xt7h9w08x43n https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7h9w08x43n/data/mets.xml United States. Works Progress Administration. Division of Women's and Professional Projects. Kentucky Historical Records Survey 1937 books Y 3.W 89/2:K 419/no.34 Kentucky Historical Records Survey This digital resource may be freely searched and displayed in accordance with U. S. copyright laws. Kentucky Works Progress Administration Publications Archives--Kentucky--Fayette County--Catalogs Fayette County (Ky.)--Archival resources Fayette County (Ky.)--History Inventory of the county archives of Kentucky. No. 34. Fayette County (Lexington). Vol. I text Inventory of the county archives of Kentucky. No. 34. Fayette County (Lexington). Vol. I 1937 1937 2012 true xt7h9w08x43n section xt7h9w08x43n   I  ° Ti  Q_ `
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  I 3 ULIE5 LII¤I¤?“l"IU C I V
E  INVENTORY OF  
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  INVENTORY OF THE COUNTY ARCHIVES ,
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  ¤ ‘ -     NO. 54 . FAYETTE COUNTY (LEXINGTON) I
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Loui svil le , Kentucky
The Historical Records Survey
August 1937 _
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PREFACE y
The Historical Records Survey was initiated as a nation-wide project in I
January 1956, as a part of the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress l
Administration. In Kentucky the Survey became an independent unit in December
1936, but continued to operate as a part of the nation-wide project under the
technical supervision of Dr. Luther H. Evans, National Director, Historical
Records Survey, and under the administrative supervision of the Division of
Women’s and Professional Projects of the Works Progress Administration. Work
of the Survey in Fayette County, Kentucky, was started in February 1956, sus-
pended for a time, and completed in May, 1937. C
The objective of the Survey in Kentucky has been the preparation of com- l
plete inventories of the records of the State and of each county, city and
other local governmental unit. Although a condensed form of entry is used,
the information given includes certain historical facts which may furnish
clues to historians and genealogists. Particular effort has been made to
supply the inclusive dates of all series of records and to give such doscrip- I
tion of individual record series that the reader will readily know what in-
formation is available and where it is located,
The Inventory of County Archives in Kentucky will, when completed, con- I
sist of a separate number for each county in the State, with the units of the
series numbered according to the respective alphabetical position of the
county. Thus, the inventory herewith presented for Fayette County is No. 34.
The inventory of the state archives and of municipal and other local records
will constitute separate publications.
The State Office of the Historical Records Survey in Kentucky was orig-
inally located in Lexington, which made possible numerous experiments required
in developing a thorough method of listing records, not only in Fayette County
and the City of Lexington, but in the State of Kentucky as well. The forms
used by the field workers in listing the required information were prepared by
the National Office of the Survey. These forms, together with instructions
from the same source, provided for the nation-wide uniformity of the work. A
careful recheck against the actual records within their respective deposim
torics has been made, so that the inventory would be trustworthy.
The historical sketch cites the original boundaries of the county from the
statutes and follows this with citations of all subsequent changes. The dis-
cussion of governmental organization includes a complete chart of the current
governmental set-up. A review of each office precedes the entries of the
county offices and includes their history, functions and records. These re-
views are predicated on definite constitutional and statutory citations tracing
the evolution of the respective offices. Recommendations for improvement of
the arrangement and care of public documents, incorporated in the section on
"Housing, Care and Accessibility of the Records", have becn.medo only after
comprehensive and unbiased study.
The various units of the Inventory of County Archives will be issued in
mimeographed form for free distribution to government offices, libraries, and
nistorieal societies in Kentucky and libraries in other states. Requests for
information concerning particular units of the Inventory should be addressed to
the State Director. _M-__--—
The field work in Fayette County was done by Mrs, Frances P. Cassidy and
Miss Margaret Stevens. .Mr. Abraham Freeman and hr. Albert Green were respon-
sible for the legal details, and Miss Virginia Pol~y did the typing. The work
Fi 54-2

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Preface ]
of arranging the entries in the inventory was under the supervision of Mr.
‘ J, H. Raymer, Assistant State Director.
» Particular appreciation for cooperation in our undertaking is expressed
to the officials of the Works Progress Administration in Kentucky, the Univer-
sity of Kentucky, Lexington, the Federal Law Library, Louisville, and the
following officials in Fayette County: W. E, Nichols, county judge, Samuel H.
