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Owen County, Kentucky was founded in 1819 and named for Abraham Owen.  He served in the wars with the Indians under generals James Wilkinson and Arthur St. Clair in 1791 and served under Colonel John Hardin.  Owen was surveyor of Shelby County, Kentucky in 1796. He was in the Kentucky Legislature in 1798, and a member of the state constitutional convention the next year. Owen served as a colonel and as aide-de-camp to William Henry Harrison at the Battle of Tippecanoe, where he was killed in 1811. After his death, counties were named for him in Indiana and Kentucky.  The county seat, as well as largest county, is Owenton.  Estimated population, as of 2015, was 10,730.  Owen County served as the opening setting in the 1992 Paul Russell novel Boys of Life, where it’s referred to simply as Owen.  Though the majority of the novel is set in early ‘80’s New York City, various points of interest within Owen and nearby areas such as Christian County are mentioned and referenced throughout the story.

Owsley County was founded in 1843.  The county seat and largest city is Booneville.  The county was organized on January 23, 1843 from Clay, Estill and Breathitt Counties and was named for William Owsley. He was judge of the Kentucky Court of Appeals and Governor of Kentucky (1844-48).

Pendleton County was founded in 1798 and named for Edmund Pendleton.  I couldn’t find any online information about him.  The county seat and largest city is Falmouth.  Estimated population of Pendleton as of 2015 was 14,408.  Pendleton County was created from parts of Campbell and Bracken counties in 1798.[4]

Falmouth, the future county seat, began as a settlement called Forks of Licking, circa 1776.[7] It was the site of the Battle of Blue Licks during the Revolutionary War. Native Americans who were helping the British ambushed Kentuckians on August 19, 1782 on the Licking River. In a matter of fifteen minutes, 60 were killed.[8]

Falmouth was chartered in 1793. Its name originated from the Virginians who settled there from Falmouth, Virginia.[9] It was also in 1793 that one of the first sawmills in Kentucky was built in Falmouth.[8] Falmouth was designated the county seat in 1799.[10] The county courthouse was erected in 1848.[8]

During the American Civil War, the county sent men to both armies. A Union Army recruiting camp was established in Falmouth in September 1861. Two Confederate recruiters were captured and executed by the Union Army in the Peach Grove area of northern Pendleton County. In July 1862, a number of county citizens were rounded up by Union troops during a crackdown against suspected Confederate sympathizers. In June 1863, a number of women were arrested at Demossville because they were believed to be potential spies dangerous to the Federal government. Falmouth was the site of a small skirmish on September 18, 1862, between twenty-eight Confederates and eleven Home Guardsmen. The city of Butler was established circa 1852 when the Kentucky Central Railroad was built through the area. The city was named for William O. Butler, U.S. congressman from the area, when it was incorporated on February 1, 1868. 

Perry County was founded November 2, 1820 and named for American navel commander Oliver Howard Perry.  The county seat and largest city is Hazard.  Estimated population as of 2015 was 27,565.  

Pike County was founded in 1821 and named for Zebulon Pike, American brigadier general and explorer for whom Pikes Peak in Colorado was renamed(from El Capitan).  As a U.S. Army officer he led two expeditions, first in 1805-06 to reconnoiter the upper reaches of the Mississippi River, and then in 1806-07 to explore the Southwest to the fringes of the northern Spanish-colonial settlements. Pike's expeditions coincided with other Jeffersonian expeditions, including the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804–1806) and the Thomas Freeman and Peter Custis expedition (1806).[1]

Pike's second expedition crossed the Rocky Mountains into southern Colorado, which led to his capture by the Spanish, who sent Pike and his men to Chihuahua (present-day Mexico), for interrogation. Later in 1807, Pike and some of his men were escorted by the Spanish through Texas and released near American territory.

In 1810, Pike published an account of his expeditions, a book so popular that it was translated into Dutch, French, and German, for publication in Europe. He later achieved the rank of brigadier general in the Army and served during the War of 1812, until he was killed during the Battle of York.  The county seat and largest city is Pikeville.  Estimated population, as of 2015, was 61,792.  Notable residents include: Woody Blackburn(pro golfer), Stephen Cochran(country music singer-songwriter), Robert Damron(pro golfer), Patty Loveless(country singer), Paul E. Patton(former KY Governor), Mark Reynolds(pro baseball player) and country singer-songwriter Dwight Yoakam.