Trimble County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2010 census, the population was 8,809. Its county seat is Bedford. The county was founded in 1837 and is named for Robert Trimble. Trimble is a prohibition or dry county.
I needed to get an idea of the area before working on the census; so this is what I came up with. Now after reading Strother's history (link below), I see I was right about there being a natural divide running through that area.
In 1902 Trimble was a small county on the northern Kentucky-Indiana border, the border being the Ohio River. It covered most of the 2nd 'bump out' on the map along the Ohio River. Trimble was the western most part of the bump and Carroll was the eastern part. Trimble borders on Carroll Co on the Northeast and Henry county on the southeast. Due south is Oldham and further south of Oldham is Jefferson county. Trimble County was not organized until 1837. Working back through the years I find:
1776 all of Kentucky was called Kentucky County, Virginia. Kentucky was never a territory, it was part of Virginia until statehood on June 1st, 1792. Virginia was huge at that time, covering KY, VA & WV.
In 1780 Kentucky Co, Virginia divided into Fayette, Jefferson & Lincoln counties. The bump (which became Trimble Co) was in Jefferson County with Fayette County it's adjacent border. The bump seems to significantly divide the area though the timeline so perhaps there is a physical something there on the edge of the bump to cause this; maybe a river or mountain range.
From 1780 to 1792 the bump was called Jefferson County, Virginia. Note that in 1788 the area adjacent to the bump, that was Fayette, became Woodford County. So the area that became Trimble is right beside the new Woodford County. Later Woodford is cut up into many smaller counties but from 1788 until 1794 it butted Trimble area on the eastern side. Both areas are on the Ohio River. In 1794 that area of Woodford became Franklin County.
From 1792 to 1797 the whole bump was Shelby County, KY
In 1798 the bump was cut out of Shelby and divided; the south and western part of the bump became Henry; the northern part was Gallatin. The way the lines are drawn, Trimble area could conceivably have been in either Henry or Gallatin but more probably in the Henry area. This remained until abt 1823.
In 1823 the southern part of the bump which had been Henry was cut from Henry to make Oldham Co. So from 1823 to 1836 the southern part was called Oldham and the northern part was still Gallatin.
In 1837 Trimble was formed from all of the bump area and some more bits of Oldham, Gallatin and Henry. In 1838 the bump area of Trimble was divided to form Carroll; so now the bump is again split by two counties; Trimble being west of Carroll.
In 1843 Trimble gains a bit of area on the southeastern border from Henry County so it would depend on where the homestead was whether this would change anything.
A much more detailed (and knowledgeable) history was written in 1920 and is posted here: http://www.nkyviews.com/trimble/text/txt_strother.htm
The following paragraph is copied from the http://www.nkyviews.com/trimble/text/txt_strother.htm link above: "Among the old settlers, in addition to those mentioned, are the following names: O’Bryan, Bell, Connell, Young, Whitaker, Garriott, Farley, Butler, Peak, Pendleton, Campbell, Pryor, Duncan, Wright, Conway, Barriger, Moreland, Buchanan, King, Mayfield, Morris, Barclay, Coleman, Jackson, Hudson, Avritt, Lane, Greenwood, Miles, Harley, Chowning, Tandy, Ray, Penn, Estes, Maddox, Davidge, Howe, Ewing, Abbitt, Moffitt, Bare, Totten, Glasscock, Gossom, Yager, Bain, Latta, McIntyre, Singer, Fisher, Fearn, Cooper, Muse and Callis. [To my copy, someone has also penciled in Collins, Spillman, Rolston, and Browning – ed.]"