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This site was last updated on 02/25/2024 |
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Welcome to the Lee County site within the KYGenWeb project In the spring of 1996, a group of genealogists organized the Kentucky Comprehensive Genealogy Database Project, which evolved into the KyGenWeb Project. The idea was to provide a single entry point for genealogy data and research for all counties in Kentucky. In addition, the information for each county would be indexed and cross-linked to make it easier for researchers to find a name or data that they sought. In June 1996, as the KyGenWeb Project was nearing 100% county coverage, interested volunteers decided to create a similar set of pages for all states, establishing The USGenWeb Project. Volunteers were found who were willing to coordinate the efforts for each state, and additional volunteers were and are being sought to create and maintain websites for every county in the United States. Your county coordinator for Lee County is Harlan Sloan. | |||
| If you submitted something to this site and do not see it here, please contact Harlan. | |||
| Read a few words from your county coordinators | |||
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| Help Needed! What kind of help do we need? Take a look to the right! Right now, we're especially interested in family information and/or photographs. If you're interested in contributing information to this site for other researchers, contact me. However, please make sure that you do not include information on living people. When submitting information, please do not submit anything you have not generated yourself or that violates copyright law. |
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Lee County Public Library SNAIL MAIL: |
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Unfortunately, there is not a current historical society for Lee County, KY Three Forks Historical Center 500 KY-11 Beattyville, KY 41311 GPS: 37.550885, -83.722148 Three Forks Historical Center P.O. Box 1033 Beattyville, KY 41311
Open Monday - Friday 10am-2pm or on Beattyville/Lee County Tourism Commission 500 HWY 11 Beattyville, KY 41311 PHONE: (606) 464-5038 GPS: 37.575720, -83.705789 br Click to open Web Page |
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| The 115th county in order of formation, Lee County is located in eastern Kentucky. Bordered by Breathitt, Estill, Owsley, Powell, Wolfe and Jackson counties, it has an area of 211 square miles. Lee County was formed on March 1, 1870, from portions of Breathitt, Estill, Owsley, and Wolfe counties, and in 1872 Beattyville was established as the county seat. Most sources say the county was named after Robert E. Lee, but others cite Lee County, Virginia, to which many of the county's inhabitants trace their roots. The latter is a more likely explanation, given the strong Union sentiment exhibited by the residents of this area during the Civil War. The topography of Lee County is hilly to mountainous. The valleys are fertile and productive farmland. Tobacco and corn are staples of the agricultural economy. Apple orchards also provide a significant income for the county's farmers. Livestock, mostly beef cattle and chickens, is raised on a small scale, principally for home consumption. Much of Lee County is heavily forested with large stands of commercial hardwood timber. Oak, beech, black walnut, buckeye, yellow poplar, and pine are found abundantly within the woodlands of the area. Daniel Boone National Forest includes more than 7,000 acres of the western portion of the county. The Kentucky River rises in the county and flows through the middle. There are some sixty creeks in the county. Lee County also has substantial deposits of coal, iron ore, and oil. The first explorer in the area was Dr. Thomas Walker, who traveled through Kentucky in 1750. Among the first settlers in the early 1800s were Josiah (or Jacob) Miller and his family and John and Michael Stufflebean. Some of the early settlers came into the area to mine SALTPETER, which was used to make gunpowder. The Civil War badly divided the sympathies of the people of the Lee County area. Union sympathizers formed a Home Guard, headquartered at Rocky Gap, eight miles north of Beattyville. On November 7, 1864, a Confederate force under the command of Lt. Jerry South fought the 20th Kentucky Militia at the Middle Fork of the Kentucky River in Lee County. Steamboats and railroads made Lee County and Beattyville a regional transportation center during the mid- and late 1800s. At the confluence of the three forks of the Kentucky River, Beattyville was the eastern terminus for steamboats on the river, and state and federal governments constructed locks and dams to improve the river. The railroads that supplanted riverboat shipping benefited Beattyville and Lee County. In November 1902, the Louisville Atlantic Railroad (LA) extended its Versailles-to-Irvine line to include Beattyville, and after the Louisville Nashville (now CSX Transportation) acquired the LA in 1909, it constructed a second road from Beattyville, by way of Irvine, to Winchester. Despite the fact that the route to Versailles was closed in 1932, the county remained a regional shipping center. In the 1950s and 1960s, Lee County experienced a degree of exceptional prosperity from the production of oil and coal, but the industries declined steadily during the 1970s and 1980s. Other types of industrial development in Lee County included the production of lumber, concrete, agricultural lime, shoes, and glass-fiber boats. The population was 6,587 in 1970; 7,754 in 1980; and 7,422 in 1990. From The Kentucky Encyclopedia, edited by John Kleber. Copyright 1992 |
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| Once the addition/update to this site is over one week old, the graphic and date will be removed from the index
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