Butler County, Kentucky
Genealogy Books

Desert Road Publications      P.O. Box 218     Morgantown, KY 42261

Where to Purchase Desert Road Publications:

1) You may send your order with payment to the above address.

2) You may send me your order by email & pay on line, using Paypal (or any Major Credit Card through PayPal).

3) If you are planning to visit the Morgantown area, you may purchase the books from me, or you may buy them at the Morgantown Prescription Center, conveniently located at 214 South Main Street in Morgantown (Hwy 231 S), two blocks from the courthouse, directly across from the Post Office. They are also available at the History Annex of the Muhlenberg County Library, in Greenville, Kentucky, which contains an enormous quantity of records on Muhlenberg County, not to mention other counties and states.

SEE DESCRIPTIONS BELOW, AND WHEN YOU ARE READY
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Newest Publication!
1920 Grayson County, Kentucky, Census
Those people who are researching families on the North Side of Green River will find many of them or their descendants living in Grayson County this census year. This book was compiled by Patricia J. Haley and published by Jo Wright, Desert Road Publications, in June 2005. It includes household and family numbers, names, relationships, race, gender, marital status, birthplaces of individuals and their parents, and occupations. Softbound, laminated, 408 pages. Every name is indexed.

EVERY NAME INDEXED
A MAP SHOWS WHERE YOUR ANCESTORS VOTED

My transcription of this census includes household and family numbers, names, relationships, race, gender, marital status, number of years married, number of times married, number of children born to mothers, number of children yet living, birthplaces of individuals and their parents, occupations, home ownership (if they owned their home, you will know whether to look for a deed), whether blind or deaf & dumb, and whether a man served in the Union or Confederate Army. It also includes immigration information for those individuals who were foreign born. Every name is indexed. Published 2003. Softbound, laminated, 368 pages.

My transcription of this census includes household number, family number, names, relationships, race, gender, birth months, birth years, age, marital status, number of years married, number of children born to mothers, number of children yet living, birthplaces of individuals and their parents, occupations, and home ownership. It also includes immigration information for those individuals who were foreign born. By using three different types of media, I was able to see each name in this census clearly. My transcription of this census also includes a few footnotes concerning various individuals. I did not change what the census taker recorded; I simply included notes when I had additional information. Published 2003. Softbound, laminated, 380 pages. Click to see full description and link to sample page .

This book includes--in addition to the names, ages and birthplaces of individuals--their property values and any information given in the remarks columns (parents of foreign birth, months of marriages for couples wed within the past year, and interesting notations by the census taker, such as "oldest person in the county"). The introduction includes information about the census takers, J. W. Ward and W. T. Nourse, and their families. Published 1999. Softbound, laminated, 214 pages.

Marriages 1810-1890 from the first Marriage Index book for Butler County, listing more than 6000 entries. Includes names, date, book & page number. Brides and grooms indexed separately. Published 1999. Softbound, laminated, 183 pages.

A complete transcription of all 130 wills in the first will book, 1813 - 1853. Names many family members before those were listed in the census. More than 400 surnames indexed. African Americans indexed. The variety and types of items in everyday use offer a firsthand look into homes of that era. Published 1999. Softbound, laminated, 156 pages.

A combination of abstracts and complete deeds, with survey maps. Some 250 surnames of early land owners, as well as friends and neighbors who witnessed deeds. African Americans indexed. Apprenticeship bonds help identify children orphaned by one or both parents. Wives of the grantor commonly named, as well as other family members. Property "whereon he now lives" indicates specific locations of our ancestors at a given time. Published 1999. Softbound, laminated, 96 pages.

A verbatim transcription of the first book of court orders (June 11, 1810 - April 14, 1814). All text is included; original spellings are kept. The book records actions necessary for the foundation of the new county, including the appointment of officials and the construction of the courthouse and jail. It also deals with matters pertaining to everyday life, such as road building, settlement of estates, and the occasional lawsuit. More than 250 surnames are indexed. Published 1999. Softbound, laminated, 125 pages.

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IN PROGRESS

The Descendants of Benjamin Wilson
and Catherine Cline

I hesitate to mention this book. It was begun in the year 2000, and is not yet finished. In fact, I have not worked on it for more than a year. But it currently totals more than 500 pages of documented information, and rather than give that up completely, I intend to make one more stab at it.

For those who have written me in the past few months, please know I was not ignoring those who didn't receive an answer. My intentions were good, and I saved the mail. Then it was lost during a program reinstallation.

The information which follows has been on the site for a very long time, but it still pertains. Those who have read it already know not to expect fast results. But I do intend to begin work anew on this project.

Butler County, Kentucky, Family Records, Volume 1 evolved into a book titled, "The Descendants of Benjamin Wilson and Catherine Cline." Benjamin and Catherine had 14 children, most of whom married and raised sizable families of their own. This book documents the marriages, census records, and cemetery records--and in some cases, wills, deeds and court orders--pertaining to the Wilson descendants from the children's births through the marriages of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. It provides the census record of each individual down through 1920. I stopped at this point out of respect for the privacy of a vast number of living individuals, though a small number of 1930 census records are included when they helped to document a family's location, or helped to identify an individual who might otherwise have remained anonymous. Any descendant should be able to see and recognize parents or grandparents, and follow their family backward from that point, and outward to hundreds--if not thousands--of aunts, uncles, and cousins.

I did not use secondary sources for this book except in instances when time and distance did not permit me to view the original record. Marriage records are typed out in full, including all information given on the original document. There simply was not room to include photocopies of the hundreds of original documents. However, any researcher can immediately identify the location, book number, and page number of his ancestor's record, if he wishes to obtain a copy.

I did not rely on secondary sources for cemetery records, except in extreme cases, but traveled to the cemetery and copied all the information from the stone, including the epitaph. When it was unique in some way, I included a description of the stone.

At this point, the book does not contain ancestor charts. Rather, the family of each Wilson child is contained within a section of the book, and the descendants are followed in narrative form, and in chronological order, with census- and court records inserted at appropriate intervals. From these records, any descendant who wishes to do so may build his family tree. If I had included charts, there would have been no room to insert the documents and still keep the book to a length which would make it's purchase price reasonable.

Many families from the Welches Creek, Brooklyn, Renfrow, Reedyville, Lee, Horse Mill, Oak Ridge and Flatwoods voting precincts appear in this book. When the book is completed, before the end of this summer, I will list on this page the surnames included in the index.

Lookups: Though copyright law prohibits the distribution of information from books done by others, I will be happy to provide lookups from the records I have copied, as time allows. You may email me with your requests at DesertRoad@aol.com . Please limit your inquiry to one SPECIFIC piece of information per request, such as the date of a marriage or a death, the name of a spouse or a parent, etc., and allow adequate time for a reply. If you ask for "any information you have on John Smith," I probably won't be able to help. Note in your mail that you found the lookup offer on the "Books Page."

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Thanks,

Jo Wright