Cole, county attorney, S. Higgins Lewis, county clerk, George E. DeLong, cir-
cuit clerk, and J. Porter Land, sheriff. V ,
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- BOUNDARY LINE STATUTES  
·|ENING'S STATUTES, GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF VIRGINIA. VOL.Xp.3I5. '
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NILLIAM LITTELL, LAWS OF KENTUCKY. VOL.I.p.II9. I
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GOVERNM NTAL ORGANIZATION AND RECORDS SYSTEM .§
I 
In November, 1956, the county of Fayette adopted the commission form of U
government as provided in the Constitution of 1891 (Carroll, Kentucky Statutes, M
1956 ed., Stat. 1847). Under the com ission plan three commissioners elected Q
from the county at large, together with the judge of the county court, consti- t
tute a board of commissioners. The commissioners will replace the justices of Q
the peace under the fiscal court system of government, which has consisted of N
the county judge and four justices of the peace, also provided for in the Con- Y
stitution of 1891 (Ibid.). The commission plan of government will not go into i
effect, however, until the expiration of the terms of the present justices. ll
w
Elective offices of the county as provided by constitution are: (1) the Q
county court clerk, who performs duties expressed in his title, is the stato's 4
recording agent in the county and acts as clerk of the fiscal court; (2) the Y
county judge, who presides over the county, quarterly and fiscal courts, or {
board of commissioners, and is chief executive of the county; (5) the county i
attorney, who represents the state in criminal cases, the county and state in Y
civil suits, and is legal advisor to county officials and boards; (4) four _Q
justices of the peace, who are judges of minor civil and criminal cases and, ,
at present, district members of the fiscal court; (5) the sheriff, who executes °
various process or writs, acts as peace officer and collects various taxes; Ԥ
(6) four constables, who act as district sheriffs; (7) the jailer, who per- N
forms not only the duties indicated in his title but is charged with custody I
of the county property at the seat of justice; (8) the coroner, whose princi- $
pal function is to investigate causes of death which occur under suspicious 4t
circumstances; (9) the surveyor, who is primarily an adjunct of the court in NY
determining boundaries of real property in litigation (Const. of 1891, Sec. 1
99); and (10) the circuit clerk, who acts as recording agent of the circuit (
court, collects taxes and costs, forwards them to the auditor of public ac- =
counts(and exercises certain judicial powers in the absence of the circuit I
judge Ibid., Sec. 97).
Elective offices of the county mandatory by statutes are: (l) the county
tax commissioner, whose duties consist wholly in evaluating property for taxa-
tion for both state and county purposes (Stat. 4042a-1); and (2) the five
members of the board of education, who are responsible for determining school
policies within that portion of the county not included in municipal or graded
school districts (Stat. 4599-25).
Appointed offices mandatory by statutes are: (1) the three members of the
board of tax supervisors, who review and equalize assessments (Stat. 4115);
(2) the county treasurer, whose powers and duties are limited to the receipt
Of THOIIOYS and their disbursement upon authority of the fiscal COuI"t (Stall. 929); 1
and (3) the county school superintendent, who is an agent of the state in admin- [
istration of school laws and accounting for all funds spent in the county and ‘
an agent of the county board of education in local aspects of school adminis- W
tration and policy (Stat. 4599a—lOa). County election commissioners are appoin- ,
ted by the state board—of election commissioners to supervise county elections .
and appoint election officers (Stat. 1596a-2).
l Optional offices provided by statute are: (l) the county board of health, V
which watches over interests not only of the county but also the state in elim- 1
inating and preventing com unicable and contagious diseases (Stat. 2054a-5); Y
(2) the county health officer, who is executive agent of both the county and
St¤to boards of health (Stat, 2054a-15); (3) the county road engineer, who acts yf
under the direction of the fiscal court in the construction and maintenance of I
local roads (Stat. 4525); and (4) the county auditor, who is essentially an ex-
aminer of claims and accounts under the direction of the fiscal court (Stat. 157). ·Q _
Fi 34-ll [i

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9  
Governmental Organization and Records System gh
 
1.
. H. 
