Welcome to Ballard County, Kentucky

County History

Part of the Jackson Purchase, an area Andrew Jackson purchased from the Chickasaw Indians and added to the state in 1818, Ballard County was formed from portions of McCracken and Hickman Counties in 1842. The county was named for Capt. Bland Ballard, born in Virginia about 1760. Capt. Ballard came to Kentucky in 1779 and was a scout for George Rogers Clark's Ohio expedition in 1780 and '82. He took part in the Wabash campaign of 1786, and in the battles of Fallen Timbers, 1793; Tippecanoe, 1811; and, River Raisin, 1813. Capt. Ballard also served in the Kentucky Legislature for five terms.

Blandville was the County Seat for 40 years until the Courthouse burned. Then, in 1882, the County Seat was moved to Wycliffe, named for Col. Charles A. Wickliffe, legislator, Confederate officer, and nephew and namesake of Kentucky's fifteenth governor. Sources: Kentucky Atlas and Gazateer and Kentucky Historical Society.

My name is Crystal Campbell Dingler, coordinator for the new Ballard County KYGenWeb site. Please contact me with any suggestions you have for the site or any information you would like to contribute. I look forward to hearing from you.

Ballard County is proud to be a participant of the KyGenWeb. If anyone is interested in becoming a county coordinator or otherwise working on the KyGenWeb, please contact the Kentucky State Coordinator, Sherri Bradley.

All rights reserved. This information may be used by libraries, genealogical societies and researchers for their personal use; however, commercial use of this information is strictly prohibited without prior permission of the owners of this material. When copied for non-commercial and personal use, this copyright notice should appear with the information and a reference made to the contributor and where the information was obtained.

This site created September 30 2007;

Last updated July 4, 2008

Around the County

Adjoining Counties

US & Kentucky Sources

Join the Ballard County and

Jackson Purchase Mailing Lists

And Visit Ballard County GenForum

A proud member of the KYGenWeb Project.

County Message Boards

Land Records & Maps

Research Books

(Not an endorsement, just possible research help)

KEEP CHECKING BACK, I AM ADDING NEW INFORMATION ALL THE TIME

What's New?

· More Lane/Blank family detail on Cemeteries 07/04/08

· New Cemeteries Link 06/22/08

· New bios: Ben Flint and James H. Moore (Thanks, Kathleen) 06/22/08

· 2 New Early Wickliffe Postcards 06/19/08

· First 200 pages plus 400-503 of Will Bk 1 (1880-1918) transcribed (06/25/08)

· 1873 Cholera Epidemic in Ballard Co. 06/08/08

· 1913 Ohio School Photo 06/05/08

· Brick Wall: 1896 Murder of Isaac Coffee 06/05/08

· Two Murders & A Suicide 06/03/08

· Early Wickliffe Postcards 05/31/08

· Free Black and Mulatto Residents of Ballard Co. 05/31/08

· Annotated Pleasant Ridge "Black Peoples'" Cemetery and Walton Slave Plot 05/01/08

· Pace family plot 04/24/08

· Richard Greenberry Middleton and Alsay Ann Meredith family 04/22/08

· More great new lookups 04/17/08

· Lewis S. Lee Biography added 04/17/08

· More Lane/Blanks and kin burials 03/23/08

· Huffman Family Photos 3/20/08

· Lee, Stone and Presley Photos 03/19/08

· Lee, Stone, Presley & Swain added to Surname Registry 03/18/08

· Copies of Biographical sketches of Ballard Co., from "KENTUCKY, A HISTORY OF THE STATE, EDITION 1", PUBLISHED IN 1885. 03/14/08

· Great new Lookups 03/13/08

· Some Lane Family Obituaries 03/12/08

· Two new biographies, Benjamin A & John B. Lane. 03/09/08

· A bunch of marriages 03/09/09

· Added more Cemetery and Census files. 02/02/08

· Key to Kentucky Land Records for Ballard Co. 01-08

· Selected Cemetery Records 01-08

· 1927 4th & 5th Grade Class Photo (and above) and what appears to be an earlier class photo, both from Wickliffe School, submitted by Teresa 01/08

· New surnames: Dowdy, Sullivan & Stone ca 1840-1950, submitted by Gloria Weber 12-07

· Photos of Woodville School 1897, including Wm. W. Morris, and Courthouse at Wickliffe, submitted by Teresa 12/07

· Photo of Rev. Willis White, submitted by Teresa 12/19/07

· Bio of Lewis F. Marshall, submitted by gsmiller@newwavecomm.net 12/17/07

· Index and links to BIographies of people associated with Ballard Co. 11/24/07

· 1900 Census Annotated (partial) Hinkville, Blandville, Wickliffe 11/04/07

· Church Records - Notes from Spencer's "History of Kentucky Baptists" 10/15/07

· Brick Wall: John Jessmond LEE and Emma Elta (Everett) LEE married at Wickliffe Ky. Jan. 1916

· Photos of Blandville Sawmill; Charles, Theo & Mattie Allred family; and, Theo and Martha Gunter Hall family.

Postcard mailed in 1909

See more postcards.

USGenWeb Census Project

This site generously hosted by KyKinfolk.