Record Atlas
5 eras · 1500–2026 · 1 places

Owensboro - Yellow Banks on the Ohio

Owensboro, Yellow Banks. Which empire held this ground in which years — and, the part that matters, which archive that means.

Whose archive this ground was

YearsWho held itWhose archive that means
1500–1792 Before registers no registers survive

Before registers.
1792–1817 Commonwealth of Kentucky - Yellow Banks FamilySearch · National Archives Catalog (NARA)

Kentucky became a state on 1 June 1792. The frontiersman William Smeathers (also spelled Smothers) is the first European descendant recorded as settling here, in 1797, at a place called Yellow Banks for the colour of the land beside the Ohio.
1817–1850 Commonwealth of Kentucky - Owensborough FamilySearch · National Archives Catalog (NARA)

Yellow Banks was formally established as Owensborough in 1817, named for Col. Abraham Owen.
1850–1893 Commonwealth of Kentucky - the city of Owensborough FamilySearch · National Archives Catalog (NARA) · Chronicling America

The city was incorporated in 1850.
1893–2026 Commonwealth of Kentucky - Owensboro FamilySearch · National Archives Catalog (NARA) · Chronicling America

The spelling was shortened from Owensborough to Owensboro in 1893, so older records and indexes may file the town under either spelling. Owensboro is the county seat of Daviess County.

The rings are approximate — deliberately. They exist to shade which filing system a place fell under, not to adjudicate a border. A place near a ring's edge should be checked against both neighbours.

See the whole span, 1500–2026, on the map →

The map takes a range, and a range that crosses one of the rows above is where records get lost: the family never moved, and the archive on the far side of the handover will tell you it holds nothing.

1 places on this ground

1742 FamilySearch collections reach this ground

Ranked with the regional ones first — a collection for a province is usually a better lead than a national index, though the national index is often where a name is actually written down. A free account opens the images.

…and 1682 more.

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