.4 . The courts consist of circuit, county, quarterly, magistrates and fiscal Q
courts. ly
Since the county of Fayette is a separate judicial circuit (No. 22), the M
eircuit court is one of continuous session, presided over by a circuit judge Q
who is elected from the judicial district for a term of six years (Const. of j
1891, Secs. 125, 129-151). It has jurisdiction in trials of all litigated (
controversies except the samllest and in the more important criminal cases. j
A master commissioner is appointed by the circuit judge and acts under his ’W
supervision (Stat. 409). The com onwealth attorney acts as law-enforcement Q
_ , officer and prosecutor for the judicial district (Const. of 1891, Sec. 97). C
l The county court is presided over by the county judge. This court exer- Q
cises jurisdiction mainly in the administration of estates and juvenile cases Q
(Ibid., Sec. 140). It meets the second Monday in each month. E
The quarterly court, under the direction of the judge ef the county court, j
p meets monthly. Its jurisdiction is purely civil (Ibid., Sec. 139). (
Each of Fayette's four districts contains a justice's court presided over w
by a justice of the peace, whose jurisdiction is coextensive with the county p
(ibid., see. 142). H
—" » ll l
_ The fiscal court, which will be replaced by the beard of commissioners Q
under the commission plan of government, consists of the county judge and four ·(
justices. This court has control of fiscal affairs for the county (Stat. 1840). V
In regard to the records system, an effort is made to keep original in- E
struments in file boxes and records of them in bound volumes. There are fre-
quent instances, however, when records of the same type are divided between
volumes and file boxes. The paper used at present is of good quality, and
there is a general tendency te use the typewriter in filling out blank forms.
y .Such practice is certainly com endable and will doubtless prolong the legi-
bility of the records. Miscellaneous records are kept at a minimum, and a fair ;
degree of uniformity within series is maintained. All tee frequent gaps occur-
ring in the records can only be attributed to carelessness on the part of (
responsible custodians. Binding in most cases is a good quality fabricoid, *
seemingly very durable.
Bibliography
Carroll, Kentucky Statutes, published by Baldwin and 1
Company, Cleveland Ohio, 1956.
Constitution of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, adopted i
September 28, 1891. 1
( I 
Fi 54-12 py
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Feyetztce County Gove rmxerfoal Orge.x1izat;ic>n 1957 .  
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Emoooemso    
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Surveyor County Jatler Coroner l County Tax Coreteble Justice of l l( 
Court Clerk Commassloner (4) Peace (4) I
(4) I (4) ( (4) _ (4) (4) · DISTFTCTS Dxstrmts l lI 
l    
Clrcunt County Board Shemff County . County County · 
‘ ` Clerk of Educatmn Attorney Judge Commlsslore I
\ (6) _gllembers (4  (4) (4) (4) 3l.lembers (4)  
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I la
` V ""\:L` ' “( (II" &/’° ”(   t I U Justme t
County (County School ( eunty I ( Courts (
is Judlcwal lSuperIntendentI `£l€Ct‘°" I   ( Courts »y(
Dlstmct No. 22 I (4) I COWSSIOMFS l {tml l ‘l
.. L., - - - .» Bherxtf ( l CO~'Ri· (
'Plus 2 I , (III
'llembers I ( lll!
)(pp(_ by ( JUVENILE ( FISCAL T tl
(State Elec- '  _C_OURT . ( COURT .. I
Itwon Com-` { _____I I J (
OlTlI?lOl`l‘W€8lth ClT`CU`l`t !m]SS]Q['B[`S· I   ( ( I I
Attorney Judge ' ` 7 " ' " ° COURT- ( I I- - - - - - .. .. -(  
(6) (6) i J! r ( l* _ y County Treasurer I
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{ I Court -l ( ( I Electxon ( { *(;(g((((4gI·((((;(·d· 3 I I — _ " _ _
( ( Reporter I4-J ( ( Ul°Tl¤9"$ ( I Enqmeer (2) I : l I" "CO(((((y (NP) I
I I (ll ' I ( (ll I Aunt- Aon- bv '<···( '- ->‘ .
