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, containing an area of seven hundred and four miles, and is the eleventh county in the State in point of wealth. The southern division of the county is generally composed of rich, fertile, level bottoms, and produces fine crops of tobacco, corn, wheat, rye, oats, and grass. The northern division is broken, and in some portions almost mountainous, with a soil less fertile, but sufficiently rich to sustain a large population-finely timbered, well watered, and abounding in inexhaustible beds of coal and iron ore. The general basis of the soil is a red clay, founded on cavernous limestone; and like most of the southern counties, abounds in sinks, caves and caverns. The situation of the county is elevated, and the surface of the country has a descending inclination in all directions from the centre, as it contains the head waters of Pond, Trade Water, Little, and the west fork of Red rivers : The first emptying into Green river, the second into the Ohio, and the two last into Cumberland river. Mineral and Sulphur springs abound, and many invalids visit them during the watering season. The staple products are corn, wheat, oats and tobacco-not less than 6,500 hogsheads of the latter article being exported annually ; while coal from the mines, in large quantities, finds its way to market.
There are eleven Towns in Christian county. Hopkinsville, the county seat, was laid out in 1799, on the lands of Bartholomew Wood, and called Elizabethtown-by which name it was known for several years. In 1804, it was incorporated by its present name, in honor of Gen. Samuel Hopkins. It is now an incorporated city, with a population in 1870 of 3,136, and on Jan. 1, 1873, of about 3,600. It has 4 warehouses engaged in the inspection and sale of tobacco, and 1 rehandling establishment; is the most important station on the Evansville, Henderson, and Nashville railroad; and the seat of one of the great charities of the state, the Western Lunatic Asylum. Petersburg, 18 miles w. of Hopkinsville, on the Henderson and Madisonville railroad, population about 100. Fairview, 12 miles E., population about 250, is partly in Christian and partly in Todd county ; in the latter part, the house now occupied by Andrew J. Kenner, is pointed out as that in which ex-President Jefferson Davis was born. Pembroke, 10 miles s. E., population in 1870, 278. Oakgrove, 13 miles s. E., on the Clarksville road. Longview, 8 miles s., on the turnpike to Clarksville, population about 100. Garretsburgh, 16 miles s., near the Tennessee line, population about 125. Bennetttown, 12 miles s. w., population about 125. St. Elmo, on Tennessee state line, 12 miles from Hopkinsville, population about 40. Belleview, 8 miles s. w., population about 140. Lafayette, 20 miles s. w., near the Tennessee line, population in 1870, 215. Crofton, 16 miles N. W., on E., H. and N. railroad, population about 150.
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Recent Christian County Kentucky Genealogy
Grace Episcopal Church
The parish of Grace Episcopal Church was organized in October, 1831, at a meeting held by the following persons: Messrs. George Ward, David Glass, M. D., Livingston Lindsay, James D. Steele, M. D., E. A. Green and David Banks, of Christian County. The Rev. George P. Giddings, missionary of the Protestant Episcopal Church; Rev. B. B. Smith, of Lexington, afterward Bishop of Kentucky; and the Rev. Gideon McMillan, of Danville, were also present. No record can be found of the original members of the church, but in the parish register, under the date of 1834, we find the names of…
Fruit Hill Precinct, Christian County, Kentucky
The first comers into the Fruit Hill Precinct whose names can now be recalled came, pretty generally, from the Carolinas also, and a few from Georgia and Virginia about the year 1800. There were others doubtless who came earlier, but their names have been buried with them, and are lost to the pages of history. Thomas Barnett came either from Georgia or one of the Carolinas about the beginning of the century, and opened up a farm on the Hopkinsville & Greenville road, near where the Pleasant Hill Church stands. The last elk seen in Christian is supposed to have…
First Settlers of Christian County, Kentucky
Civilization, it has been said, is a forced condition of existence to which man is stimulated by a desire to gratify artificial wants. Again, it has been written, by a gifted but gloomy misanthrope, that, “As soon as you thrust the plowshare under the earth, it teems with worms and useless weeds. It increases population to an unnatural extent; it creates the necessity of penal enactments, builds the jails, erects the gallows, spreads over the human face a mask of deception and selfishness, and substitutes villainy, love of wealth and power, in the face of single-minded honesty, the hospitality and…
Early Settlers of Christian County, Kentucky
A century has passed since the settlement of Davis and Montgomery, and the first influx of whites is dead and gone. In all probability, there is not an individual living in Christian County who was here at the time of its formation; if so, they could have been little more than infants then. With the long lapse of time between then and now, and no source to draw from except the county records, it is not possible to give a correct list of the settlers prior to 1800. The oldest citizens now living can only give the names of those…
Early Bar of Christian County
