Are you a Kentucky Colonel? Preserve your legacy, get listed in the Kentucky Colonels Handbook last published in 1930.

Kentucky Colonelcy, An Honorable Office (Since 1775)

A Kentucky Colonelcy is the greatest, most widely recognized and oldest honorary American civil officer commission in the world. To be recognized as a Kentucky Colonel, a civilian is granted letters patent under Kentucky (Virginia) Common Law and Customs, it is a license to conduct oneself as a colonel and invitation to adopt the honorable title as a prefix to their name. It was recently discovered based on research in 2021 that "colonels" were the most important figures in the Commonwealth's founding history dating back to 1775, they named the state after the river based on a word interpreted by Daniel Boone; the origins of colonelcy in America date back to 1651, the Colonial Act in 1775, the adoption of English Common Law in 1776 and the founding of the United States are among the most important. Most other US states were founded or settled by early civilian, company and county militia colonels, many from Kentucky.

Kentucky's Official Goodwill Ambassadors

Today there are more than 250,000 Kentucky colonels living in over 70 countries, many organizations have been formed since the turn of the 20th century to promote their activities, fraternity and social prosperity. While colonels today have no official responsibilities mandated, they are legally recognized as states's goodwill ambassadors due to their dedication to community service, contributions to the welfare of the state, and for improving the lives of others to make the world a better place for everyone.

The honorary title is warranted through letters patent which grants them the title "Colonel" recognizing them as "Honorable" through a commission as an officer on the governor's staff. Colonels optional duties are de facto and extra officio responsibilities of promoting tourism, economic development, participation in community service, fostering the general prosperity of the Commonwealth and projecting Kentucky's image abroad on behalf of the State and the Governor.

Colonels are in a great part responsible for more than 10 billion dollars per year to the Commonwealth's economy by boosting tourism and economic development. The Kentucky colonel began becoming recognized as the state's icon outside of Kentucky as early as 1875.

Illustration of the Kentucky Coat of Arms from 1876

"United We Stand, Divided We Fall"Kentucky Coat of Arms (c. 1876)
Image from Wikipedia

How to be a Modern Kentucky Colonel

All persons who wish to become a Kentucky colonel should read our website as if they are participating in a university level history/sociology course, treat our website like a Kentucky Colonel College Course (KCCC), we will never know where we are going unless we know where we started. Our upcoming book has all the resources you need to exemplify your honorary standing, start your own independent Kentucky colonels social group or an independent civil society organization in your own state or country. We also show colonels how to promote themselves better using their honorable title, while quaint, perhaps corny or even pomperous, is potentially impressive and serves well as an attention getter when it is used at the right moment. Read more in our Guide to the Office of Kentucky Colonelcy to make sure being a colonel is right for you. Also read what people are saying about the Kentucky Colonel Certificate at Indeed Certifications.

Some of the Kentucky colonel organizations where they came from, the benefits, duties and privileges of the office of colonelcy are mostly unimportant the focus is having earned the title, bestowing the great privilege of being permitted to support the organization that does great work in Kentucky, the Kentucky Colonels; the goal of the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels as a charity is to dominate their supporters and give them a false sense of control so they created a fictitious militia with fake generals to steer the organization; it has nothing to do with exercising the duties or privileges of the office of colonelcy, or really much to do at all with any accountable historic events except their own. People that subscribe to the 1813 story and their charitable narrative actually believe the organization is an official authority of the state; but they are just another organization and a commercial business enterprise that sells products with an online website.

First website published about the Kentucky Colonel offering services to Kentucky colonels where a registry and other pages were present naming the colonels responsible for the website. © Kentucky Colonels (Title:Domain)

Before They Were Kentucky Colonels, They Must Have Been Commonwealth Colonels?

Our Creative Commons initiative introduced the first website "Kentucky Colonels" in 1998 to give prominence to Kentucky Colonelcy as an honorary status (civilian award of merit) with diplomatic credence that is respected and understood internationally. All those who have received the honorable title from the Governor of the Commonwealth are recognized as a traditional 'aide-de-camp' to their governor, this also designates them officially as a goodwill ambassador for the state with letters patent (a legal document) resulting in a lifetime officer's commission as an honorary colonel.

“We never surrender. We never hide from history. We make history.” -Senator John McCain, Kentucky Colonel

Few people know, but the Kentucky Colonel Commission (Kentucky Colonelcy) actually has its roots in the Commonwealth of Virginia, not in Kentucky, as many assume. Gov. Patrick Henry Jr. commissioned the first "colonel" to Kentucky County on December 21, 1776. It can also be said that the "first" Kentucky colonels were the pioneer statesmen who wrote the Kentucke Magna Charta, which included Colonel Daniel Boone, Colonel Richard Henderson, Colonel James Harrod and ten or more other colonels on May 23, 1775 at the end of the Wilderness Road in Boonesborough. We have identified many sources for Kentucky colonels since these early dates, this site is about where we believe it all began leading up to today. Traditionally, Common Law colonelcy was granted from one colonel to the next to establish forts, towns and villages to form colonial governments.

"In the Old Dominion statesmen should remember that Commonwealth Colonels are born, not made. " 1898

Our project here is dedicated to the historic origins of the "Kentucky Colonel" the first and original Kentucky pioneer and a great American cultural icon. Our website offers over 750 links to original references from American newspapers, literary works like encyclopedias, books, folklore, fiction and fact that illustrate the idea and how it became such a popular title. Kentucky colonels are responsible for most of the Commonwealth's firsts like thoroughbred horses 1775, whiskey in 1780, a university in 1780, 75 of its counties 1777-1851, first hemp crops in 1775-1784, horse racing in 1873, baseball in 1892 and a quartet in 1896. Ever since the book, A Kentucky Colonel by Opie Read in 1890, Kentucky colonels became popular across the United States. To truly understand how great Kentucky Colonelcy has become you must review our website.

Governor Patrick Henry, On December 21, 1776 he asserted the security of the Dominions of Virginia designating Colonels the Honorable George Rogers Clark and the Honorable John Bowman.

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