( ·——————-‘ —~·--———~ l I I * Audwtor
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*-4% Detective I ( { · · "· ‘·( ( · ‘ " " ‘ ‘ "( ( { l County Board '
L_ _ j;1)_ _ __! I ( Hester ( ( Board of Tax ( ( I I me Hearth. I
// t-—· él COlTlTTlTSSTCll'ET` I I Supervwsors é` `I ( ( 5 Members : I
I; I (I(( I I (I) ( ( ( ( 3 Apnt. by State (
—- —--— —l -—· — # ———— J ( I·——>I Board of Health (
____ ____ __ ( I l 1By FIscal Court (  
CIRCUIT COURT I Chmf p(.0(;(a»((O(( I I I ( Count;bJudqe I
TS he er I
Contmuous Seesmn Q OEIIILSGF {Q" ( L " ‘ 1 " ‘ ‘ " I
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'A°Un(y (Pr CU _ I ( I Health Offlcer l '
I Gif In I QED , IOTTTG Bm ( I |_ ___ __ ___ _ ___ __I I
I Electwe o. Ice,. I O(S(m4((O(( Aq(;((J(_ (é _ _ _ _I
r·——-——-. :Appt. by College ol I I (E-- ··— —II··(
I I A ( (I _ I Agrlculture and _ Ml ¤I¤ml$$I0l`€¥` 0 l
I___ __l ppc"` 9 " Ifgcai @@42   '   Poorhouse (ll?) ( I
(I)(2)(4)(6) - Year Term otOtt1ce. _- - — — _ _ *_ 
(NP) - llo Pmwsuon. (Years). I
ADD? - Aopomted. I]
AUDI`- - Approved. _ t  
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HOUSING, CARE AND ACCESSIBILITY OF TH  RECORDS gg
Wx
The majority of available county records are now housed in the courthouse ii
at Lexington. In the early days of the county, records were kept in the homes iq
ef the various officials, a large portion of them being in the charge of Levi h
Tedd, the county clerk. When his home burned in 1805, therefore, most of the Ei
records were destroyed. What few were still legible were copied by a special ii
. committee appointed by the governor for that purpose. A second fire, in 1897, QT
. destroyed more of these early records in addition to later ones. At present, `$
, the earliest extant record (Entry 257) bears the date 1785; this, however, is iw
unique.
i 5
Early series of certain basic records which are missing or illegible due ,m
to fires, scattering of records in private homes, or gross carelessness on the ·
, part of the custodians are: Entries 8-9, ll, 21-22, 55-56, 41-45, 46, 49-50, *W
56-57, 74, 108-109, 116-117, 151, 177, 185. Where gaps occur in dates of a §
,7 series, the record entry and number have been listed under the title "Missing e
A Records" in the "Index to County Records". Y
M
q _, The present courthouse is a four-story stone building, erected in the last _,
years of the nineteenth century. Except for the county clerk's vault, it is LQ
well-ventilated and dry. It is electrically lighted throughout and approximate- vm
ly eighty per cent fireproof. The roof is of slate. q
On the first floor are located the magistrates' offices; on the second im
· floor are offices of the county judge, county court clerk, auditor, treasurer, AW
master commissioner, board of education, sheriff, constables, csunty tax com- *“
missioncr, county school supcrintendrnt, county attorney and the county road 4
engineer; offices of the circuit judge and circuit clerk are an the third floor; [
and attic record rooms l and 2 are on the fourth. li
— Records in the magistrates’ offices are in good condition. The offices
are equipped with wooden shelving and steel files.
Offices on the second floor, except those of the county board of education
and the sch ol superintendent, contain modern steel shelving and file boxes. ~
Records in these offices are given good care, and an effort is made to keep 1
them in proper order. There is very little dust or soot, except on a few files
located on the balcony.
4
The county clerk's vault, connected with his office, has only artificial _
illumination. It is somewhat damp and dirty, both of which conditions are
directly attributable to careless cleaning methods. Fittings are of steel ini `
the floor, walls and ceiling of concrete, making it comoletely firepr;of.
Records on shelves near the floor suffer to same extent from the dampness. i
Offices of the county board of education and the county school superinton— A
dent are provided with wooden bookcases and steel file cases. The bookcases t
have glass doors. The small lycks with which they are fitted are not used. g
The circuit judge's and circuit clerk's offices are equipped with the suns 4
type of steel shelving as is used in most of the second floor offices. The
YG0®PdS are clean and in gqed condition. f
Attic record rooms 1 and 2 are used to store non-current records ~f all Q
dCP&T`tTHC1ll3S, when space in the offices become cramped. Tho 1*,102113 }1i`LVC W—JJdCH we 
Shelving, and their cnntents are dusted annually. Top shelves, containing
miscellaneous records, not systematically arranged, are quite dusty. The q
YOUNG. being located directly undgr the reef, frequently bcc no rxoossivoly {
Fi 54-14 lj

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List of Abbreviations, Symbols, and Explanatory Notes ww
in 
het. This, of course, dries out the paper, and records become very brittle. ww
J v_ Provisions have been made in the county clerk's and circuit clerk's offices Q
. for the accom odation of persons desiring to use county records in the care of F
c these two officials. Assistance in locating desired information is freely and Q
eeurteously given upon request. Records kept in other offices are procurable ly
for anyone interested in examining them. QQ
Records of the jailer and the coroner are kept at their respective offices. =V
The jailer's records are kept in a wooden cabinet; those of the coroner are in it
e steel cabinet along w