Grant County, 1889
(Why's the northwest corner missing?
Here.)
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Grant County was the 67th county formed in Kentucky. The law enacting Grant County was passed on February 12, 1820 and the county was formed on April 1, 1820 from a part of Pendleton County. Its boundaries are unchanged since February 9, 1876. It has an area of 259.9 square miles, making it the 79th largest of Kentucky's 120 counties. |
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Grant County was formed in 1820, from parts of Pendleton County, and was named after "either Col. John Grant (1754-1826), pioneer salt producer in the Licking Valley; his brother Samuel (1762-1833), a surveyor who was killed by Indians; or another brother, Squire (1764-1833), a surveyor and large land owner in Campbell County, which he served in the State Senate (1801-06) and as sheriff (1810); or perhaps all three" according to Robert M. Rennick's Kentucky Place Names. |
The Grant County section of the USGenWeb
is here, and
the Grant County portion of the Kentucky Roots Web is
here.
In 1876, the Centennial of the
US, the Congress asked
local officials to write down the history of their
respective localities to be read on July 4, 1876.
Here is what Grant County came up
with.
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"During Tuesday night twenty-three negroes owned in Grant and adjoining counties, left their masters' roofs, and escaped to the Licking River, where they lashed together several canoes, and in disguise, where they disembarked and made a circuitous route to the northern part of Cincinnati. Early Wednesday morning they were run off on the road to Canada by the underground railroad," from The Louisville Journal, June 16, 1854. |
You'll want to visit Philip Naff's web site dedicated to
Williamstown
founder William Arnold, and the Arnold log cabin. It's
here.
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Information on the five covered bridges that used to serve in Grant County are listed in the data base at web site of Kentucky Covered Bridges, here. |
The
19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, allowing women to vote, was ratified on
August 18, 1920.
The Grant County News was not a supporter. You can read their
objections here.
In May of 1922, Grant County voted on whether to approve
higher taxes
for the Dixie Highway, connecting Lexington and Covington. There's
no doubt about how they felt. The vote is
here.
In 1922, the Grant County News takes a stand on Darwin's Theory of Evolution, here.
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"Grant Co - The prospects for wheat, rye, barley and oats are uncommonly good. Timothy is also very good. The corn crop looks promising, but very backward for the season" - NY Times, July 15, 1857 |
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The
Marshall Hotel in Corinth |
Della Jones: A
Grant County Treasure |
Bruce's
Grocery: A Grant County Gem |
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Three articles reprinted from the Grant Co. Historical Society Newsletter. All pdf's. |
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The Kentucky Department of Agriculture's assessment of agriculture in Grant County, in 1898-1899 can be found here. (pdf) |
"A meteorite, weighing sixty-eight pounds, fell in Northern
Kentucky, this one
being found by A. E. Ashcraft in 1892 on his farm three miles north of
Williamstown."
Louisville Courier Journal, September 1, 1940
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This is a page from William D. Ehmann's "Space Visitors in Kentucky: Meteorites and Meteorite Impact Sites in Kentucky" on the Williamstown meteorite. More about the one that hit Independence is here, or you can find the entire publication on line here. It's a 53 page long pdf. |
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This is Ms. Hazel Ogden, who taught the class below, and had the foresight to collect, save and bind the essays below for future generations. |
Grant County High School's 1963-64 American Literature Class
wrote essays on the histories of various Grant County communities.
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Blanchett, by Mary Ann O'Hara is here.
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Cherry Grove, by Terry Edmondson is here.
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| Cordova, by Larry Bailey, is here. |
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Corinth, by Clarence Brewsaugh, is here.
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Crittenden by Judy Holbrook is here.
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Crittenden by Jerry Hurst is here.
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Crittenden, by Terry Case is here.
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Crittenden, by Louise Plunkett is here.
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Crittenden, by Ronnie Lillard is here.
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Dry Ridge, by Connie Curry is here.
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Folsom, by Gary W. Webb is here.
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The Old Stone House in Folsom by Darris Beach is here.
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Gardnersville, by Linda Lou Mann is here.
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Gold Valley, by Ruth Ann Kinman is here.
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Hardscrabble, by Joe Souder is here.
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Heekin, by Shirley Spegal, is here.
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Keefer, by Mike Ellis is here.
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Keefer by Dwight Colson is here.
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Knoxville, by Rita Ruby is here.
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The Lanter Farm, by Marylee Lanter is here.
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Mt. Zion, by Virginia Wright is here.
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Mt. Zion, by Charles Baird, is here.
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Mason, by Patricia Mann is here.
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Mason, by Marietta Hedges is here.
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Mason, by Doris Henry is here.
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Oak Ridge, by Harold Kells is here.
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Screamersville, by Arnold Bolog is here.
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Sherman, by Pat Spillman is here.
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The Hanging at Sherman, by Barbara Arnold is here.
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Sherman, by Karen Cummins is here.
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The Second Oldest Home in Williamstown by Betty Jane Kinmon is here.
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High Street, by Charles Scroggins is here.
