1840 Kentucky
Census Index

Here are the Hickses in 1840 KY, plus a few extra folks in front and behind. 

Researching in Bracken County, KY

Now about researching in Kentucky: What is up with these folks? Why do they feel the need to charge out-of-staters exorbitant amounts of money to obtain the same records that in-staters pay minimal fees for? And why has the Bracken County Courthouse abdicated all of its responsibility for these records to the Historical Society, making them available to the public for exactly 2 days out of the week for a total of 8 hours? Records which are PUBLIC records!!

According to the Historical Society man, who by the way insists that he knows more about your family than you do, it takes him an hour to find one marriage record and it'll cost you $10. Not too bad you say? What if you want 5 records, or heaven forbid, 10? You start talking some serious $$$ then. And forget getting a land deed out of these folks! He says they're "worthless" records and "have absolutely no genealogical value". Never mind that my one deed I obtained from the KY Archives had the names of three of Ellis' neighbors in it.

At the very minimum, getting 5 deeds would cost me $45, plus the cost of copying the pages ("they're all hand-written you know" he told me. Well duhhh, like he's really going to copy them out longhand! Someone does need to explain to me how that affects the way the xerox machine works though!). And don't think you'll save his "research" fee by sending him the Deed Book # and page # - doesn't matter. Apparently it takes him the same amount of time to walk over to the appropriate deed book, find the page, walk back to the xerox machine and push a button as it does to do a complete, blind surname search.

Excuse me, but what a joke! Make a few bucks ok, but keep it reasonable. I was quoted at least 3 different prices by this person - pick one and stick with it! As you might be able to tell, I am highly annoyed by the whole situation - which is why I've put together these webpages. I believe public records should be made available to all folks at low/no cost. Keep genealogy cheap!

And if you do have the misfortune to deal with the Bracken County Historical Society man - put on a thick skin because in addition to being expensive, he's rude, condescending and doesn't hesitate to insult you and your genealogical skills. But, of course, that's allowed because he's been doing genealogy since the beginning of time and knows way more than you do. HAH!

Ellis Hicks in 1840 Bracken County
Ellis Found!!

While doing some research at the Chicago Archives, I thought I would take another look at that 1840 census for Bracken County, KY just to make sure Ellis was really not there.  The KY State Archives had sent me the index for the Hicks spelling, but neglected to send the HIX spellings (I guess they wanted another $12 for that!).  As I was thumbing through the actual microfilm, I found this list of folks between the R's and the S's.  Quality of the microfilm was terrible, but I double checked it with a copy I found in the Allen County Public Library and it is indeed Ellis - they even confirm that one of the kids was deaf and dumb (William Hicks).

William Henderson	Ben Hasfi___d	Phoebe Heck
Hiadrac(?) Haley	John McH_tten	?
Stephen Hook/Heck	A.D. Hamston	Perry Hutcheson
Abner Hatton	? Hamettin	Zadock Hill
John Hamilton	? Hearning	James Hall
James Hachston	David Houk	?ick Hill
Solomon Hill	A.C. Haseteon	Redmond Hauby
??chel Harmon	James Harrison	Porvel Hill
John Ha_ly	Amos Hill
Ellis Hix	Joel Hametton

Here's the 1840 headcount tally for Ellis:

Males	Females
Under 5: 0	Under 5:  2
5-10:        1	5-10:        1
10-15:      1	10-15:      1
15-20:      1	15-20:      2
20-30:      1	20-30:      1
30-40:      0	30-40:      0
40-50:      1	40-50:      1
50-60:      0	50-60:      0
60-70:      0	60-70:      0
70-80:      0	70-80:      0

We've added 1 son and 1 daughter. Possible daughter name is Mary Hicks, m. in Bracken county to  ??. 

Another possibility is that Ellis had a brother and his wife living with them. 

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