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Latest Useful Websites We've Found

Some of the websites listed below are essential to your research. Others are just plain fun, so explore them all.

When you click on a link with this icon ( image ) you are leaving the Mason County KYGenWeb and USGenWeb. Please come back and visit real soon!

Three Important Mason County Links

  • Subscribe and post messages to the RootsWeb Mail List for Mason County. To subscribe, click this link to call up the automated message email link to the Mason County RootsWeb Mail List coordinator. Enter ONLY the word subscribe in the subject line and press the send button. If you did this correctly, you will receive a message in your in-tray that you have been subscribed.
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  • Explore the Mason County resources at RootsWeb

KyGenWeb County Resources

Support the KyGenWeb by contributing your unpublished Kentucky source materials to KY-FOOTSTEPS for permanent on-line access at all relevant project websites. Acceptable submissions include abstracts from public domain records, vital records, family bibles and other non-copyright sources. Click here to learn how.

Visit the:

Hosted County Pages and KyGenWeb Archives for Neighboring Counties:

RootsWeb Resources


  • Visit RootsWeb to explore all the valuable locality, surname and historical topics for Kentucky and the world.
  • Want to subscribe to other RootsWeb mail lists? Click on the Mail List start page for all available mail lists, with instructions for subscribing
  • Link directly to the RootsWeb Surname Search

USGenWeb Special Projects


Visit the Special Projects Start Page first, or go directly to a USGenWeb Project:

The Pennsylvania Connection

Many early Mason County pioneers came from what is now SW Pennsylvania. At the time of the American Revolution, it was part of the Virginia 'District of West Augusta' (comprised of Ohio, Monongalia and Yohogania counties, (see map) and the subject of a boundary dispute between the two colonies. Both claimed jurisdiction and carried out government functions such that residents were never certain if they lived in Pennsylvania or Virginia. The region is also the site of the Whiskey Rebellion that pushed many of the more individualistic pioneers further west. 'Redstone Old Fort,' near modern-day Pittsburgh, was the point of departure for the flatboats that carried settlers down the Ohio River into the Kentucky wilderness. If your ancestors were in Mason County before 1800, there's a good chance you'll find them in SW Pennsylvania in the prior years.

A few Kentucky names found in early SW PA records: Mason - Bradford - Bradley - Devore - Downing - McDowell - Shannon - Slack - (Van)Swearingen - Vallandingham - Wishart

  • Beers Biographical Record, published by J.H. Beers & Co.
  • Boyd Crumrine's 'History of Washington County, Pennsylvania with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men' (Philadelphia: L. H. Leverts & Co., 1882).
  • Raymond M. Bell Anthology.

Other Recommended Useful Web Links

The following links are a compilation of recommended websites discovered by KyGenWeb coordinators during web browsing. Some of the websites belong to repositories that are also important destinations for in-person research visits, so they are repeated in other appropriate places on this site. The following have been selected for their particularly useful ON-LINE databases and research help.

