Bracken County, 1889
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Bracken County was the 24th county formed in Kentucky. The law enacting Bracken County was passed on December 14, 1796, and the county was formed on June 1, 1797 from Mason and Campbell Counties. Its boundaries are unchanged since April 22, 1882. It has an area of 203.2 square miles, making it the 100th largest of Kentucky's 120 counties. |
The Bracken County Historical Society is Here.
On September 1, 1870, the Post Office Department
listed these towns in Bracken County as having
Post Offices: Augusta, Berlin, Bradford, Brooksville,
Browningsville, Foster, Harmon, Locust Mills, and Powersville.
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The 1939 Brooksville
Centennial Booklet featured a history of virtually every church and
every town in Bracken County. Both are pdf's. The town histories are here. |
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In 1876, the R. L. Polk Company published The Kentucky State Gazetteer and Business Directory, which listed information about virtually every town in Kentucky. The listings from Bracken County are these: |
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| Augusta | Berlin | Brooksville |
| Foster | Germantown | Lenoxburg |
| Powersville | ||
Cigar factory ad from the Gazetteer
A status report from the Superintendent of Schools in Bracken County from 1900 is here.
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The Kentucky Department of Agriculture's assessment of agriculture in Bracken County, in 1898-1899 can be found here. (pdf) |
An earlier Gazetteer published in Louisville, was George W.
Hawes’ Kentucky
State Gazetteer and Business Directory, for 1859 and 1860. It's
pre-Civil
War, and has detail on these four towns:
In 1911, there were these five Masonic Lodges in Bracken County:
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The 1878 Biographical Encyclopedia
of Kentucky |
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| J. J. Bradford | J. T. Bradford | John Boude |
| John Clarke | G. W. Macke | T. F. Marshall |
| B. G. Willis | ||
In 1919, there was a farm census, counting livestock, crops and farms. Bracken County's is here.
On August
4, 1852, the Cincinnati Daily Gazette published the State
of Kentucky’s Hog Assessment – the number of hogs over 6 months
old per county. The number in Bracken County was 9,698.
Bracken County sites placed on the National Places of Historical Places are here.
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Col. Duffy, of Higginsport, O., accompanied by his heard of buffalos, passed through this place last Wednesday evening en route to the Germantown fair." The Augusta Bulletin Republican, Oct.11, 1884 |
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"The trial of Wm. T. Marshall for killing a Negro named Dudley Hutcheson, at Augusta, in October last, has been in progress in the Criminal Court in Brooksville, Bracken county, for several days past. Charles Duncan, Commonwealth's Attorney, and Judge B. G. Wells are prosecuting the case, and the prisoner is defended by Hon. Joseph Doniphan, Hon. T. F. Marshall, Hon. Wm. E. Arthur, and Hon. W. H. Wadsworth. The general impression at Brooksville, when our informant left, was that Marshall would be acquitted" - from the Covington Journal, November 27, 1869. |
Powersville was first settled in 1783 by
Captain Philip Buckner, a
revolutionary war veteran who is buried in the western edge of town.
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In 1930, Kentucky Progress Magazine ran a feature letting each of Kentucky's counties list their accomplishments for 1929. What Bracken County came up with is here. (pdf) |
Burley tobacco was first discovered in Bracken County, or maybe Brown County, Ohio. Read about it here, and here. (pdf)
"The Maysville (Ky) Post understands
from reliable authority that an extensive
and productive mine of silver ore has been discovered on the lands of Mr.
Dorn, in Bracken County. It is now being worked with great success”
The New
York Times, November 7, 1851
Ferry from Chilo, Ohio to Bradford, Kentucky
(or, I've also seen it listed as the Ripley Ferry)
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"It is recorded in a Western paper that “Henry S. Blades, a popular calliope manipulator during the war, afterward a Memphis and Vicksburg pilot, then a passenger agent at Memphis, and recently editor of the ‘Bracken County Chronicle,’ has been chosen Mayor of the city of Augusta, Ky.” Calliope “manipulator,” pilot, passenger agent, editor, Mayor—it is a song of degrees that would have astonished King David." - The Galaxy, Volume 19, Issue 4, April 1875. |
At one time, Bracken Co had over 50 one room schools - the list is here.
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Information on the thirteen covered bridges that used to serve in Bracken County are listed in the data base at web site of Kentucky Covered Bridges, here. Some pictures, too. |
A list of the first automobiles registered in Bracken County is here.
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"Bracken County - The crop of wheat, rye, oats, corn, and tobacco are exceedingly promising. Should the weather prove favorable for twenty days, our county will yield 250,000 bushels of wheat." - NY Times, July 15, 1857 |
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There's a story here about a giant cave being discovered in Bracken County. Is it true or is somebody from 1876 pulling our leg? If you know the cave exists, please drop me an email. |
In 1969, Edna Talbott Whitley compiled a list of
Cabinetmakers
in Kentucky. The Bracken County portion of that list is
here.
A few words on the old Augusta Court House are here.
Here's a pair of older travel brochures, with historical
and tourist sites
identified, one
for Bracken County, and
one for Augusta.
(pdf's)
An 1857 Tornado hits Augusta & Higginsport, read about it here and here.
Walcott Covered Bridge, a.k.a. The White Bridge
On Rt. 1159, originally built c. 1835.
Civil War prisoners from Bracken County, here.
The Metcalfe - Casto Duel, May 8, 1862, here.
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"Near Berlin, Bracken County, last Saturday Worth Courts and George Smith, two farmers, got into a difficulty over a cow, Courts accusing Smith of shooting the animal. Smith denied the charge. Hot words ensued, and Courts drew a revolver killing Smith instantly. The affair has created a great stir in that part of the county, as both were respectable men." Cincinnati Enquirer, April 25, 1882. |
Prominent Citizens of Bracken County in 1847, here.
