Place:Marshall, Kentucky, United States

Watchers
NameMarshall
Alt namesMarshallsource: Getty Vocabulary Program
TypeCounty
Coordinates36.867°N 88.35°W
Located inKentucky, United States     (1842 - )
See alsoCalloway, Kentucky, United StatesParent county (source: Source:Population of States and Counties of the United States: 1790-1990)
source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
source: Family History Library Catalog


the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Marshall County is a county located in far western portion of the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 31,659. Its county seat is Benton.

It is the only Purchase Area county that does not border another state; a narrow strip of land in neighboring Livingston County separates Marshall County from the Ohio River and the Illinois border. Until July 28, 2015, it was a dry county. On that date residents approved alcohol sales for off-premises consumption, making it a "wet" county.

Contents

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Following population increase in the area, Marshall County was created by the Kentucky legislature in 1842 from the northern half of Calloway County. The first European-American settlers had arrived in about 1818, shortly after the area was bought from the Chickasaw Indians as part of the Jackson Purchase by Gen. Andrew Jackson and Kentucky Gov. Isaac Shelby. The Chickasaw were forced under Indian Removal to move to what became known as Indian Territory, new and much less fertile lands west of the Mississippi River.

Marshall County was named in honor of Chief Justice John Marshall of the United States Supreme Court, who had died in 1835.

Like most of the Jackson Purchase, and reflecting its geographic and family connections to the South, during the American Civil War, Marshall County was strongly pro-Confederate, although the state was neutral. Many local men served in the famous Kentucky Orphan Brigade. On March 23, 1864, detachments of Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest's Confederate cavalry clashed with Union cavalry near Benton, when each side was scouring the countryside for needed cavalry remounts. A state historical marker stands at the site.

From its settlement until the 1930s, Marshall County was developed primarily for agriculture. In the 1940s, however, the Tennessee Valley Authority created Kentucky Lake as part of its flood control and rural electrification projects initiated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The lake established tourism as part of the county's economy, and lakeshore resorts were developed to exploit sports fishing.

Kentucky Dam's cheap and plentiful electricity also attracted chemical and manufacturing plants, mainly in the Calvert City area.

The lake's impoundment resulted in flooding two historic Marshall County towns: Birmingham, six miles north of Fairdealing, and Gilbertsville, at the dam's site, both of which were evacuated. Gilbertsville was relocated west of its original location, but Birmingham residents had to find new homes elsewhere. Gilbertsville was an incorporated town until the 1970s, when its charter was dissolved by public vote. Kentucky Lake (created on the Tennessee River) and Lake Barkley (created on the Cumberland River) were connected by a canal. Together they make up one of the largest man-made bodies of water in the world.

Timeline

Date Event Source
1842 County formed Source:Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources
1848 Court records recorded Source:Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources
1848 Land records recorded Source:Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources
1848 Marriage records recorded Source:Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources
1848 Probate records recorded Source:Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources
1850 First census Source:Population of States and Counties of the United States: 1790-1990
1850 No significant boundary changes after this year Source:Population of States and Counties of the United States: 1790-1990
1852 Birth records recorded Source:Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources

Population History

source: Source:Population of States and Counties of the United States: 1790-1990
Census Year Population
1850 5,269
1860 6,982
1870 9,455
1880 9,647
1890 11,287
1900 13,692
1910 15,771
1920 15,215
1930 12,889
1940 16,602
1950 13,387
1960 16,736
1970 20,381
1980 25,637
1990 27,205

Cemeteries

Cemeteries of Marshall County, Kentucky, United States

Research Tips

External links

http://home.hiwaay.net/~woliver/marshal.html


This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Marshall County, Kentucky. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.