Kentucky Death Records, 1852-1953

Source Information

This database contains the following Kentucky death records:

• Death certificates, 1911-1953


• Mortuary records, registers of deaths, and death certificates for Newport, Louisville, Lexington, Covington, and Jefferson County, up to 1911


• Returns of death, 1852-1910 (not all years are extant for each county)

The information available for an individual will depend upon the record type listed above. Generally the information available includes:

• Name of deceased


• Race


• Age at time of death


• Gender


• Death date


• Death place


• Birthplace


• Birth date


• Residence


• Parents’ names


• Parents’ birthplaces

Additional information, such as occupation, cause of death, and date and place of burial, may be available on the original record and can be obtained by viewing the image.

More about Kentucky deaths:

Although compliance was never complete, birth and death records for Kentucky begin as early as 1852 when statewide registration was first enacted. The requirement continued for only ten years. Some births and deaths were recorded (1874-79, 1892-1910), but observance remained sporadic.

Birth and death registration was enacted statewide on 1 January 1911 and generally adhered to by 1920.

Some of the above information was taken from Wendy Bebout Elliott, “Kentucky,” in Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources, 3d ed., ed. Alice Eichholz. (Provo, Utah: Ancestry, 2004).