Muhlenberg County Kentucky Genealogy

Special Note:  Jeff Murphy passed away on May 20, 2001.  His wife, Debra Murphy is leaving this page up because she knows that Jeff would want it to be online helping people.  Please feel free to visit his Memorial site and leave the family a message if you so desire.  If you have questions or need help please contact Debbie Axtman. 

New!  Muhlenberg, KY, Query and Discussion Board

Search for your Muhlenberg ancestor

My database is online at www.my-ged.com. This database contains all heads of household from the Muhlenberg Co. census for 1850 and 1860, from a number of other published sources, and from data supplied by Muhlenberg Co. researchers. The intent is to collect all people who have resided in the county, and their descendants. There are currently over 74,000 individuals in the database. To add your own data to this resource, please read Adding Your Information to the Database

Muhlenberg County Queries

 

Muhlenberg County Published Resources and Lookup Volunteers

Go to Kentucky Biographies Page
Go to American History and Genealogy
Go to KY AHGP
Go to American Local History Network
Go to American Local History Network - Kentucky
Map of Muhlenberg Co. showing surrounding counties
Map of Muhlenberg Co. showing major towns
Muhlenberg Co. geographical locations list
GNIS Muhlenberg Co. geographical locations list
Index to Rothert's History of Muhlenberg County
Muhlenberg County Marriages
Muhlenberg County Kentucky Bicentennial Site
Muhlenberg Online, Muhlenberg's Internet Provider
Related Online Databases: Sites that tie to data in my own database
Search of Other Sites Relating to Muhlenberg Genealogy
Family Tree Maker Online Search Type "Muhlenberg" in search box and be amazed.

Points of Interest

About the Author

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Adding Your Data to the Database

If you would like to add your information to the Muhlenberg Co. database, you can send me a gedcom file. If your software does not produce a gedcom file (most of them do), send me an email message and we can work something else out. I am now using a terrific program called Legacy, if that makes a difference to your program. It should not.

To avoid duplication and a lot of extra time on my part, please try to exclude individuals from your gedcom who are already in the database, if possible. You would be surprised how long it takes to merge in a thousand people....

I've had a number of problems with an individual named Linda Yoblonsky, who seems to be operating under the theory that, even though I've had my online database up for some time soliciting additions, and even though she sent her gedcom to me freely with no restrictions (until, of course, I had added it to my database and merged it with my existing records), it is her right to demand any entries she wishes be removed. If you have any questions along that line, please read the correspondence between us prior to sending your data. If you are a descendant of someone who lived in Muhlenberg Co., we would like to have you in the database, even though information about living people won't appear online.

About the Author


Jeff, Debra, Asher, and Luet

view complete biography

About 1990 I got trapped in Muhlenberg and realized that all the families (almost) were connected. So I took the 1850 census and decided to add all the related families into my PAF database.

It soon became obvious that a single source was not going to cut it, so I transcribed the Biographies of Residents of Muhlenberg Co. from an LDS microfilm. Then I started in on the marriages, transcribing them into Quattro Pro so I could have a master index of both grooms and brides. A lot of time was spent correcting those errors. Then I added in the information from Rothert's History of Muhlenberg Co., and the New History, which is pretty inferior, but had a couple of good stories. Then I threw in the wills, and the results of any correspondence I got. And my next step was to get online so I could get more, More! I'm never satisfied! <cackling laughter>

I'm not directly related to most of the families in the county, except by marriage(s). My main line in the county is the Hancocks.

I created this page in December 1995, and continuing the idea of genealogy by location, developed the KYGenWeb Project, whose goal was to bring all Kentucky counties online, starting in April, 1996. It was a logical step to create the USGenWeb Project, which I did in June, 1996, bringing online all U.S. states and all their counties. Hurt by an attempt to redirect the project by a small coterie, I abandoned management of and participation in the USGenWeb Project in August 1996, at the same time turning control of the KYGenWeb Project over to Nancy Trice. I then created the KY Biographies Project in August of 1996, and have been working on that one since, as well as the US Biographies Project. In September 1997 Nancy decided that since I didn't have the USGenWeb logo on my page, I couldn't be a part of the KYGenWeb Project. Sic semper tyrannis.

If you are interested in my bizarre state of mind, you can download some messages which I have thought were interesting over the years. Naturally, I call them "The Best of Jeff Murphy", vol. 1 and vol. 2. With any luck at all, no further collections will be forthcoming.

A recent problem with liver cancer has caused us some concern. For details, please see how Medicare killed me.  

Index to Rothert's History of Muhlenberg County

In 1913 Otto A. Rothert published what has been called the finest county history ever written. The index that was included, however, was not comprehensive. I have reindexed the book, listing every name that occurs, and correcting some errors which appeared in the original. Download index

The book is available from the LDS as film # 1000053, A History of Muhlenberg County, 496pp, published by John P. Morton & Co., 1913. It can be ordered in hardcopy from Heritage Books catalog. It is #R573, and the pre-publication was $31.00 if ordered before 31 May 96. The phone number is 1-800-398-7709.

Muhlenberg County Marriages (1799-1901)

Available from the LDS as fiche # 6048004, these entries have been saved in two files: muhmarg.txt and muhmarb.txt, sorted by groom and by bride.

