From NKAA, Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (main entry)

Pendleton County (KY) Enslaved, Free Blacks, Free Mulattoes, 1850-1870

Pendleton County, located in north-central Kentucky, was formed in 1798 from portions of Campbell and Bracken Counties and is bordered by five counties. It was named for Edmund Pendleton from Virginia, a delegate to the first Continental Congress. The county seat is Falmouth, named for Falmouth, VA. The 1800 county population was 1,613, according to the Second Census of Kentucky: 1,371 whites, 240 enslaved, and two free coloreds. The population increased to 10,019 by 1860, according to the U.S. Federal Census, excluding the enslaved. Below are the number of slave holders, enslaved, free Blacks, and free Mulattoes for 1850-1870.

1850 Slave Schedule
  • 127 slave owners
  • 462 Black slaves
  • 46 Mulatto slaves
  • 36 free Blacks [most with last names Monday and Southgate]
  • 2 free Mulattoes [Elsey Hues and Charity Sothgate]
1860 Slave Schedule
  • 121 slave owners
  • 335 Black slaves
  • 89 Mulatto slaves
  • 24 free Blacks [most with last name Monday]
  • 17 free Mulattoes [most with last name Southgate]
1870 U.S. Federal Census
  • 503 Blacks
  • 127 Mulattoes
  • At least 8 U.S. Colored Troops listed Pendleton County as their birth location.
For more see the Pendleton County entry in The Kentucky Encyclopedia, edited by J. E. Kleber; An Account of the Life of James Bradley, Black Abolitionist, website of the Pendleton County Genealogy Project; "Charity's House" in African American Historic Places, by B. L. Savage and C. D. Shull; Chapter 7 in I've Got a Home in Glory Land, by K. S. Frost; and The Grave of a Forgotten Soldier, by H. R. Seibert, Jr. [online], article originally published in Northern Kentucky Heritage Magazine, (Autumn/Winter 1994), volume 2, issue 1.

Kentucky County & Region

Read about Pendleton County, Kentucky in Wikipedia.

Kentucky Place (Town or City)

Read about Falmouth, Kentucky in Wikipedia.

Item Relations

Cited in this Entry

NKAA Source: "Second census" of Kentucky, 1800; a privately compiled and published enumeration of tax payers appearing in the 79 manuscript volumes extant of tax lists of the 42 counties of Kentucky in existence in 1800
NKAA Source: The Kentucky encyclopedia
NKAA Source: African American historic places
NKAA Source: I've got a home in glory land : a lost tale of the underground railroad

Cite This NKAA Entry:

“Pendleton County (KY) Enslaved, Free Blacks, Free Mulattoes, 1850-1870,” Notable Kentucky African Americans Database, accessed June 3, 2023, https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/2517.

Last modified: 2023-03-24 18:03:40