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The first constitution gave judicial powers to the Kentucky Court of Appeals. Other courts of record in Kentucky included superior, county, chancery, quarterly, circuit, justice of peace, police, district, quarter sessions, oyer and terminer, and general. Court records include dockets, minutes, case files and orders. Land, tax, and probate matters may be included in Kentucky court records. Most court records are maintained at the respective county courthouse. Some original records are maintained in books, while other court-related documents are filed in folders in boxes or cabinets. Many of the books containing court records have been microfilmed, some have been abstracted and published, but the great majority of data filed in boxes, cabinets, and folders has not been copied in any form.
Courts and their jurisdiction have altered over time in Kentucky. Some early courts are no longer extant. Some have undergone name or jurisdictional changes. Early records may be filed in volumes or containers that may be mistitled, making it necessary to examine all court records for a county. County courts maintained jurisdiction over most matters, both civil and criminal, until 1852 when quarterly or circuit courts began handling criminal cases. Some circuit courts handled major civil and criminal matters as well as divorces. The circuit courts also served as appellate courts. Matters involving large sums of money were usually heard by the courts of quarter sessions from before statehood through the state's first ten years.
Microfilmed copies of county court records are at the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives. Many transcribed records are available at the University of Kentucky Library, the Kentucky Historical Society, Filson Club Library, and the FHL. Some published or transcribed records are at local and regional libraries..
County probate records are filed at the respective county courthouse usually under the county clerk's jurisdiction. Probate records include wills, estates, administrators, executors, inventories, settlements, sales, accounts, guardianship, orphans, insolvent estates, bastardy, apprentices, and insanity. Documents pertaining to probate are recorded in volumes containing records of administrations, court proceedings, court minutes, estates, executors, guardians, inventories, probates, sales, settlements, and/or wills. Records may be filed under various titles. Loose papers are usually kept in folders or tied together in packets. Early estate records are frequently recorded along with regular proceedings of the county court. Circuit court records include inherited estate disputes. Some counties have transcribed early wills. The Kentucky Historical Society and the Filson Club Library have collections of these.
Some transcribed or microfilm copies of original probate records are available at the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, Kentucky Historical Society, University of Kentucky Library, Filson Club Library, and the FHL. Some wills and inventories for the period of 1780 to 1788 are recorded in book J of the books maintained by the Kentucky Court of Appeals. These have been abstracted by Michael and Bettie Cook (see Land Records).
Unfortunately, many of the 120 Kentucky county courthouses have suffered record loss because of fire or other accidents. Even though fire may have destroyed records pertinent to the county in which research is being conducted, some records were re-recorded. Research must encompass several years beyond the time of the destruction of records.
Even today, few people escape mention in court records at some time during their lives as witnesses, litigants, jurors, appointees to office, or as petition signatories. However, Americans of a few generations ago also expected to attend local court proceedings when they were in session. Arlene H. Eakle, Ph.D. “Research in Court Records”
In The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy
American court files mirror U.S. history. Buried away in courthouses and archives everywhere are the dreams and frustrations of millions of citizens. The chances are great that your ancestors have left a detailed record of at least some aspects of their lives in court records.
Most of us don’t think of court records as the rich source of personal history that they are. But America’s English heritage established a tradition of court processes in which the people have a right to participate actively—and we always have. With relative freedom from royal supervision and with court enforcement of religious as well as civil laws, American courts tried many matters that were not subject to court action in other parts of the British empire and that are now considered too minor to warrant criminal action.
When a person dies, every state has laws that provide for public supervision over the estate that is left, whether or not there is a will. The term “probate records” broadly covers all the records produced by these laws, although, strictly speaking, “probate” applies only when there is a will.
Family historians use probate case files far more than any other kind of court record. Probate case files are logical sources because they tend to include so much personal data, and because Americans have depended on the courts to settle their estates since North America was colonized. According to Val Greenwood in his Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy, “All records which relate to the disposition of an estate after its owner’s death are referred to as probate records. These are many and varied in both content and value, but basically, they fall into two main classes: testate and intestate” (page 255). Probate case files generally provide names, addresses, and biographical data for the deceased, but frequently provide the same information for other relatives named in the papers. Relationships, maiden names of wives, married names of daughters, past residences, and place of origin in a native country are just a few of the details that can be discovered in probate files. And probate files can be found in courthouses and archives across the United States.
When requesting probate information from the county clerk, it is important not to limit yourself by asking for a person’s “will.” The clerk will usually take you at your word and not copy other papers in the probate file that may have equally important information if there is no will.
Even if your ancestor is not mentioned in a probate case, consider all of the other procedures which might have resulted in him or her appearing in court records:
