Trimble County was formed from parts of Gallatin, Henry, and Oldham Counties, and was created on February 9, 1837.   Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia of the internet, has an article on Trimble County, as well as Bedford, and Milton, and a page on the man for whom Trimble County is named, Robert Trimble, whose picture is on the left.

Trimble County was the 86th county formed in Kentucky.  The law enacting Trimble County was passed on February 9, 1837 and the county was formed on April 1, 1837 from parts of Gallatin, Henry and Oldham Counties. Its boundaries are unchanged since March 6, 1850. It has an area of 148.8 square miles, making it the 117th largest of Kentucky's 120 counties.

The law that established Gallatin County in 1798, which at that time included what is now Trimble County, is here.

The 1837 laws specifically creating Trimble are here, and here; both shortly amended, here.

Discover the highest point in the county.

Chicago's Newberry Library has posted online a complete set of maps of American counties formations. They start with the date of county formation, and trace every little change to the boundaries after that. Trimble County has had 2 such changes, and you can see the Trimble maps here (pdf). To see the counties from which the county was formed, you'll have to download the entire Kentucky state pdf. There's also a feature that you can use to import all this data into Google maps. Good stuff!

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 Trimble County are these:
Bedford	Milton	Winona

From George W. Hawes' Kentucky State Gazetteer and Business
Directory, for 1859 and 1860, is this listing for Bedford.  (pdf)

Hawes published an updated version of his Gazetteer in 1883-84, which included these Trimble County Communities:

Abbett

Bedford

Milton

Winona

Trimble County sites placed on the National Places of Historical Places are listed at this site.

Membership Rolls of the Masonic Lodges of Trimble County in 1890:			Membership Rolls of the Masonic Lodges of Trimble County in 1911:  (pdf's)
Bedford	Milton		Bedford	Milton

 

For membership rolls of ALL Masonic Lodges in ALL cities in Kentucky,
from 1878 thru 1922, they're at the Hathi Trust Digital Library, by individual year.

Who's who in Trimble County, in 1840

One of Trimble County's most written about citizens is artist
 Harlan Hubbard.  There are oral history interviews that have been transcribed.  You
can read them, but need to search for “Harlan Hubbard“ (use the quotes)
when you get to this site.   His Wikipedia page is here.

“The Trimble County Highwaymen. - The trial of Roberts and Hall, for their crimes, will take place at Bedford, Trimble County, Ky., this week. It will excite intense interest, and we learn that the citizens of Milan and Madison, Indiana, are already preparing to attend the trial. The rascals stand a pretty good chance to swing, with law or without it, so great is the indignation of the citizens of Trimble County at their scoundrelism.” Cincinnati Daily Enquirer, July 26, 1859 Read the whole story of this man, of whom they said “a more blood-thirsty, black-hearted, cold-blooded villain does not exist.”

 

The WPA (Wikipedia) produced this documents on the history of Trimble County. All are pdf's.
Bedford Springs	Preston House	Historic Homes	Business Census	Indian Fort
Robert Rennick wrote about every post office ever in Trimble County, and how the towns they were in got there names. Highly recommended.

A history of the Preston Plantation is here. (pdf).

