Beriah Magoffin, for whom the county was named in 1860, was born in 1815 in Harrodsburg, attended Centre College in 1835 and Transylvania Law School in 1838, served in the State Senate from 1850 to 1852, became governor of Kentucky in 1859, resigned in 1862 after disagreement with the legislature over enforcement of Kentucky's armed neutrality act when agreement was reached on a successor, served as State Representative for Mercer County from 1867 to 1869, and died in 1885 and was buried in Harrodsburg, Kentucky.