some one showed me this great message board - so I am sharing it with you :-)     TIP #700 – KY TAX PAYERS 1789-1792 – McOMES through MOORE http://boards.ancestry.com/localities.northam.usa.states.kentucky.tips/720/mb.ashx   Kentucky did not become a state until 1792. However, there were many people living here and paying taxes! The first enumeration of the residents in which was going to become the Commonwealth of Kentucky was called “An Act Providing for the Enumeration of the inhabitants of the United States approved March 1, 1790. The census commenced on the first Monday in August, 1790 when Kentucky was classed as a separate district. The United States Marshall for the District of Kentucky was paid $250 for taking the census. The census was to be completed within nine calendar months after August 1790 so actually the census enumeration actually commenced after Kentucky’s separation from Virginia. The census was completed and returned to Washington to be filed with the State Department. When the British burned the Capitol in the War of 1812, the census for Kentucky was destroyed. Thus the 1790 census for Kentucky was created using tax lists. There will be found duplication of names at times, and names spelled various ways. The name will be shown, county, and the year the information was taken from. I regret having to run the names consecutively, but there are many and to list them in single columns would take forever! This list, when added to the petitions to the VA assembly that I posted several weeks ago, will give the reader a good idea of those of our ancestors living on KY soil pre-Kentucky statehood.