In room 132 called the “Vault” at the Fayette County Clerk’s office stacks of heavy books reveal a history of Kentucky that dates to the late 1700’s. Deeds, mortgages, marriages, wills, and court records are detailed page by page in cursive writing.
Vanessa Holden is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Kentucky with expertise on African American women and slavery in the antebellum South.
“Kentucky didn't secede during the American Civil War, and unlike many southern cities, Lexington was not burned to the ground during the American Civil War. And while we did have a couple of fires that happened in the 19th century and 18th century, we've got really complete sets of records that other parts of the South can't boast. They're really invaluable for the study of slavery as a system, but also enslaved people because they're often named.”
Preserving these records and making them accessible to people online is the goal of the Digital Access Project, or DAP for short. Holden and Shea Brown, Special Projects Deputy in Land Records at the Fayette County Clerk’s office helped start DAP. They along with a team of university students and retirees began digitizing the old records in May of 2022.
Brown says to date DAP has digitized 150,000 pages in 278 books. DAP is funded by the Blue Grass Community Foundation.
“We pay all of our digitization specialists, and they work in teams. All of these records are in script, sometimes easy to read script, sometimes not so easy to read script. And a lot of our traditional age college students were never taught to read and write in cursive. Our community members, many of whom, most of whom are retirees, know how to read cursive, and our students were excited to work with the book eye scanner. They weren't intimidated by the digital technology.”
The records offer a wealth of information on Kentucky history including the big business of slave trading in Lexington. One of the South’s largest slave auctions was in downtown Lexington on Main Street in an area formerly known as “Cheapside.”
A historical sign on the site near the old Fayette County Courthouse says by 1860 one in four residents of Lexington were slaves. Holden says enslaved people were used in many ways during business transactions.
“What a lot of people don't realize is that enslaved people were valuable, not just for their labor, but they're valuable as financial products. You can borrow against enslaved people's value. You can use enslaved people to pay off debt. And this is a really good example of one of the ways that enslaved people are moved around indiscriminately to fix up financial situations for enslavers.”
One example in a deed book details a debt that was owed to a deceased man’s estate in July of 1809. To pay off the debt, lawyer and famed statesman Henry Clay who represented the estate, is charged with selling some enslaved people whose names and assigned values are listed on one page. In another deed book from 1834 a man’s assets like crops are listed on a page along with some enslaved people.
Brown read, “a negro man named Carr valued at $520, a woman Sally, valued at $290 and not only Sally, but it mentions her child, Bob at 200 and it gives other names, a girl named Susan, a boy named Sam, a girl Cyril Jane. And their values right here. And the thing about the black communities, at this time, the enslaved population, they were classified not as human beings, but as personal property.”
The record books also give a history of the free African American community in Lexington.
Holden says “there was a visible free black population here in Lexington. Some small business owners, some landowners and property owners, some who were given their freedom right after the Revolutionary War, some who paid for their freedom over time or purchased family members to join their household and free people of color living right here in the city, doing business.”
Brown and Holden emphasize that the history they are preserving is about all races of people who lived in Lexington. The records predate Kentucky’s statehood in June of 1792. Brown explains that before 1792 Kentucky was part of Virginia.
“Fayette County is important because you remember, in 1780 Kentucky was part of Virginia. We were the Commonwealth of Virginia. We only had three original counties, Fayette County, Lincoln County and Jefferson. So, our records go back to the very beginning of Kentucky history. That goes back to the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the Commonwealth of Virginia goes back to England and Great Britain, those areas of common law. What we're doing is we have digitized these records that benefits the history of Kentucky, the history of a pioneer America as a whole.”
Brown says by law all county clerks in Kentucky are required to digitize their records. If you are interested in exploring the digitized records from Lexington, go to https://fayettedeeds.com, click on Land Records Search, click on Non-Indexed Documents, and then click on Book Type for indexbook. Book types include court orders, old surveys, property tax records, wills, and marriage books.
For instructions on how to navigate through the online website visit https://www.fayettecountyclerk.com
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