There was a Bohannon, Boughton and Kirtley connection in Madison County, Virginia,
which extends into Woodford County, Kentucky, which may hold some implications for
William Bohannon and his son John, who moved to Kentucky: [Madison County,
Virginia, Will Book 1 (1793-1804), Will Abstracts of Madison County, Virginia,
1793-1813 (with marriages 1793-1800) by Sparacio; e-mail transcript, Jeanne Porter
Barton (ELXC78A@prodigy.com).]
Know all men ... we Mary Bohannon and James Kirtley, John Bohannon and
Elijah Kirtley are held and firmly bound ... in the sum of seven thousand dollars ... 25
Jun 1798 ... condidtion of the above ... that if ... Mary Bohannon and James Kirtley,
administrators with the will annexed of all the goods, chattels and credits of
Ambrose Bohannon, deceased, do make a true ... inventory ...
At court held 25 Jan 1798 ... bond acknowledged and ordered to be recorded ..
We the subscribers ... appraised the estate of Ambrose Bohannon, dec'd.. value
£413.11.6 ... made by appraisers John Gibbs, John Bradford, William Booten,
John Rucker. returned into court 22 Feb 1798 and ordered to be recorded.
Know all men ... We, Mary Bohannon and William Kirtley.. bound in the sum of
ten thousand dollars 26 Nov 1801 ... Condition of the above ... Mary Bohannon ...
shall well and truley pay and deliver unto Fanny, Cadin(?), Tinsley, Polly,
William, Hiram, and Nancy, orphans of Ambrose Bohannon, dec'd ... at a
court held 26 Nov 1801 ... bond acknowledged and ordered to be recorded.
Be it known to all to whom it may concern that John Bohannon, acting Executor
of the last will and testament of Elliott Bohannon deceased, hath exposed to sale
all the remaining part of the estate of the said decedent ... the said John Bohannon
for himself, Elliott Bohannon, on the other executor therin named, and Richard
Bohannon by James Finnie, their attorney, Mary Bohannon, administratrix, and
James Kirtley, administrator of Ambrose Bohannon, deceased, Robert Gaines by
Ambrose Gaines, his attorney, William Kirtley, James Bohannon and Thomas
Bohannon, acting under a conveyance from William Herndon and wife to him, all
being legatees of the said decedent have mutually agreed ... the said sale shall be
considered legal and irrevocable between them ... they bind themselves in the
penal sum of ten thousand dollars.. this 2nd day of October 1801 ...
In the presence of Richard Field, Thos. Wood, Geo. H. Allen, E. Gaines, John
Gibbs.
At a court held 24th June 1802 ... this instrument of writing ... proved ... and
ordered to be recorded.
The estate of Elliott Bohannon, dec'd, in account with Ambrose Bohannon, exec.,
... account begins in August 1790 ... examined by E. Gaines, Jno. Bradford,
Churchill Gibbs, Alexr. Hunton ... settlement exhibited in court 24 Jun 1802 and
ordered to be recorded.
Further settlement of the estate of Elliott Bohannon shows Elliott Bohannon Junr.
is of Woodford County ... mentions cash paid brother, Ambrose ... sworn by
Elliott Bohannon 2 Nov 1801 ... settled 1st day of April 1802 by E. Gaines, Jno.
Bradford, Churchill Gibbs, Alexr. Hunton. Settlement exhibited in court 24 Jun
1802 and ordered to be recorded.
James Kirtley m Sarah Bohannon, dau of Mary, 7 Nov 1797, bondsman Jno.
Bohannon.
Lewis Overton m Sary Gibbs of Francis, 7 Jan 1794, John Kirtley Bondsman..
Merry Walker m. Elizabeth Kirtley 24 Jun 1793, bondsman James Walker, Jr.,
letter by Jeremiah Kirtley father ...
Elliott Herndon & Lewis Overton posted bond 28 Jul 1796 for Elliott to keep an
ordinary ...
William and Ruth Bohannon probably moved south to Pittsylvania County, Virginia,
after selling their land in Augusta County in 1768. William Bohannon was a resident of
Pittsylvania County by 1769, when his name appears twice, that year, on a list of persons
who bought or sold land from 1737 to 1770, which was found in a ledger (pages 450 and
452) in the office of the Pittsylvania County Clerk of Court.1 On 26 February 1773
plaintiff William Bohannon (Bohanan) was ordered by the Pittsylvania County Court to
certify a runaway slave.2 Also on this list are plaintiffs Andrew Buchanan, Archibald
Buchanan, Samuel Buchanan, Walter Buchanan, Buchanan & Company and Buchanan,
Hastie Company who have no apparent connection to William Bohannon.