The fiche contains a transcription from the original by Marion G. Hammers, rather than the original documents, and contains a number of errors. Where the listings were subject to interpretation, I have included a note showing both the original and the possible correction, based on familiarity with the surnames in the county and information from other sources. Download Marriages, 1799-1874

The following information may be of interest to marriage researchers. It was provided by Charles Barker in July, 1997: 

From: "Charles A. Barker" 
Subject: Muhlenberg Co., KY Vital Statistics

Jeff,
I was looking at a microfilm copy of the Morgan Co., KY Vital Statistics a
few days ago and guess what I found in the middle of the Morgan Co.
marriages? A page of Muhlenberg Co., KY marriages. I'm sure anyone looking
for Muhlenberg Co. marriages missed this page. Thought you might like to know.

My Father's Ancestors

My father's main lines are MURPHY, HANCOCK, POWELL, and HANBERRY. All of these are found in Kentucky, in Muhlenberg, Christian, Hopkins, Todd, and Logan counties. Download My Father's Ancestors

My Mother's Ancestors

My mother's main lines are MORRISON, WOOD, CURLEE, and BROWN. All of these are found in Texas, coming from North Carolina. Download My Mother's Ancestors

Descendants of Benjamin Hancock

Benjamin was born in 1758 in Virginia. He and his wife settled in Muhlenberg Co., and many of his children remained in the area. This document lists his many descendants. Download

To Contact the Genealogical Society

Marge Rice writes: The hours are Mondays 9 am to 8 pm. Tuesdays thru Fridays, 9 am to 5 pm. On Saturdays 9 am to 1 pm. The "Annex" is a large storefront room, with county court records, cemetery records and census records, marriage records, on microfilm and in books. Also, they have a family vertical file. 
FROM:		Anniesse Williams, County Library Director
			Muhlenberg County Public Libraries
			117 S. Main St.
			Greenville, KY 42345
SUBJECT:	Muhlenberg County Genealogy Web site
DATE:		March 7, 1998

	While browsing today, I happened upon your site.   I would appreciate
it if you could add or correct some information under the section "To Contact
the Genealogical Society".
	The address given is the address for the Muhlenberg County
Genealogical Society; however, the information under the address is unclear.
   
	The "Annex" to which Ms. Rice refers is the Genealogy and Local
History Annex of the Muhlenberg County Public Libraries, located immediately
adjacent to the Harbin Memorial Library of the Public Libraries system.
In August of 1996, the "Annex" was opened in the storefront using the
genealogical and local history materials from both the Harbin and Central
City Libraries in order to alleviate a major problem.  The hours of
operation listed are those for dates between Labor Day and Memorial Day.
Between Memorial Day and Labor Day, all the library locations close at 5:00
p.m. on Mondays.  The "Annex" is staffed by a contracted employee who is a
graduate student in history.  The president of the Genealogical Society and
other members also serve as part-time volunteers to help keep the annex
open the same hours as the main library locations.    The Society holds its
monthly meetings in the Annex on the first Thursday evening of each month
and has been given space for its sales materials.
	As most public libraries do not devote as many physical and fiscal
resources to genealogy as the Muhlenberg County Public Libraries, the
Annex's continued operation is dependent on donations from any source which
will allow its continued hours of operation and growth.   Included in our
plans (dependent upon financial resources) are a database catalog of
holdings  and  access to Internet resources in genealogy.    The Annex may
be reached by:
       Mail:   Muhlenberg County Libraries Genealogy and Local History Annex
	           Barry Edwards, Manager
	           117 S. Main Street
	           Greenville, KY  42345
	Telephone:   502-338-5388

Thank you for your assistance.
Another message was received in Feb 1999 correcting some of my information:
Date: Fri, 26 Feb 1999
From: Genealogy & Local History Annex 
Subject: Request changes of information for the Annex

Please be advised there has been a change in the Muhlenberg County
Public Libraries Local History & Genealogy Annex personnel.  No other
changes have been made. The location is the same, we are still located
on Main Street Greenville, KY adjacent to the Harbin Memorial Library in
Greenville, Ky.  Mr. Barry Edwards is no longer an employee of the
library.  He now works at a factory in Owensboro.  The Annex is now
staffed by Sandra Galyen, Carol Brown and Coni Wallace. We have added
e-mail service and will respond to request via e-mail, as
time permits.  Our address is mcplgha@muhlon.com  I have visited
your site several times and would greatly appreciate it if you would update
our information for anyone interested in contacting us.  Thank you for
your assistance.

Sandra Galyen
Local History & Genealogy Annex
I am now working on the Muhlenberg County Heritage Comprehensive Index. When completed, it will be available for download. The index to volumes 1-4 is now available. Download Muhlenberg County Heritage Comprehensive Index If you like the index, thank Joe Kirk, Delaine Edwards, and Charlene Magan, all of whom helped by providing old copies of Heritages.

Related Databases Online

Although the software developers are currently discussing how to go about linking individuals in unrelated but existing databases, such a technology does not yet exist. The following are sites where there is some duplication of data between my database and theirs:
Bill Couch
Bill has a large database online, and this is a listing of those in his database who either were born or died in Muhlenberg Co.
Connie Mack Crawley
He said, "When I downloaded your Murphy file to check for Crawley entries I noticed a Rebecca Sellman married to William Shipley. William Shipley is related to Adam Shipley and I believe there is other Sellman information in the file as well. I am a descendant of Eli Shipley believed to be Adam's brother."
Vicki Calvert Spencer
Vicki has a large number of CALVERTs who were in Muhlenberg Co. before McLean Co. was created.
Marla Boots
The comprehensive Jernigan (and variant spellings) web site.
Rob Roark
Rob has some of his "research from the Mt. Nebo and Evergreen Cemetaries on line".
 Email Debbie Axtman if you need any help with these pages.