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The DAR put together a listing of the members of the oldest Temperance Society in Kentucky, in Augusta, c. 1840. It's a long list of names, and you can read it here. (pdf) |
The Kentuckiana Digital Library has a
number of Bracken
County images. Quality is erratic, but it's worth a look,
here.
The Kentucky Historical Society's Bracken
County images can
be found here.
Click on the Bracken Box when you get there.
Ed Mofford, a slave, escapes from Brooksville, here.
Meetings in Orangeburg and Germantown create “organized mob”
to run abolitionists,
including Berea College founder John Fee, out of Bracken County. Details
here.
You can read the Rev. John Fee’s version of the events in a section of his
autobiography. Pages relating to his Bracken County experience are excerpted
here.
Fee’s Wikipedia page is here, and the entire autobiography is on line here.
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Bracken County's Francis M. McMillen is Bracken County's only soldier to have been awarded the US Medal of Honor. Born on March 25, 1832, he won his medal by capturing the enemy flag in a Civil War Battle in Petersburg, Virginia on April 2, 1865. He's buried in Washington Courthouse, Ohio. |
A list of Bracken officials, merchants, doctors and attorneys, from 1847, is here.
What traveling companies were told about
Augusta's Russell Opera House, in 1901, is
here.
The news from Fairview, in 1879, is here.
John Henderson's page on Germantown's History is here.
Brief Histories of Bracken Communities from 1939:
This list of Bracken County deaths from WWII is from
the National Archives. There's a key to
what the
various abbreviations mean here,
and the actual list is here.
The WWI list is here.
A site dedicated to the bridges of Bracken County is here.
The Bracken Circuit Court deals with men helping slaves escape, in 1853, here.
You can get information on Bracken County
ancestors by subscribing
to the mailing list created for that purpose. You'll get periodic
information, and can submit your own questions, all via email.
Sign up
here for
Bracken County.
Here is a
list of all available lists on Kentucky.
A List of Bracken County's Historical Markers is here.
Seventy year old man sentenced to be hanged in 1867, here.
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"W. O. Blackerby, in the Brooksville Review, says: 'On Friday night about midnight about twenty-five riders went to Edward Johnson's, near Willow, and burned his old log barn containing about 3000 pounds of tobacco. The barn, we understand, belonged to his father, Noah Johnson, of this place.'" from the Falmouth Outlook of October 22, 1909. |
1909 makes this the work of Night Riders. More on them, is here.
The C&O has an on-line historical society, here.
Unclaimed items in the 1833 Augusta Post Office, here.
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If you have an interest in Slavery and the Underground Railroad in the Bracken County area, you absolutely want to find a book called Beyond the River, by Ann Hagedorn. It's the story of Ripley, Ohio's John Rankin, and has detailed information about slavery days in Bracken and Mason Counties. That's a handy link to Amazon for you to get a copy at the left. |
Map of Primary Underground RR Routes
Two Major League Baseball Players came
from Bracken County
Brooksville's Herbert Moford's record is
here.
Germantown's Carl Edward Bouldin's record is
here.
Mob frees accused murdered from Bracken
jail; man later found in Ripley.
The story is here, the follow up is
here.
There's only one Bracken County in the entire USA.
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In October 1986, around the time PBS film producers were releasing The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which was filmed in the area, the New York Times wrote a piece about Augusta, Maysville, and Washington called "Old Kentucky Towns" which provides a wealth of history about the area. Here. |
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"The Ku-Klux in Bracken county took out two brothers (Tucker) for seducing two sisters, Vivian Bailey for knocking his wife down, John Watson and Duncan Strayler for laziness, Mr. Maybreier for keeping a house of ill repute, and Blevin Dixon for instituting a suit against one George Fowler for twenty five acres of land, and whipped each one soundly. Dixon's son was badly injured in an attempt to rescue his father" from Covington's The Ticket, 6-24-1876. |
The Bracken County Roots Web site is here, and the Bracken Gen Web site is here.
The Lynching of George Duncan in 1871, story here.
A list of people in many Bracken Co cemeteries is here, and here.
Read about Bridgeville's Uncle Tommy
Kenton's 99th Birthday party, in 1886,
here.
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"To the Editors of the Enquirer: The Cincinnati Gazette of the 27th of July contains a letter purporting to have been written at Brookville [sic], Ky., which charges us with endeavoring to incite a mob against General Carey, whilst he was addressing our fellow-citizens of Bracken. The writer does not give his name, therefore he can not be reached except through the public press, that his statement is a falsehood, from beginning to end, and that the author is a slanderer and a dog. W. C. Marshall, T. F. Marshall, Jos. Doniphan, J. H. Bonde." Cincinnati Enquirer, August 5, 1865 |
Current Events in Bracken County are covered here.
TV star Don Galloway was born in Brooksville. A list of all of his roles is here.
Obituary of Mrs. Susan Lloyd, here.
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from a January, 1900 Augusta Chronicle: "Perry McDowell, of the Disher neighborhood, some three miles above Bridgeville on the North Fork, caught an otter last week in a steel trap. The animal weighed 23 pounds and measured three feet and ten inches. This is the first one caught or killed in this section for years, as they have become a rare specimen of animal." |
Who went to the penitentiary from Bracken County from
1808 t0 1830, and why? There's a list,
here.
"Licenses to vend spirituous or malt liquors in this the
Augusta
precinct, expired with both our saloons last Saturday. We are
now a temperance city now."
from Covington's The Ticket, 4-21-1877.
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Bracken Geological Map, 1926
Additional Links that apply to all of
Northern Kentucky Views, and may or may not
be related to Bracken County, are on the main Links & Miscellany page,
here.