Pittsylvania County was established in 1766 from Halifax County, Virginia. Henry
County emerged from Pittsylvania in 1776 and Franklin County was created in 1785 from
parts of Henry and Bedford counties. A section of Patrick County was added to Franklin
County later. The various residential designations for William Bohannon and his children
in southwest Virginia probably reflect jurisdictional restructuring, rather than a variety of
dwelling places. It is possible that William Bohannon lived in the northwestern corner of
Henry County before it became Henry County. The jurisdictional history of Henry
County goes back to Isle of Wight County, which was one of the original shires of the
colony and known as Warrosquyoake until 1637. Surry County was formed from Isle of
Wight in 1652 and Brunswick County was erected from part of Surry in 1720. In 1746 a
section of Brunswick became Lunenburg County. Halifax County was shaped from
Lunenburg in 1752 and included all of the territory which is now in Pittsylvania, Henry,
Patrick and Franklin counties. Antrim Parish was co-extensive with Halifax County.
There is no record of William Bohannon’s marriage in Lunenburg County from 1746,
when Lunenburg was erected from Halifax County, through 1752 when Pittsylvania
County emerged from Lunenburg.3
Because of past connections between the Bohannon and Neville families, it appears that
William Bohannon of Pittsylvania County, was among a group of thirteen explorers from
Harrodsburg, whose names were carved into the trunk of some beech trees, where they
camped for ten days in June 1775, on the north side of the Barren River, about a quarter
of a mile above the old Van Meter ferry and about three miles from Bowling Green, in
Warren County, Kentucky. The trees were still standing in 1846:4
One tree has engraven on its bark, on the north side, the names of the thirteen
persons. The letters were handsomely cut with some instrument adapted to the
purpose. The highest name is about nine feet from the ground, the lowest four
feet. They stand in the following order, beginning with the uppermost and descending
to the lowest, to wit:
J. Newell or Neaville,* E. Bulger, I. Hite, V. Harman, J. Jackman, W. Buchannon,
A. Bowman, J. Drake, N. Nall, H. Skaggs, J. Bowman, Tho. Slaughter, J. Todd.
The date is thus given: “1775, June Th 13.” The apparent age of the marks
corresponds with the date. About five steps south of the above marked tree, and
near the verge of the river bank, stands a beech, marked on the north side with the
name of “Wm. Buchanan,” and dated “June 14th, 1775.” On the south side of the
same tree, there is the name of “J. Todd,” dated June 17, 1775.” About twenty
steps north of the first tree, there stands a third beech, with the name of I. Drake,
and Isaac Hite engraved, and each with the date “15 June, 1775.” Above the
names the date “June 23, 1775.”
The names and dates on this tree seem to be as old as any, but made with a
different instrument from that which cut the names on the first tree, and they are
not so well executed. The dates from the 13th to the 23rd, prove that the party
encamped at that place ten days.
*Judge Graham supposed it to be Neaville (footnote).
Isaac Hite was related to the Van Meter family, a branch of which settled in this area of
Kentucky. Robert Jones and his wife Mary Van Meter were connected by marriage to
William Bohannon in southern Virginia.