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John Wilkes Booth, by Bob Perry is here.
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Williamstown, by Janet Tebelman is here.
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Zion Station, by Linda Beach is here.
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"Judge O. P. Hogan [of Williamstown], in addition to his stage lines between Covington and Burlington and Walton and Williamstown, has started another line between the latter points, thus giving the people along that route a morning and evening line both ways. He has also started a line between Williamstown and Georgetown three times a week. The three latter lines all make close connections with trains at Walton." From the Covington Journal, May 31, 1873. |
The Kentuckiana Digital Library has a
number of Grant
County images. Quality is erratic, but it's worth a look,
here.
The Kentucky Historical Society's Grant
County images can
be found here. Click
on the Grant box when you get there.
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There are 15 different Grant Counties in the USA. Here are the other 14. |
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In 1969, Edna Talbott Whitley compiled a list of
Cabinetmakers
in Kentucky. The Grant County portion of that list is
here.
Dry Ridge Fire Engine Saves Williamstown, 1922. Story
here.
...and the story prompts one subscriber to recall the fire of 1856,
here.
Don't miss The Political Campaign of Caroline Gray, 1923, here.
In 1919, there was a farm census, counting livestock, crops and farms. Grant 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 Grant County was 10,060.
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How Bullock Pen got its name, here. |
Theodore O'Hara "Doc" Sechrist, born in Williamstown, played for the New York Giants baseball team. His record is here. |
Three news clippings on Grant County Slavery, here. |
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The few words on the history of aviation in Grant County, here. |
Brief Histories on various Communities
and Churches in |
Oops. Way too many names discovered on the 1950 voter list, here. |
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Earl Thompson is hung, in Williamstown, here. |
Grant County sites placed on the National Places of Historical Places are here. |
A history of Crittenden published in 1929 is here. |
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Williamstown Homicide, 1872, here. |
Daisy Carol King's History of Grant County is here. (pdf) |
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Civil War prisoners from Grant County, here. |
An important figure in early Grant Co church history is Elder William Conrad. John B. Conrad's bio of him can be found here. |
Grant County news from the Covington Journal, 1868, here. |
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Grant County's Historical Markers are listed here. |
A status report from the Superintendent of Schools in Grant County from 1900 is here. |
Grant County news from the Daily Commonwealth, 1883, here. |
| Grant County's 1942 referendum to prohibit alcohol prompted this article. | A piece on slavery in Grant County is here. (pdf) | Grant officials scolded by Ky. Attorney General for speed trap. In 1930. Here. |
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Can you name the 8 banks in Grant County in 1922? They're here. |
The Freedman's Bureau reports on a post-Civil War Outrage in Grant Co., here. |
The 1925 bus schedule from Owenton to Covington went thru Williamstown. It's here. |
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Courier-Journal's 1896 report on Grant Co Toll Roads, here. |
A list of the first automobiles registered for Grant County, in 1910-11, is here. |
Grant Co Officials & Merchants, 1847, here. |
This list of Grant 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.
Grant County soldiers who died in WWI are listed here.
Grant County items from Lewis Collins' History of Kentucky, 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 Grant County are these: |
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| Corinth | Crittenden | Dry Ridge |
| Elliston | Mason | New Eagle Mills |
| Sherman | Williamstown | Zion Station |
| Memberships lists of the Masonic Lodges of Grant County in 1911 are here: (pdf's) | |
| Williamstown | Dry Ridge |
| Corinth | Crittenden |
Jacob Theophilus Simon had his bio in the Biographical encyclopedia of Kentucky.
You can get information on Grant 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
Grant County.
Here is a
list of all available lists on Kentucky.
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"With this issue the Williamstown Courier rounds out its twelfth year as a newspaper. a great many changes have taken place in Williamstown since the first number was released. . . It has witnessed the rise and fall of many businesses enterprises, and has seen at least four Grant county papers enter the Journalistic field and die in a short time for lack of sustenance: The Democrat, Eagle, Herald and Enterprise." - The Williamstown Courier, September 3, 1891. |
"The ten banks of Grant county report$615,901.02 on
deposit with loans of $789,470.05."
from the Owenton News-Herald, July 27, 1905
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In 1930, Kentucky Progress Magazine ran a feature letting each of Kentucky's counties list their accomplishments for 1929. What Grant County came up with is here. (pdf) |
At one time or another, over 33 communities in Grant
County have had Post Offices. See the complete list,
here.
Elsewhere on this site, we've reproduced the History of the
Ten Mile Baptist Church, established in 1804. It was in N. W.
Grant
County when the church was first established, but long ago moved across
the line to Gallatin County. Still, there are a number of references
to Clark's Creek, Mt. Zion, etc. If you're interested, it's here.
A Map of the 24 churches in the Crittenden Association of Kentucky Baptists, 1953
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This is a geologic map of Grant County from 1925. The images are large. I had to keep the images big so you could see the detail, which is also why it's in three parts. |
Additional Links that apply to all of Northern
Kentucky Views, and may or may not
be related to Grant County, are on the main Links & Miscellany page,
here.
