Bardstown, Nelson County Kentucky Genealogy

One great resource for genealogy is the
Nelson County Public Library
201 Cathedral Manor
Bardstown, KY 40004
502-348-3714.

Each year many visitors from other states and countries spend time researching their genealogy here. Our library, which recently moved to spacious new quarters, including a new Genealogy Room, at 201 Cathedral Manor, has an extensive genealogical collection focusing on Kentucky and states and territories from which the original Kentucky settlers came, including Virginia, Maryland, Tennessee, Pennsylvania and the Carolinas.

This collection, which can be searched on line using the Online Card Catalogue, is outstanding partly because of a long standing purchase program and partly due to a cooperative agreement whereby the Library houses and catalogues the holdings of the Nelson County Genealogical Roundtable, an active local history group.

The Roundtable, founded in 1984, has purchased many books and microfilms, gathers donated local materials and organizes and maintains family files, transcribes public records, prints books of these records so the information is readily available to genealogists all over the world, provides volunteer research assistants in the Genealogy Room whenever the Library is open, and most recently, purchased a digital microfilm machine for patron use with donated local funds.

Highlights of the library collection follow:

KY Birth and Death Certificates 1911 - 1956
Baptismal Records
Complete Cemetery Transcription done in 1970's and 1980's
Census
Family Files
Published Family Genealogies
Local Newspapers
Charter of Ordinances of Bardstown
Minute Books of Bardstown Trustees
First Presbyterian Church of Bardstown Records
State of KY - Catholic Records

Nelson County Court Records, such as:

Early Marriage Records
Various Bonds
Deeds
Wills
Nelson County Circuit Court Records
Birth and Death Records 1850's - 1910
Papers pertaining to Debtors
Tax Records

Many of the original records are located in the Courthouse Annex, Sutherland Building, 113 E. Stephen Foster Avenue, Bardstown KY 40004. Records are stored in the basement. Phone number is 502-348-1830.