Dennis Partridge

The Origin of Christian County, Kentucky

Christian County was named in honor of Col. William Christian, a noted soldier and Indian fighter. Collins gives the following sketch of him: He was a native of Augusta County, Va., and was educated at Staunton. When very young he commanded a company attached to Col. Bird’s regiment, which was ordered to the frontier during Braddock’s war. In this service he obtained the reputation of a brave, active and efficient officer. Upon the termination of Indian hostilities, he married the sister of Patrick Henry, and settled in the county of Botetourt. In 1774, having received the appointment of Colonel of … Read more

Town of Pembroke

Pembroke is a thriving little town of about 400 inhabitants, situated on the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, ten miles south of Hopkinsville. Its founder was R. C. Jameson, who at first (about 1848-49) kept the post office in his private residence, but afterward built a storehouse at the junction of the Tobacco and Nashville roads to which he removed it. It has a score or more of business houses, a church, a flouring-mill, a planing-mill, two tobacco warehouses, a rehandling establishment, several shops, and last but not least two excellent schools. One of these, the Pembroke Male and Female Institute, … 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

Pioneer Pastimes

If the pioneers lived in a time of rude civilization, they enjoyed their scenes of fun and frolic quite as well as their descendants enjoy their more refined amusements. Their house-raisings, their log-rolling’ and corn-shuckings, were times enjoyed by every community, particularly by the young people, when, as was often the case, a ” quilting” was a part of the programme, and that followed by a dance when the work was done. Sambo, with an old, cracked, wheezy fiddle, but three strings on it as like as not, furnished music far more highly prized by these simple, rude people than … Read more

Lafayette and Garrettsburg Precincts, Christian County, Kentucky

Lafayette and Garrettsburg Magisterial Districts or Precincts lie in the southwestern portion of Christian County, and are of fine farming lands. They were originally mostly barrens ” or prairie, and by the early settlers deemed of little worth except for pasturage. Physically and geologically they are much the same lands of Union Schoolhouse and Longview Precinct. They border on the Tennessee line for several miles, with Trigg County on the west, Union Schoolhouse Precinct on the north and Longview Precinct on the east. The surface is generally level or undulating, with very little hilly or broken country in either of … Read more

Land Speculations and Troubles

In the early history of Kentucky there was much trouble arising out of defective land titles, and settlers in every portion of the State suffered more or less from this cause. The old records of Christian County show more land litigation than any other kind. Collins says: The radical and incurable defect of the law was the neglect of Virginia to provide for the general survey of the country, at the expense of the Government, and its subdivision into whole, half and quarter sections, as is now done by the United States. Instead of this, each possessor of a warrant … Read more

The Mound Builders

The Anglo-Saxons were not the first people to occupy this country, neither were their precursors the red Indians. There are throughout a large portion of the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys, as well as other sections of the country, remains of a former race of in-habitants found, of whose origin and history we have no record, and who are only known to us by the relics discovered in the tumuli which they have left. The Mound-Builders were a numerous people, entirely distinct from the North American Indians. Their footprints may be traced wherever the Mississippi and its tributaries flow. Says a … Read more

Mount Vernon Precincts, Christian County, Kentucky

To this part of the county of which we now write came principally emigrants from the Carolinas. They were a brave, adventurous set, and were well worthy to become the progenitors of so hardy a race as the present population of northeast Christian. The first, or one among the first, who came to the Mount Vernon Precinct was not from either of the Carolinas, nor from Virginia, but from the good old State of Pennsylvania, the Germany of America. He was a sturdy old German named Fritz, and located on the West Fork of Little River, where he carried on … Read more

Christian County Kentucky Genealogy

Christian county, Kentucky was formed in the year 1796, and named in honor of Colonel William Christian. It lies in the south-western part of the State, adjoining the Tennessee line: Bounded on the north by Hopkins and Muhlenburg; east by Todd; south by the State of Tennessee, and west by Trigg. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,875 km² (724 mi²). 1,868 km² (721 mi²) of it is land and 7 km² (3 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 0.37% water. This county is twenty-two miles wide and thirty-two long, … Read more

Native Americans of Christian County

The Indians beheld, with alarm, the growing strength and increasing numbers of the Anglo-Saxons on the Atlantic border. King Philip well understood the nature of things and the ultimate result, when he struck the blow which he hoped would forever crush the power of the whites. Pontiac foresaw the coming storm when he beheld the French flag and French supremacy stricken down on the Plains of Abraham. To the assembled chiefs of the nations in council, he unfolded his schemes of opposition and depicted the disasters which would attend the coming rush of the pale-faced invaders. Fifty years after the … Read more