At the time of the organization of the county there were no resident lawyers here. The legal machinery had all been put in working order and fully set in motion, before even the legal ” circuit riders ” came to gladden the hearts of the people with their plug hats and store clothes. But courts were a necessary evil, justice had to be administered, quarrels adjudicated, rows settled, men punished for swearing by God ” (as the quaint old records have it), and many other little things that could only be performed by this august body, and the judiciary, therefore,…
Distinguished Politicians of Christian County, Kentucky
There are a number of Christian County men, natives as well as temporary citizens of the county, who afterward rose to high political and military distinction. Notably among these are Hon. Jefferson Davis, ex-President of the Confederacy; Gen. John M. Palmer, and Joseph Dun-can. The two latter have served as Governors of Illinois, and Gen. Palmer is still a distinguished citizen of that State, and holds a prominent position among Democratic Presidential possibilities. John M. Palmer was born in Scott County, Ky., September 13, 1817, and soon after his birth his father, who had been a soldier in the war…
I’m researching Boyds in Christian County, KY in the early 1800s. Several family trees on Ancestry have posted an image of one page (p. 50) from a book of family histories of Christian County. Unfortunately, no specifics about the title, author, or publisher of this book have been provided. The page image has an overview of the Boyds who settled in Christian County followed by biographies of Aaron Boyd and Archibald Boyd (partial). it would appear that other biographies follow. Some of the entries reference the 1986 Christian County Family History Book, so this source must have been published after 1986. Any help identifying and locating this source would be appreciated. Thank you!
Bruce, the FamilySearch card catalog is always your friend:
https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/555342
Did you try to get in touch with the Christian County Historical society? They may know the book you are talking about. Several of the Boyd family were in Christian County as early as 1805. There are even more books to look through and known about with the Christian County Historical Society.
Some of the families of Boyd are found in Old District 96 of South Carolina, census 1779 and a lot of these people moved across Tennessee by the Cumberland River and up into Christian County, Kentucky. In 1811-12 the Madrid fault caused a great earthquake and the people in Christian County move out of their dirt floor cabins to sleep outside.
Boyd Hugh
Boyd James Glasgos
Boyd John
Boyd Tobert Glen
Boyd William
Some of the Boyd family names are found in the early Pennsylvania of William Penn area. I think James, John, Joseph, and William Boyd. The book; “The Johns Connection” by: Helen Sides Dye have some info on the Boyd family name. If you make a connection to the early Boyds of Pennsylvania or Delaware let me know as that is the way my Jones came over in 1710, David John, (Jones later) and wife Easther Morgan, Jones. Good luck!
Is the original Pollards Grocery store still standing in Hopkinsville, Kentucky?
I am researching the Kirkmans of Christian and Hopkins Counties, in particular the descendants of George Jackson Kirkman and Josephine Ellen Winders Kirkman. I have discovered that one of their sons, Dewey Kirkman, is my paternal grandfather, and was living in eastern Kentucky under the alias of Bill Jones when he met and married my grandmother. Dewey was born 1901 or 1902, and was murdered in 1937 in Ligon, Floyd Co, Kentucky while working in the mines. I would love to find a photo of him or any of his brothers, to see the family resemblance. I have collected some information on him during the time he was evading the law in western Kentucky, but from 1928 to 1937 until his death, I can find little information after he “disappeared” from western KY. On the 1930 census his first wife, Mattie Murray Kirkman, was living with family and stated she was a widow. However, Dewey was very much alive and in fact, she brought their son Jimmy to attend his funeral. At his death, he was married to his third wife, and was no longer with my grandmother. Their relationship only lasted a couple of years, and no one in my family knew anything about him until the discoveries I recently made. My father knew nothing about him.
Looking for information or stories of Dr John Reuben Moore. He was a Doctor in Christian County Ky. Was told he was Dr for the poor house. Can’t find anything on him. He was born 1840 and died 1912
There were many new people that came to Christian County, Kentucky from South Carolina after the Rev. War, 1776 to 1778. My Jones line came to Christian County, Kentucky by 1797, 1798, & 1799 and they came through Tennessee by way of the Cumberland River then up into Christian County, Kentucky. The three brothers were John Jones, William Jones, and Thomas Jones all the sons of Thomas Jones died 1779 in Old 96th District of South Carolina, the son of John Jones & Ann James, Jones who left Delaware in 1737-1738 to start a new life on land given to the Welsh people of the Baptist faith. They called their Church; “The Welsh Neck Baptist Church” and it was located on the east side of the PeeDee River in South Carolina. You can find out more from the book; “The Johns Connection”, by: Helen Sides Dye.