Locations:
Believed to have been born in South Carolina.(See message
from Internet)
1790 Greenville County, South Carolina.(part of 96th
District)
1796 Founded Elizabethtown (Hopkinsville), Christian
County, Kentucky.
1797 Elizabethtown (Hopkinsville), Christian Co., Kentucky.
1812 Hopkinsville, Christian Co., Kentucky (gave ground
for cemetery).
1820 Warren County, Tennessee (per U.S. Census)
1824 Warren County, Tennessee (per Plat Records)
1827 Hopkinsville, Christian Co., Kentucky (Bartholomew
buried)
1846 Hopkinsville, Christian Co., Kentucky (Martha died)
Biography:
Bartholomew and Martha were born about 1733, this based on Bartholomew
applying for a Land Grant in South Carolina in 1753(14).
Elizabeth their daughter being born about 1783.(2,3)
Bartholomew and Martha had at least one daughter, named Elizabeth, who married William Douglas.(See family history of William Douglas) Bartholomew and Martha had a son named Bartholomew, born about 1784 who moved with them to Kentucky in about 1796 and who stayed in Christian County, Kentucky for most of the rest of his life.(10)
Bartholomew and Martha's had five sons and several daughters. The sons include Bartholomew, Hardin, Carter, William and Curtis. The daughters include Elizabeth, Mary, Charlotte, Patsey, Tempy, and Sarah.(11,12) Elizabeth married William Douglass. Mary married a man named Guest. Charlotte may not have married, being indicated as Woods in Bat's will. Patsey married a man named Mulholland, and Tempy married William Roberts. (12)
Bartholomew was believed to be originally from North Carolina.(12)
Currently, the first record found of Bartholomew is dated 1753. On the 30th of August,1753, Bartholomew filed for a South Carolina Land Grant for 300 acres including the mouth of Duncan's Creek. (14) Bartholomew petitioned for a land warrant of Survey of Land to "His Excellency the Governor" for 150 acres on Tyger Creek in South Carolina on June 6th, 1758 (15)
In 1768, Bartholomew is still at Tyger Creek, where William Hendrick foled for a Petition for Warrents of Survey of 100 acres "on Tyger River joining Bartholomew Wood.(16)
Bartholomew participated in the American Revolution, enlisting in 1779, while residing in Greenville District, under Colonel Robertson in the militia.(17)
On the 20th July, 1780 he married his wife, Martha Ann _______.(17)
Bartholomew can be found in Greenville County or District, in South Carolina, in 1790.(9)
Bartholomew and Martha were the first settler of Hopkinsville, Christian County, Kentucky(1) in about 1796 after passing through Tennessee.
A Kentucky memorial written in 1904 indicates the following for Bartholomew:
"Bartholomew Wood, was a native of South Carolina, whence he moved to Tennessee, and about 1796 came to Christian county, Kentucky, being the first man to locate where Hopkinsville now stands. He first stopped at the river about one mile from this place, and carried all his property over on horseback, even taking his wagon apart and bringing things piece by piece. He discovered the spring now known as Rock Spring, and there pitched his tent, which was his first home. About a half a mile from this spot the found another spring, and here he built a log house and made the first improvements upon his farm. He took up land from the government, and upon his land the first houses of Hopkinsville were built, but the settlement was then called Elizabethtown, named by himself. His was the first house of the town. He was a great Nimrod, and was in his favorite element during the earlier years when all kinds of game animals were to be found in the vicinity, besides the barbarous humans in the shape of Indians."(10)
"One of his sons was the first white child born in Christian county. Bartholomew Wood afterwards returned to Tennessee,(jjh note: Warren County, Tenn.), where he died, but his remains rest at Hopkinsville. His wife spent her last days in Christian county (Kentucky) and died at the home of her son, Bartholomew."(10)
"Bartholomew had at least one son named Bartholomew who is supposed to have been born in South Carolina and was twelve when he came to Christian County. After reaching manhood he bought his father's property at Hopkinsville."(10)
"No other family in Christian county is better known than the Wood family, nor any more closely identified with the making and development of the county. Bartholomew Sr., gave four acres for the public square of Hopkinsville; three acres for a cemetery and Baptist church, which is one of the old landmarks, and one acre for school buildings. He also gave the half-acre about Rock Spring, and by these donations brought the town to the present site of Hopkinsville. The name of the city was changed from Elizabethtown to Hopkinsville in honor of a later settler by the name of Hopkins."(10)
Bartholomew's cabin stood near the corner of the present Nashville and Virginia Streets.(12)
Bartholomew was in Christian County March 21, 1797 when his son-in-law, Obadiah Roberts was granted a license to keep a public house when the first court held in the new county was convened. Obadiah was licensed to keep a tavern in Elizabeth, as Hopkinsville was then called.(4)
