From NKAA, Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (main entry)
Oldham County (KY) Enslaved, Free Blacks, and Free Mulattoes, 1850-1870
Oldham County is located along the Ohio River, bordered by four Kentucky counties. It was formed in 1823 from portions of Henry, Jefferson, and Shelby Counties and named for William Oldham, who fought in the American Revolutionary War. The original county seat was West Port, changed in 1827 to the new town of LaGrange [also spelled La Grange], which was named for the French estate of the Marquis de Lafayette. In 1828, the Kentucky General Assembly moved the county seat back to West Port; ten years later, the county seat was moved permanently to La Grange.The 1830 county population was 1,127 [heads of households], according to the U.S. Federal Census, the population increasing to 4,852 by 1860, excluding the enslaved. Below are the number of slave holders, enslaved, free Blacks, and free Mulattoes for 1850-1870.
1850 Slave Schedule
- 468 slave owners
- 2,118 Black slaves
- 306 Mulatto slaves
- 36 free Blacks
- 14 free Mulattoes
- 369 slave owners
- 2,031 Black slaves
- 319 Mulattoes
- 35 free Blacks
- 2 free Mulattoes [James Newman and Liter Poetch]
- 2,224 Blacks
- 569 Mulattoes
- About 44 U.S. Colored Troops listed Oldham County as their birth location.