Lottie Snyder asked Byron Bacon Black for a History of Bedford.  From his hospital bed, he said that'd take way too long, but he'd give her a view of the earliest days of the town.  You can read his letter to her here.	A 1922 article about a Trimble farmer.
	A railroad, from Madison to Lexington?
Cleveland Morning Leader, July 6, 1861
The banks of Trimble County, in 1911, here.	Irish tourist in 1890 says the strife from the outside world never reached Trimble County.
The lawyers of Trimble County, 1872, here.	How's fishing in 1898 Trimble County? This guy knows.
Protecting willow trees, 1876.	The History of Trimble County from Collins' History.(pdf)
“In the Trimble Circuit Court last week a man was awarded fine and imprisonment for carrying concealed weapons, but before the jury returned its verdict the officers allowed him to walk off.  Another was fined for kissing girl against her will, and a third is being tried for waylaying and cutting a woman who refused to marry him.” The Commonwealth, November 27, 1877, reprinting an item from the Carrollton Democrat.	“At 2 places between Carrollton and Madison, the Confederate flag is displayed to every passing steamer, particularly those descending the Ohio loaded with troops.  These rebel ensigns are unfurled and vaunted to the breeze by females who flatter themselves that their sex will protect them.”  Cincinnati Daily Enquirer, February 23, 1862
“Bedford, Ky., March 9 - A feud of 10 years' standing between the Carson and Hackney families broke out afresh here near here, and as a result James and George Carson were, perhaps, fatally cut, and Ed and Elliott Hackney, whom they had waylaid, were seriously wounded.  The Hackney boys came to town Monday and surrendered.  Judge Lee released them on $100 bond each.”  from Maysville's Daily Public Ledger, March 9, 1898	“Milton, Ky., March 20. -- The post-office at Green, Ky., six miles below here, has been discontinued.  The post-office building was washed away by high water, and Postmaster F. L. Moreland immediately resigned.  The postal authorities have been unable to get anyone to accept the place.” from Marion, Kentucky's Crittenden Record-Press, March 28, 1907
“Henry Boggess shot and killed a pelican, in a pond on Mrs. Moreland's farm last Saturday.  The bird measured eight feet from tip to tip of its wings and its bill measured eleven inches.” from the Trimble County News, quoted  in the Carrollton Democrat, September 5, 1891
“Clarence Harmon has a new automobile.  There are now 17 machines  owned by persons in or near Bedford.  The whir of the engine is so  great on Sunday morning that the denizens of the county seat are  aroused from their slumber before 8 o'clock.”  Trimble Democrat, July 13, 1916.	The September 7, 1837 issue of the Kentucky Gazette listed a postal route than ran from “Frankfort, by Laputa [Franklin Co.], Pleasureville, New Castle, Benevola [Campbellsburg], Bedford, Corn Creek and Milton to Madison, Indiana, 53 miles and back, three times a week in stages.”
In 1906, the Courier-Journal published a list of out-of-state residents who would come home to Trimble County.	“Bedford, Ky., April 13. - The residence of W. F. Pierce, merchant, was burned tonight.  The rest of the town was saved by dynamiting the burning building, which was only eight feet from the Bedford Hotel.”  Cincinnati Enquirer, April 14, 1912
The Gallatin Ohio Steam Boat Company was formed in 1816.	The Kentucky legislature authorizes a turnpike from Milton to Bedford., 1866.
“Tom Boswell, the negro who knocked Jailer on the head on the night of the November 21 and escaped,was captured in Carroll County by Sheriff George Powell and T. J. Weathers. He was returned to the Bedford jail. He is charged with murder.” Courier-Journal, November25, 1902	Betsy Connell remembers when Milton was “a wilderness waste, where bears and wildcats roamed at large.” Fascinating item, here.
As part of his 1952 dissertation at UK, a student pastor in Bedford, Paul Richardson, made a list of the non-church, community organizations in Trimble County.  Want to take a guess at how many?  If so, you probably came up short of the 37 he found.  The full list is here. (pdf)	“Madison, Ind., Dec. 9. - James Divine shot 'Lafe' Gammons dead in a quarrel at Bedford, Ky., 10 miles south of this city, last night, and was arrested today.  Divine had been previously severely stabbed by Gammon's father. In Trimble County opposite Madison, George Ewing probably fatally wounded one Evans, who was courting Ewing's daughter against her father's wishes.” New York Times, December 10, 1884.
Dispatch from Alvin P. Hovey, Brevet Major General, to Capt. C. H. Potter, Headquarters District of Indiana in Indianapolis, December 16, 1864: “I am informed by telegram from Madison, Ind., that Colonel Jessee's men have taken Milton, a small town in Kentucky.  They here fired on two steamers, and left in the direction of Bedford, Ky.  We must have a small force for the front on the Ohio.”  from the War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of Official Records	“Trimble promises to make more maple-sugar this year than any other county in the State.” Courier-Journal, March 11, 1872
	For Trimble County Historical Information, we suggest their application to the National Register of Historical Places. It's a pdf you can read here.
	“As soon as the weather will permit Madison will be placed in telephone connection with Milton, Carrollton, Gratz, Warsaw, and Ghent, Ky.” Indianapolis News, February 3, 1882
“Mr. James Williams, the mail carrier from Corn Creek, brought to town one day recently several porcupine quills. Mr. Williams informs us that a gentleman living just across the river from Corn Creek owns a dog that frequently goes out hunting by itself. It returned last Friday from its usual hunt litterly [sic] filled with porcupine quills. By its actions, the dog indicated that it wanted some one to go with it, and its master followed, and was surprised when the dog led him to the dead body of a large porcupine.” New York Times, February 8, 1896, reprinting and item from the Bedford Banner-Democrat.

Cincinnati Daily Gazette, June 17, 1864

Robert Jackson Tingle (Jack)  is the only man from Trimble County to play in the NBA.
  His record is at this site.

