Owen County, Kentucky Views

Owen County, 1889
Red lines are proposed railroads

from The Warsaw Independent, of 11-26-1898: Aunt Polly Rogers,
who has reached the good old age of 97 years, was in
Owenton last Monday, the first time in thirty-five years, although
she has lived within five miles of the town for more than half
of a century. She had her picture taken for the first time in
her life and visited the Herald office to see how newspapers
are made. When asked if she had ever been to Louisville or
Cincinnati, she replied "Bless your life, no, and I
wouldn't ride on a steam car for anything."

You'll not want to miss a 1923 Louisville Herald article
by Ralph Coghlan on the history of Owen County, here.

A few words on Poplar Grove in 1880, here.

J. W. Waldrop's 1914 description of Owenton is here.

For another great Owen County Web site,
I suggest Grandma's Parlor

An account of the Eagle Valley Hotel, near Sanders, is here.

This list of Owen 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 World War I list is here.

The Kentuckiana Digital Library has a number of Owen
County images. Quality is erratic, but it's worth a look, here.

The Kentucky Historical Society's Owen County images can
be found here. Click on the county search box when you get there.

A former slave living in Owen County, John Forsee, has
dictated a narrative, written during the Federal Writers'
Project from around 1936, which gives a glimpse of life
in Owen County during his life. To read it, you must search
for the keyword "Forsee" at the Library of Congress site, here.

An Overview of Kentucky River Locks and Dams, here.

In 1969, Edna Talbott Whitley compiled a list of Cabinetmakers
in Kentucky. The Owen County portion of that list is here.

Information on the three covered bridges that used to serve in Owen County are listed in the data base at web site of Kentucky Covered Bridges, here.

A List of the Owen County Historical Markers is here.

In 1919, there was a farm census, counting livestock, crops and farms. Owen County's is here.

Provost Marshall Killed, 1864, here.

Covington's Mary Ann Mongren Library has one of those "Wow!" features online. If, after going here, and entering Owenton or whatever, you sometimes - not always - get back actual links to high quality images of Northern Kentucky Newspapers from the 1800's. I find it more helpful to sort them by the oldest article first. They're pdf images. There's a feature in your Adobe pdf viewer that let's you magnify the images. Play with it - I think you'll find it a great feature, and you'll be surprised at how much information from "outside I-275" is in the early Covington and Newport papers.

Breckenridge Cites "Sweet Owen." The story's here.
A less flattering spin on the compliment is here.

The Owenton Chamber of Commerce is here.

A site dedicated to the bridges of Owen County is here.

The New York Times printed the US Marshal's account of the
Kentucky Kuklux, operating in Owen County, 1874. Read it here.

On September 1, 1870, the Post Office Department
listed these towns in Owen County as having Post Offices:
Eagle Hill, Gratz, Harmony Hills, Lusby's Mill, Monterey,
New Columbus, New Liberty, Owenton, Rock Dale,
Pleasant Home, Poplar Grove, and West Union.

Owenton, Sparta, and Warsaw Stage Line Ticket
1877 on the left, and 1880's on the right

In 1876-1877 the R. L. Polk Co published a directory of
businesses in Kentucky communities. The ad above is
from that gazetteer. Owen Counties listed are:

Owenton	New Columbus	Monterey	New Liberty
Gratz	Poplar Grove	Lusby's Mill	Lone Oak
Rock Dale	( I did NOT make up the name of the Lusby's Mill's wagon maker!! )		Pleasant Home

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, but is erratic in its coverage. In Owen Co., it had detail on:

New Liberty

Monterey

A List of men from Owen County who went to the Kentucky
penitentiary, from 1798 through 1834, is here.

The mother of all Ohio River Steamboat sites is the Cincinnati Public Library's Inland River Photographs. They estimate 19,000 photographs. See'em here.

You can get information on Owen 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 Owen County.
Here is a list of all available lists on Kentucky.

There are two Owen Counties in the US - the other one is
Owen County, Indiana.

Leading Owen County Citizens of 1847, here.

Courier-Journal's 1896 report on Owen Co Toll Roads, here.

Summary of Civil War Operations in Owen County in October, 1864, here.

There are some Owen County cemetery records are here, and here.

A nifty little tool at the web site of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve will convert old prices (1913 and later) into current prices. Try it here.

Census of Northern Kentucky's Paupers in Almshouses, 1910, here.

A site that has post a lot of older high school yearbooks
of Kentucky schools is here. They invite your scans.

One of Owen County's most famous sons is Willis A. "Mose" Lee.
He was born in Natlee. Find out more here. The ship
the US Navy named after him - a destroyer - is here.

The Owen County Gen Web Page is Here

The Owen County Historical Site, and Library, is here.

Geology Map of Owen County, 1949

	This graph shows the relative populations of the eight smaller counties of Northern Kentucky Views, from 1800 to 2000.
	This graph shows the relative populations of the Boone, Kenton & Campbell Counties from 1800 to 2000.
	This graph shows the relative populations of the Boone, Kenton, Mason & Campbell Counties from 1800 to 1860, along with Jefferson and Fayette, just for reference.


These two charts both present slave population from Northern Kentucky. On the left is actual populations; on the left, is the number of slaves as a percentage of total population. Remember some counties were established later than others. More on these numbers, including a link to the mega-load of population data, is here.