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Welcome to the Harrison County, Kentucky One Place Study

Though colonial explorers were making forays into the area now known as Kentucky in the middle of the 18th century, active settlement did not begin until 1774. Virginia had established Fincastle County in 1772, encompassing the area, but in 1776 Fincastle County was abolished and three new counties were created in its place. Kentucky County, Virginia, was one of them.

When Kentucky became a state in 1792, the area now known as Harrison County was within Bourbon County. Harrison was established as a county the following year, though its boundaries changed slightly over the following decades as newer counties were created. The boundaries have not changed since 1867.

General historical information including facts, timelines, boundary changes, etc. can be found on our umbrella page, Harrison County, Kentucky under the Kentucky Project. The page is still a work in progress -- so check back often! Wish something were there that isn't yet? Be sure to let us know by message or comment (or jump on in and add it)!

What We're Studying

As a relatively large, primarily rural community, The Harrison County, Kentucky One Place Study does not fall within the parameters of a typical one-place study, but the principles are the same. Our work centers on all the county's residents, both permanent and migratory, in order to improve our understanding of their social and economic lives. The study aims to expand opportunities for genealogical research in the area by examining historical documents pertaining to various communities, groups and group activities within the broader county.

The focus is currently on (but not limited to) the county's formation in 1793 through much of the following century. The primary goal of the study is to create and improve WikiTree profiles for county residents in the early 19th century.

Some of the long-term objectives of the study include:

• Increase research and profiling of women in the community
• Increase research and profiling of US Black Heritage people in the community under USBH Project practices
• Collate information on the professional, economic and social lives of the residents

On-Going Projects

Geography

• Working toward compiling information and organizing Free Space Pages for Harrison County towns and small communities. In progress: Guide to Place Names and Census Divisions and Demographics This project is on the slow-track.

Military veterans

• Several projects primarily covering the Revolutionary and Civil Wars are underway: Harrison County, Kentucky Military Service

Family Studies

• Current general family focus: Maffett, Monson, Smith, and Turley family groups, as well as their allies and collaterals (primarily in the area of Indian Creek)
• Current USBH family focus: Redd, Williams, Burr, Porter, Conner, Holmes
• Current Native American family focus: Coleman

Developing Projects

Harrison County is not only beautiful, but also endlessly fascinating. As a result, it's not hard to imagine all the research that could advance the project's goals. Some other tasks that would be beneficial to the project include:

• Gathering research on women's professions, including midwives, farmers, etc.
• Indexing/profiling landowners on Beers' map of Harrison County, 1877
• Creating profiles for influential residents including local politicians, doctors, teachers, merchants, craftsmen, distillers, ministers, etc. and categorizing them appropriately.
• Developing Free Space Pages for historical religious, educational and social groups in Harrison County.
  • Some possible one-place subprojects: Marysville, Berry, Cynthiana, Baltzell.
• Expanding Harrison County cemeteries on WikiTree through the Cemeterist Project.
  • Cemeteries in Harrison County, Kentucky
• Local dramas (murders and other juicy scandals), starting out with The Cynthiana Ghost Walk.
• USBH:

1860 Slave Schedule

1850 Slave Schedule

• One Name Studies with Harrison County connections (non-exhaustive list, feel free to add):
  • Carter Name Study
  • Coleman Name Study
  • Day_Name_Study
  • Dowd Name Study
  • Durbin Name Study
  • Gillespie Name Study
  • Harrison Name Study
  • Hill Name Study
  • Ishmael Name Study
  • Jewett Name Study
  • Landrum Name Study
  • Mann Name Study
  • Murphy Name Study
  • Porter Name Study
  • Talbot Name Study
  • Turner Name Study
  • Wolfe Name Study
• One Place Studies in Harrison County
  • Ruddle's Station, Kentucky, Virginia One Place Study

WikiTree Pages Linked to the Study

You can find a listing of specific project pages connected with the study here: WikiTree pages connected to the Place Study. If you are working on a project connected to Harrison County that's not there, link us up!