Inscription

The most famous (infamous?) woman in the history of Trimble County? Easy. Delia Webster.
Another look at Delia, here, (pdf), and a contemporary account here.	Delia writes a letter defending herself.
Delia the munificent.
Delia's associate Rev. Norris Day, who also had legal issues.	There's a 64 page pdf covering Delia's Lexington trial for aiding slaves.

Indianapolis Sentinel, August 25, 1855

“The Louisville Courier of a recent date says—'Three negroes, belonging to the farm of R. Wickliffe, Trimble county , Ky., made their escape last week. They were pursued and discovered in a “briar patch” on a hill side, on the opposite side of the river, above Madison; but being armed and showing fight—even firing upon the party who came to capture them—they were not taken. The probability is that, by the underground railroad, they have reached Canada before this time.” THE LIBERATOR. American Anti-Slavery Society. September 9, 1853
Noted abolitionist Rev. Elijah Anderson (external link) sent to prison to 8 years for his actions. Here.	The " very artful" slave Peter Hood makes an escape from the Corn Creek area in 1819, here.
“A band of 'regulators' is said to have treated some negroes living on Town branch, a short distance from Bedford, very badly a few nights ago. Their conduct is condemned by the respectable citizens of Trimble county, and efforts are being made to discover and bring them to justice.” Courier-Journal, February 15, 1870
A black man marries a white woman in 1889. Three years in prison for both. Story here, and here.	The Indianapolis News reports a, 1867 racial incident against a Black man carrying blackberries to market. Work of an irresponsible few? The News says they're not buying that anymore. The item is here.
Indiana State Journal, April 21, 1835	Indiana State Journal, January 4, 1834
The Boone County Library has a web site detailing known escapes of enslaved people from Northern Kentucky. The Trimble-Carroll-Owen only list is here.	The Georgetown neighborhood of Madison was a community for free African-Americans before the Civil War.
Whipping the slave catcher in Ohio.	Dick escapes.
“The Louisville Courier of a recent date says—'Three negroes, belonging to the farm of R. Wickliffe, Trimble county , Ky., made their escape last week. They were pursued and discovered in a “briar patch” on a hill side, on the opposite side of the river, above Madison; but being armed and showing fight—even firing upon the party who came to capture them—they were not taken. The probability is that, by the underground railroad, they have reached Canada before this time.” The Liberator, September 9, 1853	“Rev. Mr. May. — We mentioned, recently, that this gentleman had been arrested in Kentucky, on a charge of inducing slaves to run away. From the Madison (Ind.) Banner , we learn that he was arrested in Indiana on a requisition from the Governor of Kentucky having been indicted in Trimble county , Ky. He was taken out on a writ of habeas corpus at Madison Ind., and discharged upon a technical defect in the Governor's warrant. he immediately left the place.— Ashtabula Sentinel.” The Liberator, March 3, 1854 More here.
Citizens in Frankfort and Versailles became alarmed because of rumors of slave uprisings (which, while frequently rumored, never seemed to have actually happened).  The purported uprisings were alleged to have been instigated by an abolitionist named  Day, who “has been connected with the notorious Delia Webster, who was once in the Kentucky Penitentiary for running off negroes. He was driven away from Trimble Co. some years ago for his negro stealing propensities. If he is caught on this side of the river again we reckon he will be hung.— He deserves it— Louisville Courier.” [Frederick] Douglass’ Monthly, December, 1859
Richard Daly escapes. Details.	Lawsuit against Hoosiers helping slaves.
Caroline and her children attempt to escape; the legal system acts. The 1849 legal suit in Indiana that resulted is discussed here.	Trimble Countians pass resolution asking Henry Clay to resign because of his anti-slavery positions.
John White attempts to free his family.	“On Friday night Franklin Hazelwood, an old man and a cripple, and his two sons, sixteen and eighteen years old, living near Bedford, Trimble county (Ky.), were taken from their house by three men, with faces blackened, and tied up and whipped with raw hides, their house torn down, furniture broken, and then ordered to leave the county under penalty of death, on account, as it is stated, of their Union sentiments. General Burbank, district commandant, today sent a detachment or twenty men to the scene of the outrage to investigate the matter and arrest the guilty parties.” Sacramento Daily Union, May 14, 1867
Freeman Anderson, a Hanover, Indiana resident, recalls the days of his activities in the Underground Railroad, and talks about seeing the infamous John Brown in Trimble County and Madison weeks before Harper's Ferry. Read his remembrance here.
An 1899 story recalls Underground Railroad experiences, here. (pdf)

