Christian County Kentucky Deed Book A
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Christian County Kentucky Deed Book A Text Michael D. Baker (c)2016 MDB Publishing All Rights Reserved. Table of Contents Introduction.......................................................... 1 Deed Book - Table of Entries .............................. 5 Deed Book - Original Index............................... 11 Deed Book - Transcription................................. 15 Index of Free People........................................ 123 Free People - Non-Officials .................... 123 Free People - Officials ............................ 132 Index of Enslaved People ................................ 135 Index of Places................................................. 137 Introduction 1 Introduction hristian County, Kentucky, Deed Book A contains records drafted from 1790 through August C 1808 and entered into the Christian County Court during its regular sessions from 1797 to Au- gust 1808. For a short period of the county's early history, there were two books named Deed Book A. Other contemporaneous deed and similar records were also recorded in what is now called Deed Book B, but was initially Deed Book A of the Court of Quarter Sessions. The land area of Christian County during this time went through multiple and sizeable reductions as the Kentucky General Assembly established new counties in total or in part from Christian County. Therefore, some of the people and locations recorded in the first few years of its existence may be outside of its boundaries by the time the deed book was completed. This publication contains a complete transcription of the original text, a description of the transcription methods, some pertinent history, indices and research notes for numerous records. County Formation Christian County, Kentucky, was formed March 1st, 1797 from Logan County. On May 15th, 1799, Christian County underwent substantial further division and decrease in area with the formations of Muhlenberg [1] and Henderson[2] counties and on the 21st with Livingston County[3]. The bound- aries remained little changed from then until 1819 when some area was lost to enlarge Caldwell County then in 1820 to extend Hopkins County and form most of Todd and Trigg counties. From the Acts of the Kentucky General Assembly: Chapter CCXLVI An ACT for the division of Logan county. Approved December 13, 1796. SEC- TION 1. Be it enacted by the general assembly, That from and after the first day of March next, the county of Logan shall be divided into two distinct counties, that is to say, all that part of the said county including the following bounds, viz : beginning on Green river eight miles below the mouth of Muddy river; thence a straight line to one mile west of Benjamin Hardin's; thence a straight line to the Tennessee state line, where it crosses the Elk fork; thence along the said line to the Mississippe; thence up the same to the mouth of the Ohio, and up the same to the mouth of Green river; thence up the same to the beginning, shall be one of Christian: and all the residue of the said county shall retain the name of Logan. Page numbering There are several errors in page numbering in the original deed book. Even some of the later at- tempts at page number correction were faulty. For this reason, pages are assigned an unambiguous sequential number in addition to the literal notation. The sequential page reference, when shown, is in square brackets (e.g., [125] or [page 125]). Some pages have as many as three different page numbers: an original notation, a later faulty change, and a final correction. Even though a page number may have been later altered, an index or document written before the change may refer- ence the earlier page number. Knowledge of these errors and modifications may be useful for the researcher who finds a reference to a page location that no longer matches a more recent page num- bering scheme. Page number 167 is duplicated with a left and right page 167. There is no page marked 168. Pages are correctly numbered sequentially from 169 through 255. Page 256 is written 226. The 30 difference is carried through page 239 and 240. These two pages were later overwritten 2 Christian County Kentucky Deed Book A to 259 and 260 only correcting by 20 instead of 30. This difference continues through 284[294]. Page 284 is then duplicated so that there is a 284[294] and 284[295] and the page count is then off and by 11 through the end. The last page 440 is actually 451. The pages are intermittently correct- ed throughout. The index and internal page references in the original typically call the uncorrected page numbers. These inconsistencies are recorded in the text transcription. To reduce confusion and avoid citing multiple page numbers in the indices of this publication, the written page number clos- est to or matching the sequential page