Beckham County, Kentucky was a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

formed by the

Kentucky General Assembly The Kentucky General Assembly, also called the Kentucky Legislature, is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It comprises the Kentucky Senate and the Kentucky House of Representatives. The General Assembly meets annually in th ...

on February 9, 1904. Beckham County was created in the northeastern part of the state from parts of

Carter Carter(s), or Carter's, Tha Carter, or The Carter(s), may refer to: Geography United States * Carter, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Carter, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Carter, Montana, a census-designated place * Carter ...

, Elliott, and

Lewis Lewis may refer to: Names * Lewis (given name), including a list of people with the given name * Lewis (surname), including a list of people with the surname Music * Lewis (musician), Canadian singer * " Lewis (Mistreated)", a song by Radiohe ...

counties. The county seat was Olive Hill. Beckham County was dissolved by the Kentucky Court of Appeals on April 29, 1904.

History

The legislature first proposed to name the county Hardscrabble County. The proposal then became to name it Goebel County in honor of the late assassinated governor

William Goebel William Justus Goebel (January 4, 1856 – February 3, 1900) was an American Democratic politician who served as the 34th governor of Kentucky for four days, having been sworn in on his deathbed a day after being shot by an assassin. Goebel i ...

. Beckham County was ultimately named for then-governor

J. C. W. Beckham John Crepps Wickliffe Beckham (August 5, 1869 – January 9, 1940) was an American attorney and politician who served as the 35th governor of Kentucky and a United States senator from Kentucky. He was the state's first popularly-elected senator a ...

. A man named C. V. Zimmerman filed a lawsuit against Beckham County—specifically against its county judge, Captain C. C. Brooks—when Beckham County tried to collect a $75.00 debt from Zimmerman. Zimmerman claimed that under an 1891 Kentucky Constitutional amendment, creation of Beckham County was unlawful because it left other counties with less than 400 square miles (1,000 km²) of land, and that Beckham County itself also had less than 400 square miles (1,000 km²) of land. Carter County joined Zimmerman's suit and added the claim that the creation of Beckham County ran its borders too close to the county seats of Carter and Lewis counties, violating the minimum. Carter County also claimed that the illegal creation of Beckham County would unfairly deprive Carter County of tax revenues that rightfully belonged to Carter County. Beckham County was dissolved by the

Kentucky Court of Appeals The Kentucky Court of Appeals is the lower of Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illino ...

on April 29, 1904, because it was not created in conformance with state law. Marriage and postal records from the brief existence of Beckham County, Kentucky still exist. The county records are kept in the Carter County courthouse.

Beckham County, Oklahoma Beckham County is a county located on the western border of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2020 census, the population was 22,410. Its county seat is Sayre. Founded upon statehood in 1907, Beckham County was named for J. C. W. Beckha ...

which still exists today, is also named for

, who was still governor at the time of its creation in 1907.

References

{{coord, 38, 18, 00, N, 83, 10, 30, W, region:US-KY_scale:100000, display=title Former counties of Kentucky History of Kentucky 1904 establishments in Kentucky 1904 in Kentucky Populated places established in 1904 1904 disestablishments in Kentucky Populated places disestablished in 1904

History

See also

References