From NKAA, Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (main entry)
Kentucky Slaves and Free Persons Not White, 1790
In 1790, there were 11,830 slaves and 114 free blacks in the area known as Kentucky, according to the title Black Genesis: A Resource Book for African-American Genealogy, p. 116. Another source is the "First Census" of Kentucky 1790, compiled by C. B. Heinemann and published in Washington in 1940. The following quotation comes from page 1:"It is a privately compiled list of tax payers appearing in the tax lists of all Kentucky counties which were established at the time of the First Federal Census."
In Heinemann's work, the number of slaves is slightly higher: 12,430 slaves and 114 free persons who were not white. The following information comes from p. 3:
- Bourbon County: 6,929 whites, 908 slaves,
- Fayette County: 14,626 whites, 3,752 slaves, 32 free persons
- Jefferson County: 3,857 whites, 903 slaves, 5 free persons
- Lincoln County: 5,446 whites, 1,094 slaves, 8 free persons
- Madison County: 5,035 whites, 737 slaves
- Mason County: 2,500 whites, 229 slaves
- Mercer County: 5,745 whites, 1,339 slaves, 7 free persons
- Nelson County: 10,032 whites, 1,248 slaves, 35 free persons
- Woodford County: 6,963 whites, 2,220 slaves, 27 free persons