown, Buford, Bullitt, Burden, Butler, Campbell, Carlisle, Carrington, Carson, Caruthers, Carthrae, Chrisman, Christian, Clarke, Clay, Crittenden, Cummings, Dickson, Drake, Duke, Fontaine, Frogg, Hall, Harbeson, Hardin, Harvey, Harvie, Hawkins, Helm, Innes, Irvine, Jones, Keith, Kirk, Le Grand, Lewis, Logan, Luke, Lyle, Madison, Marshall, McAlpine, McClure, McClarty, McClung, McDowell, McKnight, McPheeters, Metcalfe, Miller, Moffett, Monroe, Montgomery, Moore, Murray, Neil, Newton, Patton, Parker, Paxton, Pepper, Pickett, Preston, Price, Randolph, Reade, Reed, Reid, Smith, Starling, Stuart, Strother, Taylor, Thornton, Todd, Venable, Warner, Washington, Woodson, Wallace. In addition to the above, the narratives of many other families are also included.