Can anyone help with sources for legal records in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky

+10 votes
215 views
I have some amazingly great notes with references identifying my 4th GGparents, early 1800s, Muhlenberg County,  Kentucky,  through legal records.  These came through several hands from a distant cousin identified through DNA.  They mention the deed books, page numbers,  etc., so I have every confidence that they are valid sources,  but I don't have links for them.   Maybe I'm overlooking something, because I can't find them online.   Maybe someone can help point me I  the right direction?

1) James Harris son of William and Polly Harris of Muhlenberg County in 1821 Court Records

Deed Book 5, p. 239, Muhlenberg Co, KY 1821
John and Jane Morgan of Muhlenberg Co, deed to Polly Harris, widow of William Harris, dec’d, and to Charles Harris, Sally Shuffield formerly Sally Harris, Stephen Harris, James Harris, A. Harris, and Betsy Harris, for $170 paid to him by said William Harris in his lifetime, 100 acres on Isaacs Creek in Muhlenberg Co. bordering Charles C. Sumner, Peter Boggess, and Thomas Irvin.
2) Polly's name is actually Mary, being a common nickname given to a Mary of that time (I think the brackets are Sharon's, we'll have to find the original record to be certain) Because A. Harris is Amos in this instance, I suggest that this supports the list of children above.

Sally Harris, daughter of William Harris and Mary [Polly], married Ephraim Shuffield on 29 Jan 1818 in Muhlenberg Co., Ky. [William Harris witnessed the will of John Shuffield on 22 Nov 1790 in Duplin Co., NC]. Sally’s siblings were Charles, Stephen, James, Amos, and Betsy.

3)  Reconfirmed, William's wife is Mary, probably Casey

William Harriss witnessed the will of John Shuffield 22 Nov 1790 in Duplin Co. (Ephraim Shuffield married Sally Harris, daughter of William and Mary Harris, on 29 Jan 1818, Muhlenberg Co., KY. Sally is believed to be the granddaughter of Micajah Casey and Sarah [Hines?] of Wayne Co, NC, daughter of Patience Hines Jernigan. Sally’s known siblings are Charles Harris, Stephen Harris, James Harris, A. Harris, and Betsy Harris. See Deeds, Muhlenberg Co, KY, Bk 5, p. 239, 1821.)

4)  Proof that William's wife was Mary Casey

Muhlenberg Co, KY (mis-transcribed as Mecklenburg Co.), Book 10, p. 19. William Harris of [Muhlenberg Co. KY], deed to John Casey for his interest in land of which Micajah Casey Jr. died possessed—said Harris an heir- at- law in right of his wife Mary, 1 Aug 1810. (Copied into Wayne County deed book.)

Maybe some of you expert level sourcerers can show me how to find them?

Many thanks,

Lynn Wiggers
in Genealogy Help by Lynn Wiggers G2G6 Mach 1 (18.6k points)

3 Answers

+4 votes

You can copy the records to your computer and save as pictures then add the picture(s) of the records to the profile(s) and then add the record as a source under sources. You could try Family Search to find records with a source citation.

by David Selman G2G Astronaut (1.3m points)
If I'm not going to provide a link I can just cite "chapter and verse" as a source without jumping through that many hoops.   I'm a bit meticulous though and looking for a better option.

We recommend searching for a freely available copy of the source document on sites such as FamilySearch, USGenWeb, Archive.org, and HathiTrust. I use Family Search with very good results and when you click the name you will see all the information in the source and will find the source citation just below the info about the person. Then it is a copy and paste into the profile following the The Sources Style Guide that  shows how to enter sources in the biography. David ~ WikiTree Mentor

I 100% agree with the recommended approach.  I use FamilySearch a lot, but I still seem to get tangled up in there sometimes.  Thanks.
+6 votes
Ancestry dot com

Pull down search , choose card catalog

Left side choose wills, land records etc

In key word type Kentucky

Big list comes up of govt records
by Eddie King G2G6 Pilot (699k points)
I haven't tried that lately, forgot about that option.  Thanks Eddie, Smooches.
Smooches and hugs
+3 votes
If you are just looking to source them and as you replied to David you like to be meticulous I did find a link to the lady that does Evidence Explained which details a bunch of different ways as she puts it "complicate a plain ol' deed book citation" depending on the scenario. Link here https://www.evidenceexplained.com/quicktips/how-complicate-plain-ol’-deed-book-citation

I also found this link http://www.genealogy.com/articles/research/19_wylie.html which might help you in the future. It's How to Cite Your Sources from Genealogy.com (I bookmarked it myself). It does have one for legal records.

I hope one of these helps you.
by Amanda Frank G2G6 Mach 5 (56.0k points)
Oh and I also suggest if you can scanning the records and adding. If you can't that's okay.
I can do it, but it's just typed notes from a very good researcher.  She lives in SLC, UT, I suspect she got them from the big library there.  I can type my own very good notes, and I'm a good researcher too. LOL
Lol, I have complete faith you. I had a distant relative to one of my maternal great grandmother's find me on Ancestry and she provided me with this HUGE ancestor list that goes back 9 generations. She was so sweet and even started with my Grandmother, the first she could view at the time because of course living people are private on ancestry trees, and went from there. I unfortunately haven't been able to add many of them to WikiTree due to the fact that they are all from Norway after my Great-Grandparents and I haven't quite figured out how to enter the last names with the weird naming conventions.
You should post something about that on G2G.  I've seen some very deep conversations about that somewhere, in my Data Doctor feed, I think.  Someone should be able to point you to the right way to do that.
I'll probably be doing that soon or posting something on the Norway Project's google group. As of right now or last I checked there still isn't a decided official way to to enter the last names. At this exact moment I am trying to break down a brickwall on my dad's side involving a set of great-great grandparents. I found out recently that they were not Polish like I was always told but Danish. Thankfully and luckily I won one of the Danish records research prizes during the SAT so I am hoping this lady will be able to either completely break it down or be able to give me enough new information that I will be able to.
Interesting!!  I won the other Danish records prize.  I have a brick wall in Copenhagen.  But for now I'm working on Kentucky.
Well I just found my Great-Great-Grandmother's obit, I forgot that a uncle on that side mentioned that she died in Florida past the age of 100. So now it looks like my Grandma had some more info wrong (can't blame her too much it was her husband's side). GG-Grandmother's first name was Clara Maria not Maria and it is official that Pagh-Nielson was not the maiden but instead Dyreby. Now I wonder where she got Pagh-Nielson from.

That's cool that you got the other one. I won mine during the last hangout. I wasn't completely with it due to lack of sleep and had a brain fart moment. I asked "This is going to sound stupid but is Demark danish?" Lol. I got some well meaning ribbing from that and had a laugh at my own expense too.
Yep, that was us.  I was there.  :-)

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