Daily Missouri Republican, April 27, 1867

 

Indianapolis Times, August 4, 1926

“We understand that the services of H. Jackman, Esq., our county Auditor, was secured yesterday by the directors to survey a route for a plank road from Milton to the Bedford Springs, in Tremble [sic] county, Ky.” Madison Daily Courier, April 5, 1850

“The good people of Bedford are at present in a most deplorable condition: mud all around axle tree deep, and no possible chance of getting away, and yet we will find plenty of old fogies who will vote against the turnpike tax next Monday.” from the Carrollton Democrat, March 4, 1882 “Behind a doubt, Trimble will soon have good roads.  The turnpike tax carried by 186.”from the Carrollton Democrat, March 18, 1882

Missouri Governor Charles Henry Hardin, right, was from Trimble County. He has a page at Wikipedia.

 

John C. Strother, left, compiled, and presented to the Louisville's  Filson Club, in 1920, his Historical Sketch of Trimble County.  You can read it here.  Clara Scott found the need in 1983 to correct a small piece of it, and her remarks are here.

Trimble County's Charles H. Hardin became Governor of Missouri.  Read about him at this site.	The Interstate Commerce Commission moved part of Carroll County and Trimble County from the Central to the Eastern time zone at 2 a.m. on Sunday, July 23, 1961.	In 1930, Kentucky Progress Magazine ran a feature letting each of Kentucky's counties list their accomplishments for 1929.  What Trimble County came up with is here. (pdf)
A nice article on the magnitude of the blackberry crop in antebellum Trimble County is here.  Curiously, there is no mention of slaves being involved.  It's also the only article you'll read today which contains the sentence “Not bad wages for children to make.” Another item on the huge blackberry crop is here.
“Two hundred and fifty bushels of blackberries arrived from Trimble county, Kentucky, by the Madison and Indianapolis yesterday.”  Daily State Sentinel (Indianapolis), July 22, 1858	“Jefferson county, Ind., and Trimble county, Ky., have sent to Cincinnati, Chicago and other distant cities, six thousand nine hundred and fifty-eight bushels of blackberries this season.”  Evansville Daily Journal, August 26, 1858	“The blackberry trade between Trimble County, Kentucky – via Madison – and Indianapolis continues extraordinary.  Yesterday the berries brought one dollar a bucket, the demand exceeding the supply.”  Daily State Sentinel (Indianapolis), July 23, 1858
The Trimble County roots site is here.	Milton man receives largest-ever pension check in 1886, story here.	Know where to pay your 1915 Trimble Co taxes?  Find out here.
In 1937 UK released surveys of known archaeological sites by county.  Trimble County's is here. (pdf)		In 1855, a widespread corn shortage meant hunger. Details.
A general history of Trimble from Collin's is here (pdf).	Excerpts from Collin's History of Kentucky, about Trimble County, are here.	There are no other counties named “Trimble” in the entire USA.
Report on a prehistoric fort near Milton, here.	In 1883, the Trimble Banner-Democrat described the businesses in the City of Bedford.  Read it here.	1919 Statistics on Trimble Agriculture, here.
In 1969, Edna Talbott Whitley compiled a list of Cabinetmakers in Kentucky.  The only one in Trimble County was F. F. Skidmore, who was a furniture maker in Bedford in 1850.		Young man develops a knack for killing eagles. (Does “an immense good”). Here.
Detailed Presidential voting statistics from Trimble County are here.	Remember the time the Post Office lost $16,000 in gold?  In Mt. Pleasant?  Story here.	You can read an episode in the Carson Hackney feud in Trimble County here.
The Southern Business Directory and General Advertiser, from 1854, had these listings for Trimble County.
“The guerilla raid into Milton, Ky., is reduced to the following proportions: Fifteen of Jessemen [troops of guerilla Col. Geo. M. Jessee], all well armed and mounted, rode into Milton, fired on the [steamboat] Dumont and went on board, searched the ferryboat Union, and shortly afterwards moved off toward Bedford.” The New York Herald, December 21, 1864
The trial of Trimble highwaymen Roberts and Hall	County bored; needs a show. In 1845.	Corn shortage creates crisis, 1855.
The Daily Commonwealth, a Covington Newspaper, reported on June 9, 1883 that the road from Locust, in Carroll County, to Milton would be completed “soon.”	Citizens of Trimble County, Carroll County, and Madison, Indiana meet in April of 1861 to avoid Civil War Hostilities.  Read the story here, and follow-up stories here.	C. 1928, the Kentucky Opportunities Department published a fact sheet about Trimble County for potential businesses that might be interested.  You can read it here. (pdf)
A List of Trimble County Historical Markers is at this site.	A sister's wrong is avenged at Wise's Landing, here.	General LaFayette visits Milton? Here.
“The Milton and Bedford pike [contract] was let out Thursday of last week, to Mr. Murphy, of this city, at $2,845 per mile.  Seven miles were put under contract.  Work will commence immediately.” Courier-Journal, June 5, 1871
“Madison, Ind., July 9. - Thomas Mikesell, the murderer of Peter Metsinger, was arrested last night at his father's house, ten miles west of Milton, Ky. He was placed in jail at Bedford, Ky. There is great excitement, and a lynching is not improbable.” Indianapolis News, July 9, 1895		The Trimble County Historical Society is Here
“The old oak, the corner tree of Trimble, Henry and Oldham, was struck by lightening last Thursday and split into three pieces, one part falling in Trimble, one in Henry, and one in Oldham.” From Covington's Daily Commonwealth, August 23, 1879, quoting the Trimble News
H. C. Black wrote a description of Trimble County in 1917, here.  (pdf)	“The Kentucky State Horticultural Society will meet Dec. 9th and 10th at Bedford, Ky. An exceedingly  interesting program has been prepared.”  from the Lancaster, Ky., Central Record, December 5, 1902	Obituaries of Samuel Fearn and Dr. B. O. Rand are here.
		The Richwood Plantation is here.
In WWII, German POW's were used on Trimble County farms.	The tobacco farmers of Trimble County elect to grow no crop in 1908.  Story is here; a little background on the 1908 Kentucky Tobacco Wars is here. A skirmish is reported here.	24 locations in Trimble County have had a post office. The list is here.
“Bad man from Kentucky” caught.
In 1888 the Kentucky Legislature outlined the law for Trimble County turnpikes.	Trimble County was a candidate in 1954 for the location of the Air Force Academy.
A site dedicated to the bridges of Trimble County is at this site.	The Kentucky Department of Agriculture's assessment of agriculture in Trimble County, in 1898-1899 can be found here. (pdf)	D. H. Peak wrote this piece on Trimble County in 1907.