Study Focus Calendar

The Study Focus Calendar is not prescriptive - feel free to work on any Harrison County project at any time, or create your own. The list is also subject to change throughout the year, but below is a preliminary calendar of mini-project topics for the coming months. New suggestions and ideas are always welcome!

• Jan 23 - USBH - 1850/60 slave schedules
• Feb 23 - USBH - 1850/60 slave schedules
• Mar 23 - Population - women's careers
• Apr 23 - Family groups
• May 23 - Military
• Jun 23 - Farming
• Jul 23 - Roads, waterways and railroads
• Aug 23 - Religion
• Sep 23 - Education
• Oct 23 - Cemeteries
• Nov 23 - Native Americans
• Dec 23 - Family groups

General Maintenance

• Monitoring and addressing suggestions for Harrison County profiles through WikiTree+
• Reviewing and improving profiles listed in Kentucky maintenance categories, especially those related to Harrison and surrounding county when found
• Adopting orphaned Harrison County profiles.
• Assisting with Harrison County research questions through G2G and Discord

Want to Help?

Harrison County may not be widely known, but it has given the world Raggedy Ann, Post-it Notes, and The Walking Dead. Do you have ancestors that lived in or migrated through Harrison County? Do you have other aspects of Harrison County research you'd like to work on and see included in the project? Do you know of projects already underway on WikiTree that could be linked here?

If you would like to contribute to expanding research on the people who have lived in this area, simply add your name to the membership list below, contact the study coordinator, or post in the comments section. Project participation is unofficial: there are no membership or sign-up requirements and no time commitments. Good communication, though, is the basis for effective collaboration - so we'd love to hear from you!

Don't have time to get involved with a major project? One of the most important things you can do to help out takes only a second. Remember to add the appropriate Harrison County, Kentucky categories to the profiles you research. That little bit goes a long long way!

Members

• add your name here

Stickers and Categories

If you're looking to shine up your individual profiles with a sticker, a variety of Kentucky stickers are available. You can alter the parenthetical text as needed in the Nonmigrating Ancestor and Migrating Ancestor stickers as necessary. For example: (born in Scott County; married and died in Harrison County). These stickers add no categorization.

Native Kentuckian (born, married, and died in Harrison County)	{{Nonmigrating Ancestor |addinfo=Native Kentuckian (born, married, and died in Harrison County) |flag=US_State_Flag_Images-20.png |tooltip=Flag of Kentucky }}
... ... ... migrated from Kentucky to Ohio.	{{Migrating Ancestor |origin= Kentucky |destination= Ohio |origin-flag= US_State_Flag_Images-20.png |destination-flag= US_State_Flag_Images-39.png }} Modify this sticker as necessary. US State Flag Images
... ... ... was a Kentuckian.	{{Kentucky Sticker}}
... ... ... was born in Kentucky.	{{Kentucky Sticker|born in Kentucky}}
... ... ... was part of Kentucky's history.	{{Kentucky Sticker|part of Kentucky's history}}

Research Notes and Study Updates

• As of September 2022, Harrison Countians linked to the study include:
  • Nine notables
  • Twenty-one Revolutionary War patriots
  • At least two residents of the frontier fort, Ruddle's Station
  • Six veterans of the War of 1812
  • One veteran of the Indian Wars
  • Forty-four Civil War soldiers
  • Nine twentieth-century veterans
• As of October 2022, the Harrison County category includes:
  • Eight associated research and information pages
  • Five will transcriptions
  • Four pages containing newspaper transcriptions and family history information
  • 1,468 profiles (out of a potential 3,800+ open profiles returned in a WT+ location seach)
• The 2022 Source-a-Thon eliminated more than 400 Harrison County profiles from the unsourced categories. Thanks to everyone who worked on improving profiles for Harrison Countians during the challenge!

Thanks for visiting!