Welcome to
Clay County, Kentucky History and Genealogy
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Kentucky American History and Genealogy Project
Welcome. I am Betty Brooks,the new county cordinator for Clay County and the state cordinator for Kentucky-AHGP. The previous cordinator has committments that required to give up this Kentucky County. If you are interested in adopting it, please let me know. Otherwise, enjoy browsing. If you have information to add to Clay County, please contact me.
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Clay county was formed in 1807. It is located in the Eastern Coal Field region of the state. The elevation in the county ranges from 690 to 2235 feet above sea level. In 1990 the county population was 21,746 in a land area of 471 square miles, an average of 46.2 people per square mile. The county seat is Manchester. Most of Clay county is within the Daniel Boone National Forest. , 660,000 acres in Clay and other counties.
Manchester, the seat of Clay county, was established along Goose Creek in 1807 as Greenville, named for Green Clay, for whom the county was also named. It was renamed Manchester later that year since there was already a Greenville, Kentucky (in Muhlenberg county). The name Manchester may come from the city in England, reflecting local hopes for a future in industry. The post office opened in 1813 as Clay County Court House. The population in 1990 was 1,634.
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These maps and information from the Kentucky Atlas and Gazetteer
- To send your Articles on Clay County, Contributions of data, Cemeteries, birth and death records, photos, anything pretaining to Clay County and of genealogical and historical interest, Suggestions & Comments please Email me
This is a Free site. If you arrived from a paid area, please let me know.
Brief History of Clay County, Kentucky The Kentucky Legislature created Clay County in December of 1806 from parts of Madison, Floyd, and Knox Counties. This went into effect on April 01, 1807. Between the years 1807 - 1878 parts of Clay County were used to help form other counties: Estill, Perry, Laurel, Breathhitt, Lee, Owsley, Jackson, and Leslie.
Clay County was named after General Green Clay who lived in Madison County. He was cousin to Henry Clay. General Clay served in the war of 1812. He was a Madison County legislator and a Kentucky surveyor. Green Clay was born in 1757, and died in 1826.
Clay County was the leading salt producer in the state during the nineteenth century. Salt was so important; Daniel Boone offered to re-route the Wilderness Road to pass the Goose Creek salt works. He did not get the approval, however, and the area had no suitable roads for sometime. In 1811 the Kentucky River was made navigational and a canal system was proposed during the 1820/1830's. A pass by the Goose Creek salt works helped expand the market. Salt production peaked between 1835 and 1845. During the Civil War, about October of 1862, the Union ordered all salt production sites destroyed rather than risk them falling into the hands of the Confederates again. Only four salt sites remained after the war, the last one closed in 1908. Afterwards, Clay County had little contact with the outside world for quite a while, mostly due to lack of transportation. The railroad service came to the area in the early twentieth century; after the coal fields started developing, around 1914. In 1971, the Daniel Boone Parkway opened and linked Manchester to I-75.
Today, Clay County, Kentucky covers 471 square miles and is the sixteenth largest county in the area. Population of Clay County was 21,746 in 1990. Coal mines still provide approximately one-third of the local employment.The eastern Kentucky coal field covers the eastern end of the state, stretching from the Appalachian Mountains westward across the Cumberland Plateau to the Pottsville Escarpment. Coal mining is the major industry. Bordering counties are Knox, Laurel, Jackson, Owsley, Perry, Leslie, and Bell. Other neighboring counties include: Harlan, Whitley, Rockcastle, Madison, Estill, Breathitt, and Letcher. Clay County was the 47th county to be formed in the state of Kentucky. The county seat is in the city of Manchester.
Clay County Clerk
Jennings B. White
123 Town Square
Suite 3
Manchester, KY 40962-1265
Phone: (606) 598-2544
FAX: (606) 598-7199
Cemeteries includes cemetery maps found on GNIS
Tim and Valorie's Vital Records index, includes cemeteries
Clay County Historical Society this is an excellent site
Links and more Links check Jim Wilson's Clay County links page, to everything in Clay County
Maps
Very Large Highway Map of Clay County, slow loading, has cemetery, church locations,community names, road names
Other Links of interest {Lookups }
Reunion in Ohio 2002
Mail Lists, Message Boards for Clay County
Clay County Mail List at rootsweb
Clay County Message Board at rootsweb
Rootsweb Cluster for Clay County
Schools in Clay County- coming soon, if you have any informatin to share on any schools, please contact me.
Southeast Kentucky Branches- lots of information at this site. Check out their Archives page.
Surname Registry New- from AHGP main page- all of Kentucky
Trivia " a "how to" genealogy lesson from Linda, the former county cordinator
Clay County Historical Coal Facts
AHGP home page check this for other states, and the "About" page if you would like to adopt a county
In Memory of the tragedy on September 11, 2001, I have made a Memorial Page
with a collection of Poems I have received through emails. { From the previous CC. on her Butler County, Ohio site }
http://www.usgennet.org/usa/oh/county/butler/sept11.html
OUR NEIGHBORS
AHGP Kentucky Counties
Links to neighboring KYGenWeb Counties
Perry - 1821 Laurel - 1826 Breathitt - 1839 Owsley - 1843 Jackson - 1858 Leslie - 1878
Kentucky American History and Genealogy Project
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County, Kentucky
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