Anytime one hears the name ‘Pioneer’ cemetery it should be visited! And the same can be said for the Pioneer Cemetery in Hopkinsville in Christian County. A small park where many of the original citizens of Christian County are buried, it is nicely maintained and contains lots of history in one small area. Today I would like to concentrate on Bartholomew and Martha Wood and their family.
This pioneer graveyard was used from 1812 to 1858. Within this enclosure are buried 185 named persons, and many more unknown, all early settlers of Christian County. The land for this cemetery was donated in 1812 by Bartholomew Wood, the first settler in Hopkinsvile. He also donated land and timber for the first public buildings 1797. He died in 1827 and was buried here.
Bartholomew Wood was the town founder – in 1796, frontiersman, a farmer, a tavern keeper in the town of Hopkinsville. The Christian County Court House was built in 1797 upon land supplied by Bartholomew and with his lumber. The town was originally known as Elizabeth in 1799, but was later changed to Hopkinsville in 1804. Bartholomew Wood died here November 26, 1827.
A soldier in in the South Carolina Militia during the war, Bartholomew Wood was part of Colonel Robertson’s Regiment in 1779.
Martha Ann was the wife of Bartholomew Wood. She was born in Virginia June 27, 1763, married in Jonesborough, North Carolina (now Tennessee) July 20, 1780, and died at Hopkinsville, Kentucky, November 9, 1846, outliving her husband by almost twenty years.
Children of Bartholomew and Martha Ann Wood were Elizabeth Wood Douglass, Mary (Polly) Wood Gist, Sarah (Sally) Wood Cornelius, Temperance (Tempy) Wood Roberts, Patsy Wood Millholland, Bartholomew T. Wood, Carter T. Wood, Curtis Davenport Wood, William J. Wood, Letitia Charlotte Wood and Hardin J. Wood.
Categories: Family Stories
Kentucky Kindred Genealogy 
I am an avid reader of your posts. I noticed the marriage comment that the couple were married in NC now TN. I have an ancestor like that but can not find any record. Do you have any tips on finding these things?
Mike Sullivan KYSSAR Lafayette Chapter
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Mike, generally I tend to find those marriages in the original state – in the county it was originally, before coming a new state. Since new counties were formed from existing counties in those early days, you have to trace the county back to its home parent for the year you are interested. For example, Kentucky was originally part of Fincastle County, Virginia; then became Kentucky County, Virginia; was then divided into three counties – Lincoln, Jefferson and Fayette Counties of Virginia in 1780, then several others before Kentucky became a state in 1792. If you read some of the old wills or marriage records they will say Virginia from 1780 until 1792 when Kentucky became a separate state. Before the 1780 date, if there were marriages or wills, they would have been recorded in Fincastle County, Virginia. But I can’t say that’s true for North Carolina and Tennessee. I’m not as familiar with the early history of those states. Hm, after checking Animap I found that Tennessee was first Washington County, NC, created in 1776. By 1788 there were seven counties, one of which was Tennessee County, NC. In 1796 when Tennessee was admitted to the Union, Tennessee County became Montgomery County and Robertson County.
I haven’t been able to locate any information on Col. Robertson’s South Carolina regiment during the Revolutionary War.