Isaac Shelby, born December 11, 1750, and died July 18, 1826, was a husband, father, farmer, and the namesake of Shelby County. He served as Kentucky’s first governor from 1792 to 1796 and its fifth governor from 1812 to 1816. He was a hero of Dunmore’s War, the American Revolution, and the War of 1812. His public service also included membership in the Virginia House of Delegates and the North Carolina House of Commons, service as sheriff of Lincoln County, North Carolina, and leadership in education and agriculture as founder of the Kentucky Society for the Promotion of Useful Knowledge, trustee of Transylvania Seminary, founding president of the Kentucky Agricultural Society, and founding board chair of Centre College.