Allen County KY
Slave Births
1852-1861
*IMPORTANT*
Please read the following before proceeding.

Dr. William L. Sutton of Georgetown, KY, first President of the KY State Medical Association, was the father of Vital Statistics in the state of KY. Kentucky was the first state west of the Alleghenies to have a law passed requiring the registration of births, marriage and deaths, passed January 9, 1852. However, due to the political upheavals of the era, the recording of vitals was discontinued during the war. Other attempts were made 1900-1904, 1908-1910 and beginning in 1911 the records have been consistently recorded until the present time.

The 1852 law required clergymen, magistrates, physicians, surgeons and midwives to keep records and deposit these on or before January 10 of each year. This would generate the first set of possible errors in recording the information. The second set of errors could possibly occur as the clerk entered the data and the third set of errors could possibly occur as the clerk's documents were copied in 1920, when the Kentucky Historical Society began to salvage the remnants of the records kept during the decade from 1852-1862. This set of records could possibly contain additional 4th generation errors due to interpretation of illegible handwriting, faded pages, etc. However unsatisfactory, incomplete, and erroneous these records may be, they do provide information unobtainable elsewhere.

*The information in ( ) are personal comments and are not included on the microfilm*. Where other records were available (census, marriages, etc.) the information was checked against the vitals recorded, and notations have been made where known and probable errors occurred. I suggest that you use these records as a guideline to be verified by other records such as family Bibles, death records, etc. One of the problems experienced in recording these births is that the year of birth could possibly be a year later than posted. (In a few instances the child's birth is recorded twice- in 2 separate years) At the beginning page of each year the first year was marked through and the second year was written (ex: 1860 was marked through and rewritten as 1859). This appears at the beginning of each group of births except for the year 1861. There are no births recorded for 1860. I made no attempt to change the name spellings as they appear on the film, as I felt the integrity of the records should be kept intact. In 1861, the birthplace of the parents was added to the recorded information. Unless otherwise noted, the parent(s) was born in Allen Co, KY. Keep these facts in mind when searching for your family.

At first glance the novice researcher may wonder why children who did not survive birth are listed. This information can verify the location of your ancestor and the name of the mother where marriage records do not exist. I have also included information found on the microfilm that has never before been published. To my knowledge, this is the first ever printing of the slave vital records. The intent is not to embarrass anyone, but simply to inform researchers where they will encounter a "brick wall" that will in all probability not be overcome, help African-American researchers gain additional family information, and, most importantly, to record the facts as they are found in public record.

The information on this site is copyrighted in its present form. Researchers may use the information provided for personal use, but the information cannot be reproduced for profit or other gain.

Happy Hunting

Sharon Tabor

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