Our Resources & Links
The Clay County Genealogical and Historical Society exists to collect and preserve the county’s genealogical and historical records and to help those who want to do research for whatever reason. Toward that end, we have a wide and extensive variety of resources to help visitors at our library.
Our volunteer staff includes at least two people at all times who are knowledgeable at helping the visitor find what he or she is looking for. The sheer volume of our research material can be intimidating, but our volunteers steer the researcher in the right direction in order to maximize his or her time at the office.
Our Resources
Our resources include, but are not limited to:
• Scores of Clay County genealogies in bound and loose leaf notebooks contributed by members.
• Thousands of genealogy files of Clay and area counties from Jess Wilson’s library.
• Thousands of letters and emails regarding Clay and area county families from Jess Wilson’s library.
• Bound volumes of the Dickey Diary with separate bound indexes.
• Hundreds of area county family charts on CD.
• Census records in book form and on CD from 1810 through 1940.
• Clay County tax lists from 1807 through 1856.
• Obituary clippings from the Manchester Enterprise in bound volumes from 1932 to the present.
• Marriage records from 1807. Includes “missing marriage permission slips.”
• Birth and death records from various sources in notebooks.
• Cemetery records in loose leaf notebooks that contain lists of graves and photos.
• Deed abstracts from 1806 to 1923 in bound volumes.
• Deed abstracts from books A, B, and C (1804 to 1848) in a bound volume
• Court order entries from 1815 to 1832 (Order book B) in a bound volume
• Mortgages and Wills in bound volumes
• All issues of the Clay County Ancestral News (beginning in 1985) in loose leaf notebooks. With index.
• Military rosters of the War of 1812, Mexican War, and the Civil War in bound volumes.
• A wide range of military books on the American Revolution and the Civil War.
• Military pension and other official records of Clay and area county soldiers from 1776.
• Over sixty published books about Clay County or by Clay County authors.
• A wide variety of papers, monographs, articles and other media pertaining to Clay County history.
• Digital records (converted from microfilm) dating from 1809.
• Photos of people, places and events in Clay and area county histories.
• Maps of historic Clay County places, cemeteries, settler’s locations etc.
• Large graphic illustrations of Clay County history and families.
• A large collection of historic Clay County documents dating from 1807, originals and copies.
• A large collection of historic books dating from 1835.
• Dozens of oral histories of Clay Countians converted from tape to CDs.
• Church records of Clay and area county congregations.
• A large selection of books on Kentucky history.
• Vital statistics, genealogy and history material of all southeast Kentucky counties in various media.
• Vital statistics and historic records of North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee in bound volumes.
• Many years of the “Register” of the Kentucky Historical Society. With index.
• Many years of the Filson Club Quarterly
• Many years of “Kentucky Explorer” Magazine. With index.
• Computers available to researchers with the Ancestry.com subscription service.
• Knowledgeable volunteers to help guide your research.
Suggested Links