Dennis Partridge

Western Lunatic Asylum

On the 28th of February, 1848, the legislature of Kentucky provided for the location and erection of a second Lunatic Asylum. The ” Spring Hill ” tract of 383 acres of land (which proved to be of ” indifferent quality “), on the turnpike road east of Hopkinsville, was purchased for $1,971.50 (only $5.14 per acre). This sum was refunded by the citizens, and $2,000 additional paid by them. There was expended upon buildings and other improvements in 1849, $43,052, in 1850, $43,484; the additional outlays for these purposes do not appear in any documents before us. The legislature appropriated … Read more

Wilson Precinct, Christian County, Kentucky

Simultaneous with the settlement of the others, emigrants from the Carolinas and elsewhere moved into the Wilson Precinct. Among the first were the Murphys, Pitzers, Johnsons, etc. The latter came with Samuel Johnson, the father, from South Carolina in 1800 or thereabouts, and settled on the Blue Lick Fork of Pond River. Francis Pennington and several brothers came from one of the Carolinas to the county in 1800. Later on, he moved to the place now owned by Mrs. Pennington, on the West Fork of Pond River, where he passed the remainder of his life. All the other brothers left … Read more

Union Schoolhouse Precinct

Union Schoolhouse Precinct, designated on the map as No. 6, extends from Hopkinsville Precinct on the east to the Trigg County line on the west. On the north it is bounded by Bainbridge and Hamby Precincts, and on the south by the Lafayette Precinct. It is one among the largest precincts of the county, and has two voting places, Union Schoolhouse and Pee Dee. Originally, like all the others in the southern part of the county, it was a ” barren ” or prairie, and with the exception of a clump or two of trees around certain sink holes and … Read more

Union Schoolhouse Precinct Churches

With the coming of this worthy class of citizens came also the nuclei of the several Christian denominations at present represented in the precinct. It cannot be said with certainty which denomination was first in establishing a church society. We will proceed, however, to sketch the different churches as we have obtained the facts of their organization. The following sketch of Shiloh Methodist Church South was written for this work by Judge Joe McCarroll, and will be found of interest: Shiloh Methodist Church There is a beautiful elevation, a sort of table land with trees and grass in abundance and … Read more

Christian County, Kentucky Union Soldiers

Simultaneous with the breaking out of the war, and while the Confederates were organizing at Camp Boone and elsewhere, the friends of the Union also rushed to arms. Their principal rendezvous in the county was near Hopkinsville, on the farm of Mr. Joseph F. Anderson, and was popularly known as ” Camp Joe Anderson.” Here (some say about 500, and some 1,000) men were organized into a regiment under command of Col. James F. Buckner, now of Louisville, Ky. It was officered as follows: Col., James F. Buckner; Lt – Col., T. C. Fruit; William T. Buckner, Major; Maj. John … Read more

South Kentucky College

The accompanying sketch of South Kentucky College is compiled from its catalogue of 1882-83, which contains the history of the college from its organization up to that time. In February, 1849, the General Assembly of Kentucky passed an act authorizing John M. Barnes, Henry J. Stites, Benjamin S. Campbell, John B. Knight, W. F. Bernard, Robert L. Waddill, Jacob Torian, Isaac H. Caldwell and W. A. Edmonds to establish in Hopkinsville, Ky., an institution for the higher education of women, and to ” make all such laws, rules and ordinances necessary for the government of said institution as shall not … Read more

Stewart Precinct, Christian County, Kentucky

Lod Dulin came to Stewart from South Carolina in 1808, and settled near the mouth of Hall’s Creek on the place now owned by his grandson-Frank Dulin. He was a good farmer and an excellent citizen, and left a worthy family of five sons-Rice, E. G., Daniel M. and Lott W. In his younger days he had been a bricklayer by trade. Stephen B. Stewart from the same State came somewhat earlier, perhaps in the nineties, and located at the ” Red House,” on the road from White Plains to Madisonville. He built a horse-mill on his place, and did … Read more

Political History of Christian County, Kentucky

For a decade or two after the birth of the county there was but little party strife to disturb the equanimity of the people. The old Federal party, which had bitterly opposed President Jefferson and his official acts, had become extinct through the exciting events of the war of 1812. The war measures of President Madison were generally and even earnestly supported by the people throughout the country, and nowhere more zealously than in Kentucky, as evidenced by the great number of her best men sent into the army. But the close of the war found the country in a … Read more

Christian County, Kentucky Revolutionary War Soldiers

In the war between England and her American Colonies the fault was with the immediate rulers rather than with the people. It was the perverseness and stubbornness of her Teutonic Sovereign and his Prime Minister, Lord North, rather than any unfriendly spirit of the masses that led to the collision. Upon the part of the Colonies the issue was unavoidable, and was simply a struggle for the bare privilege of existence. Resorted to as a measure of self-defense then, it never, upon their part, assumed the repulsive features of an aggression. The lofty statesmanship that dared conceive the possibility of … Read more

The Pennington Family of Christian County, Kentucky

In the north part of the county lived a family named Pennington, who were quite early settlers. The father, Col. Francis P. Pennington, was a man of considerable wealth, and intelligent beyond the majority of his neighbors. He owned a large farm, and some fifteen or twenty slaves; was long a Justice of the Peace, and as such under the old Constitution of the State, succeeded in regular rotation to the office of High Sheriff of the county, in 1829. In this capacity, so far as is now known, he discharged his duties well and faithfully. In those days he … Read more