Owsley County, Kentucky


Owsley County is a county located in the Eastern Coalfield region of the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 4,051, making it the second-least populous county in Kentucky. The county seat is Booneville. The county was organized on January 23, 1843, from Clay, Estill, and Breathitt counties and named for William Owsley, the judge of the Kentucky Court of Appeals and Governor of Kentucky. According to the 2010 census reports, Owsley County has the second-highest level of child poverty of any county in the United States. In terms of income per household, the county is the poorest in the nation. Between 1980 and 2014, the rate of death from cancer in the county increased by 45.6 percent, the largest such increase of any county in the United States.

History

Owsley County was formed in 1843 from portions of Clay, Breathitt, and Estill Counties and was named for Governor William Owsley. Owsley County was Kentucky's 96th county. Parts of Owsley County were used to form Jackson County in 1858 and Lee County in 1870.
The first settlers in Owsley County were John Renty Baker and John Abner. They settled there in about 1780 near the present Clay County line at Courtland. A gravestone in a cemetery on Upper Buffalo Creek reads, "Milly, wife of John Abner, died March 1846."
John Renty Baker and his sons, all of them gunsmiths, invented and developed hand-operated machines to rifle the barrels. John Renty Baker's father, Robert Baker, is sometimes credited with developing the firearm known as the "Kentucky Rifle".
John Renty Baker was one of the "Longhunters", spending more than a year at a time in the hunting and trapping in the forests of Kentucky and Tennessee. According to "The Conquest of the Old Southwest", Baker hunted in Kentucky in 1766 with Daniel Boone's brother-in-law, John Stewart. He lived on the Green River among the Cherokees and made trips down the Cumberland River to Spanish Natchez to sell furs.
After the death of his wife, Baker became a recluse and lived in a rock house near the mouth of Buffalo Creek, where he died in 1820. He was the father of at least 21 children, who are documented.
The Baker family is the source of many stories. They were involved in one of the longest and bloodiest family feuds in U.S. history, which began in 1843 when Dr. Thomas Baker shot John Bales. Dr. Baker and Bales had both married to daughters of John White, and the couples became more intimate than was usual in the mountain country. Dr. Baker was insanely jealous of his wife and Bales. In a fit of rage, he abandoned his wife and filed for divorce, although he later withdrew it. Baker and Bales worked at a salt works in Manchester, and one day Baker called Bales to the door and shot him with his pepper-box pistol. As he lay dying, Bales cursed Baker and ordered $10,000 from his estate to be used for to capture and convict him. The family feud lasted for 59 years and eventually cost more than 100 lives.
The first settler of Booneville was James Moore Sr. His home was just outside of Booneville, in front of today's Booneville Homes apartments. Moore's son, James Jr., built a two-room cabin across the river from his parents. This cabin still exists, though it has been enlarged and remodeled through the years. It is currently owned by Booneville's mayor, Charles Long.
James Moores' land included all of Booneville, extending east across the South Fork River and towards Lerose. The community was originally known as Moore's Station, but it was renamed Booneville when it was incorporated in 1846. James Moore Jr. was the first postmaster. When the county was formed in 1843, Elias Moore donated the land for its seat. The post office opened in 1844. Owsley County lost part of its territory to Jackson County in 1858, and two years later lost more to Wolfe County. In 1870, Lee County was formed, and Owsley County was reduced to its present size.
The first permanent settlers of Owsley County were the Moore, Bowman, Baker, Gabbard, and Reynolds families. Most land patents came from Virginia, which Kentucky was once a part of. These were issued for military service, settlement or preemption, and for warrants from the treasury. Some families even today live on their original land grants.
The original courthouse burned to the ground January 1929, destroying all of Owsley County's early records. Fire struck again on January 5, 1967, seriously damaging the replacement court house.

Alcohol prohibition

Although 97% of communities within the U.S. allow the legal sale of alcohol, until a 2013 election, Owsley County was a "dry county" that prohibited the sale of alcohol. This included the City of Booneville, the county seat. County voters had repeatedly rejected the repeal of alcohol prohibition laws enacted in 1920. This ended on March 6, 2013, when a majority of county voters voted to designate the county "wet". The vote was 632 "wet", 518 "dry". This permitted the sale of alcohol once the fiscal court had set ordinances to regulate the distribution of alcoholic beverages. Even though the sale of alcohol had long been forbidden, its consumption has been legal since 1933, when the Twenty-first Amendment was implemented.
As was typical, drunk driving during Owsley's time as a dry county was more of a problem than in wet counties, due to the necessity of driving the long distances necessary to buy legally sold alcohol. A 2003 study in Kentucky suggested that residents of dry counties have to drive farther from their homes to consume alcohol, which resulted in increased impaired driving.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of, of which is land and is water. The South Fork of the Kentucky River passes through the county. Most of the precipitation that falls on the county ends up in this tributary of the Kentucky River. Some, however, on the northwest side of the county is in the Kentucky River watershed. Flood plains along the banks of the South of the Kentucky River and several streams provide the level land necessary for development/farming.
The county is located in the Eastern Mountain Coal Fields which is a part of the Appalachian Plateau. The elevation of the highest summit in the county is . It is located on the county's extreme southern boundary with Clay County. The lowest elevation is at the point where the South Fork crosses the Owsley/Lee border on the north side of the county.

Adjacent counties

Race % 2020% 2010% 2000Pop. 2020Pop. 2010Pop. 2000
White Alone 96.4%98%98.5%3,9054,6594,785
Black Alone 0.3%0.3%0.1%11135
American Indian Alone 0%0.3%0.1%1123
Asian Alone 0%0%0%122
Pacific Islander Alone 0.1%0%0%501
Other Race Alone 0.1%0.1%0%431
Multiracial 2%0.6%0.5%822726
Hispanic 1%0.8%0.7%423935

The most reported ancestries in 2020 were English, Irish, German, and Scottish.

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 4,051. The median age was 45.1 years. 21.4% of residents were under the age of 18 and 21.7% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 98.8 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 95.5 males age 18 and over.
The racial makeup of the county was 96.4% White, 0.3% Black or African American, 0.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% Asian, 0.1% Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, 0.1% from some other race, and 2.8% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprised 1.0% of the population.
0.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 100.0% lived in rural areas.
There were 1,735 households in the county, of which 27.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them and 31.0% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present. About 36.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
There were 2,044 housing units, of which 15.1% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 71.4% were owner-occupied and 28.6% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 0.8% and the rental vacancy rate was 7.0%.

2010 census

As of the census of 2010, there were 4,755 people, 2,328 housing units, and 1,733 households residing in the county. The population density was. The racial makeup of the county was 98.7% White, 0.3% Black or African American, 0.3% Native American, ~ 0% Asian, 0% Pacific Islander, and 0.8% of the population were Hispanics or Latinos of any race.
There were 1,894 households, out of which 32.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.8% were married couples living together, 12.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.7% were non-families. 24.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.51 and the average family size was 2.98.
The age distribution was 24.6% under the age of 18, 8.9% from 18 to 24, 27.0% from 25 to 44, 24.5% from 45 to 64, and 15.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 101.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.7 males.