Isaac Hite (Hayd), after surveying in Kentucky and returned there with James Harrod to survey Harrodsburg the following year. One of the companions of Daniel Boone was the German Michael Stoner (Holsteiner), a Pennsylvania Dutchman. Matthias Harman (Hermann) was one of the numerous Harmans of eastern Kentucky and was included in the search party that looked for Jenny Wiley in 1789. Both the Kentucky rifle and the Conestoga wagon originated in the German settlement of Pennsylvania, the rifle being transformed from the German Jager rifle. Also, the Appalachian dulcimer is of German origin. Germans were among the eight men who laid out Lexington and in 1790 they comprised 14% of the population. In 1885 the state commissioned Heinrich Lembke to make a tour of German settlements in Kentucky and found that thirteen colonies had spread from Lyon County in the west to Laurel County in the east. Source: Kentucky Encyclopedia by John E. Kleber. Genealogy Records in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia
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Even before the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Shawnee and Yuchi were removed from Kentucky, there were European settlers. Counties were not formed until after the American Revolutionary War. Thus, in wilderness regions, the genealogist must really dig to locate old colonial forts and militia records. My personal procedure is to read every page of the tax digest in the county where my ancestor resided, recording the description of acreage, number of acres, names of neighbors, waterways, district, etc. (whatever the tax digest provides) for each year, then trace that same acreage forward. This information provides a time-line for when he resided in the county. When his name no longer appears, I search the default list. A sensible place to search next is the adjoining counties because the old parent county lines changed with the ascent of the formation of new counties and even States. For example, Hampton County Virginia went to West Virginia. The boundary lines frequently changed. Next, I look at marriages with that surname. This also gives me a time-line of the marriages of the sons and daughters as well as an idea of whether or not any members of the family were still around. If there was a ten or twenty year gap, say, that means that the older generation has either died or moved away. Of course, a thorough search of the deed records tells a better story, but there may be little or nothing there.
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Shelby County was formedn 1792 and was named for Isaac Shelby, the first Governor of Kentucky. The county seat is Shelbyville.
