Kentucky Enslaved Catholic Church Records Spreadsheet

This spreadsheet collects every enslaved baptismal record we have been able to find for Catholic churches in Kentucky. There are tabs for records from all available Kentucky counties, and those specifically from Jefferson, Nelson, and Marion counties.

In addition to slavery-era baptismal records, this spreadsheet also has tabs for post-slavery baptismal records, slavery and post-slavery marriage records, and death/burial records. By closely examining all these church records, it is possible to identify what surnames were used by formerly-enslaved Black families in the post-slavery period. Please note that in the slavery-era baptismal records, there is a column labeled “Enslaved by Agent of the Church.” This refers to whether the baptized child was enslaved by a priest, bishop, church, school, or religious order affiliated with the Catholic Church. So far, we have found over 200 such children.

If you hover your pointing device at the top of every column, you can click on the downward arrow to sort the spreadsheet by that field (Church, County, Birth Year, Enslaver Last Name, etc.)