 

Cross section of a meteorite found in Trimble County in 1903

In c. 1936, the WPA created these four documents, all pdf's:
Preston House	Bedford Springs	Other Old Houses	A Trimble County overview.

The Comet Club

The Comet club was a social club organized on July 14, 1886 by a group of teenage boys. Membership was limited to no more than 25 individuals, and the goal of the organization was to have fun through dances, masked balls, picnics, fireworks displays, musical events and excursions down the Ohio River. By 1890, the club had purchased a building and had also become chartered. In 1893, they purchased some land on the Kentucky side of the Ohio river and created a Summer camp, which is shown here in the 1920s right before they group disbanded.

The Madison Jefferson County Library has a collection of nearly 200 older
Madison, Indiana pictures from photographer Harry Lemen, here.  Lemen also took
 lots of nice old pics of Milton, Carrollton, and Prestonville, but evidently the Madison folks'
 scanner broke before they could get around to posting the Kentucky pics.

This list of Trimble 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.

Trimble soldiers who died in WWI are listed here.

In 1858, the Kentucky Legislature repealed, for Trimble County, the statewide ban it had
previously passed against “billiard tables, bowling saloons, and Jenny Lind tables.”

 

There are two oral histories that have been transcribed  from former slaves from Trimble County.
 You can read the story of  John Daugherty  (pdf)  and the story of Grace Monroe (pdf).

$400 reward offered for escaped Trimble County slave, here.

“Look Out for a NEGRO STEALER! $25.00 REWARD!   
John Birch, sentenced to 2 years in the penitentiary for negro stealing in Trimble
County, escaped from the sheriff on the way to the state penitentiary.”
Shelby News, Shelbyville, October 25, 1849

“A Negro Stealer.  Louisville, June 18, - Elisha Anderson, from Madison, Indiana,
was tried in Trimble county for stealing negroes, and convicted to the penitentiary
for eight years and eight months. ” (Vevay,) Indiana Reveille, June 24, 1857

Chicago Packer, October 6, 1917

from Trow's Legal Directory of Lawyers in the United States, 1875

Additional Links that apply to all of Northern Kentucky Views, and may or may not
be related to Trimble County, are on the main Links & Miscellany page, here.