Lincoln County (KY) Enslaved, Free Blacks, and Free Mulattoes, 1850-1870
Lincoln County was one of the original three counties established by Virginia in 1780. [Fayette and Jefferson were the other two.] The three counties were created in order to make it easier for Virginia to govern the huge area previously known as Kentucky County. The present day boundaries of Lincoln County were established in 1843; the county is surrounded by five other counties.
Lincoln County was named for Benjamin Lincoln, a Revolutionary War general captured by the British. Stanford, the county seat, was founded by Benjamin Logan in 1775; the exact origin of the city name is not known. It was first known as St. Asaph, then Fort Logan.
In the First Census of Kentucky, 1970, there were 5,446 whites, 1,094 enslaved, and eight free persons in Lincoln County. The 1800 population was 8,621, according to the Second Census of Kentucky: 6,822 whites, 1,776 enslaved, and 23 free coloreds. The 1810 population was 8,676, according to the Third Census of the United States, Lincoln County, Kentucky: 6,297 whites, 2,341 enslaved, and 38 free colored persons. The 1860 population was 7,177, according to the U.S. Federal Census, excluding the enslaved.
Below are the numbers for the enslaved holders, enslaved, free Blacks, and free Mulattoes from 1850-1870.
1850 Slave Schedule
- 515 slave owners
- 2,878 Black slaves
- 476 Mulatto slaves
- 65 free Blacks
- 41 free Mulattoes
1860 Slave Schedule
- 531 slave owners
- 2,270 Black slaves
- 1,159 Mulatto slaves
- 54 free Blacks
- 106 free Mulattoes
1870 U.S. Federal Census
- 2,072 Blacks
- 921 Mulattoes
- About 224 U.S. Colored Troops listed Lincoln County, KY as their birth location.
For more information, see the Lincoln County entry in The Kentucky Encyclopedia, edited by J. E. Kleber; Lincoln County, Kentucky, by the Lincoln County Historical Society; Slave Records, 1781-1784 of Stephen Trigg; and the Anne Butler oral history interview, Civil Rights Movement in Kentucky at the Kentucky Historical Society website. See the "U.S., Colored Troops Military Service Records, 1863-1865" and other military service records in Ancestry for names and additonal information.