count is used. If the literal page number and the sequential number differ by more than a few pages, the later is appended in brackets. Notes on transcription The transcription is intended to recreate the content of the original document as accurately as practi- cally possible in typed form. The layout of the original text is also simulated to preserve any mean- ing the spatial arrangement might have. Since it is not possible to perfectly imitate the appearance of the handwritten records in type, some allowances are made in transcription. The infinite vari- ability of sizes from lower-case to upper-case for some letters cannot be transcribed and are often a judgment call. There is much inconsistency in writing at this time regarding spelling, grammar, cap- italization, abbreviations, etc. Some of the phonetic spelling may seem very unusual to the modern reader but are left as-is without intentional correction. Some of these are common to the period and can be found in other regions and were acceptable forms of words or speech. The "[sic]" notation has only been added when the error is particularly uncommon or to clarify it is not an error of the transcription process. The author has placed any added content or commentary inside square brack- ets "[]." Information created for the indices, and not found in the original county record, is treated in a more modern or standard manner, such as the expansion of the unambiguous "Wm" to "William." However "Jere" and "Jeremiah" and are indexed separately, even when likely referring to the same person. Monetary units were often recorded in columns without discrete margins. Null values represented by a zero mark dot or dash were often omitted or contained a space. To make the units more evident in the transcription, a divider or spacing character may be added for clarity (e.g., 1/4/• indicates 1 pound 4 shillings and zero pence, where the dividers may or may not have been included in the original, but their position on the page makes it clear). A single slash mark commonly separated shilling and pence values. The clerk may have recorded a value of six shillings 4 pence as 6/4, 6s/ 4d, or 6s/4d; eight pence as /8, •/8, -/8 ; and eight shillings as 8/ , 8/•, 8/-. Indices The author has attempted to index all names and entities, including individuals when only a first name or last name is available. There are separate indices each for Enslaved people and place names. The page references in the various indices are for the page number or page range the docu- ment spans in the original book. The page reference may also include a sequential page number in square brackets to account for significant differences between the number written on the page and sequential page count. Introduction 3 Abbreviations Some abbreviations or contractions present in the original text of this or other early records are list- ed below. Variations exist for many of these. Miscellaneous S'd - Said Bart'w - Bartholomew ()'d - ()ed SCC - Sheriff/Surveyor Chris- Benj'n - Benjamin Afs''d - Aforesaid tian County Cha's - Charles Ass'ee - Assignee Sct - Scilicet Dan'l - Daniel, Donald Att'o Att'y - Attorney Ss - Scilicet Dav'd - David ye. - The Spa - Subpoena Edm'd - Edmond, Edmund CC - Chain Carrier Wit's - Witness Edw'd - Edward Clk - Clerk Wx - wife Gabr'l - Gabriel CM - Chain Men Dates Geo - George Com'r(s) - Commissioner(s) Jan'y - January Hen'y - Henry C'r - Creditor Feb'y - February Ja's - James D'r - Debitor Mar - March Jer'h - Jeremiah D'o, do - Ditto Ap'l - April Jon'a - Jonathan Def't - Defendant Aug't - August Jo's- Joseph Del'd - Delivered Sept'r - September Jn'o - John Ex'd - Executed Oct'r Oct'o - October Just'n - Justinian Ex'or - Executor Nov'r Nov'm - November Mat(t)'w - Matthew LS - Locus Sigili Dec'r - December Nath'l - Nathaniel Or'd - Ordered Names Rich'd - Richard OR - Ordered Recorded Arm'd - Armstead Rob't - Robert Pltf - Plaintiff Abr'm - Abram, Abraham Sam'l - Samuel P'd - Paid Alex'r - Alexander Tho's - Thomas P'r - Per And'w - Andrew Tm'o - Timothy Rec'd - Received Arch'd - Archibald W'm - William 4 Christian County Kentucky Deed Book A Endnotes: 1. CHAPTER CXXX An ACT for the erection of a new County out of the Counties of Logan and Christian Approved December 14, 1798. SECTION 1. BE it enacted by the general assembly, That from and after the fifteenth day of May next, all that part of the counties of Logan and Christian included in the following bounds, to wit: Beginning at the mouth of Mud river, running up said river with its meanders within three miles of the mouth of Wolf-Lick fork, on a straight line, six miles below Benjamin Hardin's; from thence on a straight line so as to strike Pond river, two miles below Joel Downing's; from thence down Pond river with the meanders to the mouth; from thence up Green river to the beginning, shall be one distinct county, and called and known by the name of Muhlenberg.