Bartholomew, (or Bat Wood as his friends called him) was a man of strong, practical common sense, but rather deficient in book learning; a rough diamond and marvelously adapted to the period in which he lived. In his buckskin hunting shirt and leather breeches, he hunted and trapped a great deal, and enjoyed himself only as a hunter could. He belonged to that sturdy class of pioneers whose iron frames had been hardened by exposure, whose muscles were toughened by exercise and toil, and whose bodies seemed invulnerable to disease and pain. The wilderness, with its wild beasts and savages, was their element.(12)
Bartholomew appears again in Christian County history when "The next road (second one built) ordered by the court was in May (15th) 1798, and designated the "State Line near David Smith's" as the starting point, and was to run to the "Christian Court House". The petitioner in this case was Brewer Reeves, and the commissioner appointed Obadiah Roberts, John Caudry, Sheperd McFadin, Bartholomew Wood, and John Roberts, or any three of them.(5)
Bartholomew gave ground in 1812 to the Pioneer Graveyard at Hopkinsville, Christian County, Kentucky. (1)
Bartholomew was in Warren County, Tennessee when the 1820 U.S. Census was taken.(8) Bartholomew was in Warren County, Tennessee July 8, 1824, when he was listed in the Warren County Plat Records, mentioning the plat location of William Stroud Sr., and John B. Rogers being located "On the waters of Hickory Creek, on the south side of the west fork of said creek, SW side of an old road from Bartholomew Wood's to John Bryant's."(6) Bartholomew is mentioned again in the plat records on September 20, 1824, "being on the waters of Hickory Creek, adjoining David Colson, Kincheon Matthews, and Kincheon Mathew's corner."(7)
Bartholomew's Will is on file in Warren County, Tennessee dated 12 Nov. 1824, and is indicated that is when it was written(3)
Bartholomew died in May 12, 1828, and is buried at Hopkinsville, Christian County, Kentucky in what is known as the Pioneer Graveyard. (1,13)
Bat's daughter Sarah received $25 from his will, while the other daughters received land. This could be because of the incident when Sarah married Levi Cornelius, and when Bat went to transfer his land back out of his daughters name, Levi refused, and sold Sarah's land.(12)
Bat's three sons received Harden, Custer, and William received the three tracts of land as well as the other two tracts in Christian County, Kentucky, while the other two sons, Bartholomew and Custer T., received $25. (11) It is indicated that the value of Bartholomew''s estate estate included 13 negroes and other property, amounting to $4010.65. The balance of property was given to Martha for her support.(13)
Martha Wood died in 1846 and is also buried at the Pioneer Graveyard,
Hopkinsville, Christian County, Kentucky. (1)
Records:
(1) Pioneer Graveyard, Where Were Buried the Early
Settlers of Hopkinsville in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century.,
Kentucky GnWeb Project, Christian County.
(2) Coffee County Wills, June 1836-August 1906,
Coffee County Historical Quarterly, Volume XVII, Numbers 3-4, 1986. Abstracted
by Betty Anderson Bridgewater. page 25
Elizabeth Douglass (Bk. O, p. 36; Bk. 1, p. 151; WPA)
Date Written: 9 Feb. 1839 see also Coffee County Historical Quarterly,
No. IX, No. 2 / 25,33), date of birth of Elizabeth speculated from approximate
date of birth of son William M. Douglas, and indicated at date her will
written in 1839 that she was aged 56.
(3) Ibid., Bridgewater. page 126. References to Warren County, Inventories, Sale Bills, Settlements, Etc., I, 1827-1844. William Douglass, pg. 88; inv., 12 Aug 1834; Bartholomew Wood., page 13; Written, 12 Nov. 1824.
(4) Counties of Christian & Trigg, Kentucky, Historical/Biographical. Christian County., Edited by William Henry Perrin, 1884., pg. 49, pg. 64.
(5) Ibid., Perrin, pg. 121.
(6) Warren County Tennessee Plat Book, 1824-1827. Volume 1, by ;Nona Williams, R.O.F.E. Publications, P.O. Box 3793, Santa Cruz, California 95063, copyright 1997, pg. 2.
(7) Ibid., Williams. Page 5.
(8) 1820 U.S. Federal Census, Warren County, Tennessee. Pg. 16.
(9) 1790 U.S. Census, South Carolina, Greenville County.
(10) Memorial Record of Western Kentucky, Lewis Publishing Company, 1904, pp 782-785 [Christian]
(11) Warren County, Tennessee Will Book 1-3 (1827-1858); Abstracted and compiled by Betty Moore Majors, 1992; pg. 3-4. (Page in original Will Book 1, pgs. 13-14)
(12) Christian County & Trigg County, Kentucky, Historical and Biographical; by William Henry Perrin, F.A. Battfy Publ. Co., 1884., pg. 191-193.
(13) Ibid., Majors, Warren County Tn, Will Book 1-3, pg. 6 (page in original will book, pg. 30.)
(14) North Carolina Land Grants in South Carolina; by Brent H. Holcomb, Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, 1986, pg. 40. File No. 846 (224); Grant No. 342, Bk. 10, Pg. 387.(2,68)
(15) Petitions for Land From the South Carolina Journals, Vol. V: 1757-1765; by Brent H. Colcomb, SCMAR, Columbia, South Carolina 1998., pg. 26.
(16) Citizens and Immigrants- South Carolina, 1768; abstracted from contemporary records by Mary Bondurant Warren, 1980, Heritage Papers, Danielsville, Ga. 30633, pg. 41.
(17) Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution; by Bobby Gilmer Moss, Limestone College, Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, 1983., pg. 1009-1010, #R11797 (file #).
Note: There is a town
nearby called Douglas, which later is to become Howel, same county, to
the South of Hopkinsville, Kentucky.
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