"Bird's Eye View of the City of Paris, Bourbon County, Kentucky, 1870."
(Library of Congress, Ruger Map Collection, no. 74)
"Bourbon County Picturesque Streams."
(C. Frank Dunn Photographs Collection, 1900-1954, Kentuckiana Digital Library)
"Cane Ridge Meeting House."
(University of Chicago Library, Durrett Collection)
"Historic Homestead of Gov. James Garrard (1796-1804)"
(C. Frank Dunn Photographs Collection, 1900-1954, Kentuckiana Digital Library)
Bourbon County Websites
Bourbon County (KY) Genealogical Society
Early Families of Bourbon County, Kentucky
Bourbon County, Kentucky Genealogy (pastracks)
Bourbon County Kentucky Genealogy (kindred trails)
Paris-Bourbon County Public Library
Paris, Kentucky and Bourbon County
Civil War Monuments in Paris, Kentucky
Paris-Bourbon County Tourism Commission Website
Paris, Bourbon County Kentucky Chamber of Commerce
"At "Sunny Hill' Farm, Col. Wm. S. Dudley's Horses"
(C. Frank Dunn Photographs Collection, 1900-1954, Kentuckiana Digital Library)
For help with Bourbon County Research, use KDLA's Ask a Librarian email reference service.
County of the Month: Bourbon
In 1785, James Garrard, one of Kentucky's representatives in the Virginia Assembly, authored and introduced the bill establishing the county. Garrard, being of French ancestry, appreciated the Royal family's support of the American Revolution, and promoted the name "Bourbon" for his county. The legislative act called for the organization of the new county at Garrard's home, Mount Lebanon. Bourbon County's boundaries covered enough acreage to eventually be split into thirty counties.
In 1786, Lawrence Protzman bought land near the present site of Paris, and offered 250 acres of it for the establishment of the county seat. In 1789, Hopewell was established as the county seat, named for Protzman's New Jersey hometown. A year later, the town was renamed Paris, to correspond with the naming of the county after the French royal house.
Settlers were attracted to the Bourbon County area for its timber, cane, pasture grass, fertile soil, and limestone. The lush green pastures were perfect for the grazing of sheep, cattle, and horses, as well as the production of corn, tobacco, and hemp. For decades, corn was the dominant crop, making it the ideal place for manufacturing whiskey. Limestone water gave every blend a special flavor; the rich soil produced grain surpluses with consistency, and the gently rolling land facilitated transportation. The whiskey from this area was named bourbon, for the county. During a warehouse fire, several barrels were charred, but not destroyed. Upon sampling the liquor from the charred barrels, it was discovered that it had even better flavor and soon there was a demand for the truly unique bourbon. Ever since, distillers have used charred barrels for flavoring. The first distillery producing this fine grade whiskey is attributed to Jacob Spears, sometime during the late 18th century.
Agricultural prosperity brought wealth to the county. Mills, taverns, warehouses, businesses, and churches established the area as an economic center. Conservative, educated, and wealthy planters and lawyers controlled local politics up until the Civil War. The county people adhered to the Virginia tradition of natural aristocracy, and Gov. James Garrard and his family dominated the early era. Garrard, a Jeffersonian Republican, opposed slavery, favored domestic reforms, and advocated religious toleration. Slaves and citizens enjoyed harmonious relations and shared religious experiences in integrated churches well into the 1870's. Garrard's influence in the community soon established an anti-slavery sentiment - something not common for an agrarian/planter society.
The Civil War divided the county into Emancipationists and Southern Sympathizers. In a letter to the Bourbon populace, Confederate General John Hunt Morgan issued the first challenge to Bourbon Unionism when he commanded Paris to surrender unconditionally. When Captain D.E. Pugsley replied "If you want Paris you must fight for it," Morgan arrived with his raiders and occupied the town for four days. According to Captain Hugh Brent of the local calvary, "Morgan cowered before the brave Parisians." Later that year, the Confederate returned for a month long siege. The Union recaptured the city, and it remained, for the most part, out of harm's way and under periods of martial law, for the rest of the war.
Bourbon County Trivia
Throughout the 1790's, wolves often traveled the Bourbon area in ferocious packs. Under Virginia law and later Kentucky law, citizens turned in scalps of wolves which they had killed and the county paid a bounty of 100 pounds of tobacco for a full-grown animal and half that amount for smaller ones. Magistrates confiscated the scalps. Numerous Bourbonites took advantage of this proposition. The largest documented payout was to a hunter bringing in 17 wolf scalps.
Claiborne Farm, located in Bourbon County, is where the great racehorse Secretariat stood at stud, fathering some of the greatest thoroughbreds in racing's history. A Triple Crown winner in 1973, he broke the track record at Churchill by running the mile and a quarter in 159 2/5. Secretariat sired more than 300 sons and daughters before his death in 1989.
Old Cane Ridge Meetinghouse, built in in 1791 from blue ash logs, is the largest one room log structure in America. Between 20-30,000 settlers traveled to the structure, to attend the "profound awakening" or religious revival in Kentucky in August of 1801. The services were led by pastor and founder of the church, Reverend Barton W. Stone, and were considered at the time the "most remarkable assemblage" ever known on the continent.
Sources: Kentucky Encyclopedia. John E. Kleber.
The History of Bourbon County, 1785-1865. H.E. Everman
Family History and Bourbon County Research Resources
Below are some resources available at KDLA for genealogists and researchers interested in the Bourbon County area.
County Clerk records
- Agency history
- Deed books - 1786-2001
- Commissioner's deed books - 1811-1841 and 1893-1921
- Election records - Poll book - 1875
- General cross index to marriages - 1785-1930
- Marriage bonds - 1794-1845
- Marriage registers - 1789-1930
- Marriage returns - 1788-1793 and 1861-1862
- Miscellaneous County Clerk documents - 1786-1794
- Mortgage books - 1839-2001
- Order books - 1786-1866
- General cross indexes to real estate conveyances - 1786-1989
- General indexes to recorded instruments - 1989-1996
- Stray (estray) book - 1808-1813(This is a record of lost animals.)
- Tax assessment books - 1787-1793, 1795-1831, 1833, 1835-1892, 1930-1952, 1954-1986, and 1988-1991
- General indexes to wills - 1786-2001
- Will books - 1786-2001
Circuit Court records
- Agency history
- General index to civil and criminal cases - 1870-1977
- General index to civil and criminal cases - defendant - 1785-1880
- General index to civil and criminal cases - plaintiff - 1785-1880
- General index to criminal cases - defendant - 1852-1977
- Civil and criminal case files - 1785-1953
- Criminal case files - 1853-1970
- Complete records books (indexed) - 1794-1800, 1803-1807, 1810-1816, and 1818-1823(These volumes deal primarily with land issues.)
- Deed books - 1803-1807
- Order books (indexed) - 1803-1863 and 1866-1871
- Civil order books (indexed) - 1871-1978
- Criminal order books (indexed) - 1870-1977
Court of Common Pleas records
- Order books (indexed) - 1874-1892
Court of Quarter Sessions records
- Order books (indexed) - 1793-1802