  • KDLA - The Kentucky Division for Libraries and Archives. The Kentucky Division for Libraries and Archives is Kentucky's official state archives. Home of the permanent public records of Kentucky state government and many of the Commonwealth's local governments and judicial offices, KDLA is a key source for genealogical research. Log on and familiarize yourself with the KDLA holdings.
  • Check Revolutionary War Land Warrants at the official Kentucky Land Office website
  • While you're browsing official Kentucky government websites, check in at the Kentucky State Government Official Site, to see what else might be useful on-line.
  • Explore the Kentucky Virtual Library 'Kentuckiana Digitial Library', filled with images of the past, and on-line oral history project data.
  • The Kentucky Historical Society maintains an on-line library catalogue, available to all users. The Kentucky Historical Society also has an on-line cemetery database. Still very much a work in progress. Many MASON COUNTY cemeteries are now on-line.
  • The Thomas D. Clark Kentucky Historical Society Library at the Kentucky History Center is pleased to announce the availability of Sanborn Maps for Kentucky, 1867-1970 -No maps are consulted more in academic and public libraries than Sanborn fire insurance maps-the detailed property and land-use records that depict the grid of everyday life in dozens of Kentucky towns and cities across a century of change. Now these maps are as close as your keyboard with the Digital Sanborn Maps collection.
  • The Military Records and Research Branch (MRRB) is the archive of the Department of Military Affairs. Their holdings consist of discharge documents for over 300,000 Kentucky veterans from all conflicts from WWI through Desert Storm.
    MRRB also contains historical records of all Kentucky militia and National Guard units from 1792 to the present. In excess of 75,000 inactive 201 files on former members of the Kentucky Army and Air Guard are maintained by MRRB as well as a military research library of some 1,000 volumes. The staff of five assists veterans, historians, recruiters, genealogists, and other government agencies in accessing information within MRRB's holdings, and maintains a standard of same-day service for answering most requests.
    You may also contact the MRRB by e-mail. PLEASE! include your mailing address and phone number in your email request.
    If you still prefer snail-mail, write to them at:
Military Records and Research Branch
KY Department of Military Affairs
1121 Louisville Road
Frankfort, Kentucky 40601
or call 502 564-4883
FAX 502 564-4437
  • A new link, the Civil War 13th Ky Cavalry Roster, was transcribed from the Soldiers & Sailors System Public Domain Documents and contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Michelle Bowles on 10 April 2003
  • Visit the independent Kentucky Biographies Project, and look for familiar surnames.
  • If you research at a local LDS Family History Library, you can save precious visit time by doing your catalogue search at home, on-line. Know which films to order before you go. The catalogue of holdings, and a vast amount of learning tools, are all available on-line at the digital Family History Library.
  • SAR, the Sons of the American Revolution, maintain an on-line library catalogue index.
  • The National Genealogical Society maintains an Online Library Catalogue of their holdings.
  • 'The Making of America' is an on-line digital collection that's part of the much larger digital library that you can browse on-line. The project is a joint venture of the University of Michigan and Cornell University and funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The MOA collection is a valuable resource to genealogists who care about the historical aspect of their family research. Of special interest is the collection of official records of the Union and Confederate Navies and Armies during the War of the Rebellion. You will find many references to individual participants on both sides. Visit the collection at the site of your choice: Cornell University or The University of Michigan
  • Every genealogical researcher should know about NUCMC (the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections), especially its listing of repositories of primary sources. Want to know where the records are held? Check NUCMC--Visit NUCMC on-line.
  • So your ancestors didn't exactly arrive on the Mayflower? Most of our ancestors 'missed the boat' by a few years, decades or centuries. Log on to the Ellis Island website to check the on-line collection of records for immigrants to the United States who arrived in New York between 1892 to 1924. Be sure to register. They don't bite.
  • 'Mayflower' not listed here (or is it?). Visit The Ships List searchable database of passenger ship arrivals during the 19th and 20th centuries.
  • Many early Kentuckians moved on and acquired land further west. Learn about federal land patents, search the database, and link directly to land offices for many U.S. states at the Bureau of Land Management website.
  • Want to get the most out of the 1930 Census? Explore the NARA Guide to 1930 Census.
  • Wish you could get to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), but Washington D.C. is just too far? Many informative NARA resources and training outlines are available at NARA's Digital Classroom website. Check out the wealth of pointers and tips under the sections captioned 'Conducting Research' and 'Locating Publications.'
  • NARA, The National Archives, has released access to an Archival Databases System. This information was forwarded from New England Historical Genealogical Society (NEHGS) by RootsWeb list host Carolyn Seaman.
  • NARA announces the availability of a reproduction of Civil War Wagonmaster Records that documents civilian service from a list of civilian wagonmasters who served the Union during the Civil War. This document adds to the fragmented body of records available to researchers. Find the information at the NARA website.
  • The Library of Congress American Memory Collection contains many on-line images, manuscripts and other historical records that may turn up a valuable item for your research.

Some General Resources for On-Line Research

  • Do you have an old military patch or photo of an ancestor in military attire? Identifying the miliary unit will greatly and aid in finding the ancestor's military records. This Army Historical website helped me find the elusive World War I records for my husband's grandfather from a photo that showed his unit insignia. Maybe it can help you.
  • The Kentucky Association of Counties, Mason County page, may have some useful information for you.
  • The U.S. Census Bureau offers an on-line search tool to find a county by place name.
  • Look up the US Census demographics for Mason County
  • Visit the Illinois State Archives death index database. Many Kentuckians migrated to Illinois beginning in the early 19th Century. You might find an ancestor or two recorded here.
  • Every county has its Political Graveyard. Check out the political figures who lived or were born in Mason County. Maybe one of them was your ancestor.
  • Visit Augusta, KY, a web site with information for the visitor to Augusta, Kentucky
  • Check out the Genealogy Research Associates, Inc. list of City Directories in the U.S. and where they are archived
  • Nancy Trice recommends this listserv that shows you how to date old postcards
  • Visit Jeanne Dalrymple's Whaley Surname Obit Board at RootsWeb.
  • The Georgia Secretary of State has compiled a website link to the State Archives of all U.S. States. A timesaving reference for researchers seeking state and pre-U.S. Federal era records.
  • A worldwide compilation of primary source repositories, created by Terry Abraham at the University of Idaho.
  • Most early Kentucky ancestors lived in or passed through Virginia. Visit this great free transcription of 1790 and 1800 tax lists for many Virginia counties.
  • Find your Maryland ancestors at the on-line Maryland State Archives.
  • NEW! A Great Find! ourtimelines.com lets you place your ancestor (or yourself) in the historical context and learn about famous contemporaries. This is a good way to gain insight into the world in which they lived. Thanks to Jo Hogle, RootsWeb HILDRETH surname list owner for sharing this useful link.
  • Plan a trip! Visit Kentucky Tourism.



This list will continue to grow as genealogists discover and pass along other valuable on-line data
and learning tools to other researchers.



Last Updated Thursday, 12-Jan-2023 02:43:24 CST
Copyright 2023
This website maintained by: Marla McCulloughThe Registry
Please report broken links to Marla.
Passed W3C link-check on 1-10-2023.

KYGenWeb State Coordinator Jeff KempThe Registry
Please contact the State Coordinator if you'd like to adopt a Kentucky county.

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