This apparent Bohannon and Neville connection in Kentucky in 1775, suggests that it
was William Bohannon of Henry County, Virginia, who had land on Paint Lick Creek in
Kentucky in 1777. This could have been William, Jr. but, since he was only 17 in 1777, it
seems unlikely that he would qualify for land ownership:5
Kentucky County Sct No.1044
We do hereby Certify that Wm Bohannon is entittled to a settlemt of four
hundred acres of land in the district of Kentucky on acctt of settling in the
Country in the year 1777 & residing 12 months lying on the headwaters of paint
lick creek including a sulfer lick spring Joining the white lick & that the said
William Bohannon is also entittled to the preemption of one thousand Acres of
land Adjoining the sd settlemt Given under our hands at St Asaph this 26th day of
April 1780
Test John Williams Jr CCC Wm Heming
Stephen Trigg
Edmd Lyne
Assigned to Jos Parbary who Assigned to Leven Powel
The probability that this pertains to William Bohannon of Henry County, Virginia, is
reinforced by the fact that James Parberry and William Bohannon both were involved in
Pittsylvania County land transactions during the period 1764-1770.6
Paint Lick Creek rises near the junction of Garrard, Madison and Rockcastle counties,
Kentucky, and forms the boundary between Garrard and Madison counties, as it flows
north to the Kentucky River. White Lick Creek rises in Garrard County, near the head of
Paint Lick Creek, and runs parallel with it until the two streams converge at the town of
Paint Lick, which is about ten miles east of Lancaster, the Garrard County seat.7 There
was an early settlement in Kentucky called Paint Lick Station which was located in what
is now Garrard County, near the Madison County line. Garrard County was formed in
1796 out of parts of Lincoln, Madison and Mercer counties. Wilson's Station, where John
and Helen Cook Bohannon lived when they came to Kentucky in 1779,8 was some 30
miles away in what is now Mercer County. St. Asaph, where the preemption was issued
to William Bohannon, was founded by Benjamin Logan and was also known as Logan's
Fort. It is now named Stanford and is the seat of Lincoln County. John Bohannon was
listed as a soldier in Captain Benjamin Logan's Company, at or near Logan's Station, on a
roster
probably made in 1779.9
The move by John and Helen Cook Bohannon to the same area of Kentucky, two years
after William Bohannon settled on Paint Lick Creek, suggests that William motivated
John to move to Kentucky. William Bohannon of Pittsylvania County could have gone
out to Kentucky in 1775, to select a site for settlement, and returned in 1777, leaving his
family in the care of his wife and younger adult sons, to register his claim. After living in
Kentucky for a year, he could have obtained his preemption land there and returned again
to Virginia in 1778. Then, deciding against settling permanently in Kentucky, he could
have transferred ownership to Joseph Parberry and had land surveyed for him in Henry
County in October of that year and again in May 1779, which was granted to him in
1780.10
On 01 September 1780 William Bohannon was granted two tracts of land in Henry
County by Governor Thomas Jefferson. A parcel of 174 acres, “in the County of Henry
formerly Pittsylvania on Town Creek,” was surveyed on 16 October 1778 and granted for
the “Ancient Consideration of twenty Shillings Sterling.” A tract of 300 acres, on “the
head branches of Buttramtown Creek,” was surveyed on 03 May 1779 and granted in
consideration of the payment of “the Ancient Composition of Thirty Shillings Sterling.”
The boundary descriptions of the patents contain no permanent landmark references that
identify the precise location of these tracts. The smaller tract was bounded by Town
Creek and the larger one was adjacent to land of Keel (Key, Keef), with its boundaries
crossing branches of Butramstown Creek, which is a tributary of Town Creek. The
several branches of Town Creek drain Beech, Haw Patch and Thornton mountains, south
of the town of Ferrum, and join near the town of Henry to meander along the boundary
between Henry and Franklin counties until reaching the Smith (Irvine) River.11 The two
tracts were probably close together if not adjacent. This area was in Lunenburg County in
1747.
William Bohannon of Henry County furnished supplies to American soldiers during the
Revolution. He took the oath of allegiance during the war and was one of the militiamen
in Owen Ruble's Company who marched to the assistance of General Nathaniel Greene
for the Battle of Guilford Court House in North Carolina on 15 March 1781.12 Since
William Bohannon, Sr. was 51 in 1781 and William, Jr. was only 21, it is likely that
William, Sr. provided the supplies and took the oath of allegiance, while William, Jr.
fought at Guilford Court House. Fanalue Whitson Carlen of Cookeville, Putnam County,
Tennessee, was accepted into the DAR in 1930 against the service of William Bohannon,
Sr. as a patriot.13
William Bohannon (Bohanon) was assessed for one poll tax and no slaves in Henry
County in 1782. There were no other Bohannons taxed in Henry County at this time,
nor in Fayette or Lincoln counties which eventually became Kentucky.14 Son John was in
Lincoln County, but does not appear on the 1787 list there. Son Joshua was dead by
1781. Assessments were charged at age 16 or older, so son Henry, who was only 15 in
1782, and William's sons by his second wife were not old enough to be taxed. Son
William, Jr., who was 22 in 1782 may have been out in Kentucky with John or, perhaps,
he was in Tennessee, since he is known to have lived there later.
On 03 September 1787 William Bohannon of Franklin County sold 230 acres of land on
the branches of Town Creek in Franklin County to Edgecombe Guilliams for 20 pounds.
The boundaries of the land included the creek, the ridge and the mouth of a branch.
William Bohannon signed the deed and appeared in Franklin County Court on Monday,
03 September 1787, to acknowledge it. His wife Judith did not sign the deed but
appeared in court to acknowledge the sale and relinquish her dower right in the property.
There were no witnesses shown.15 The transcript shows that William signed the deed by
signature.
William Bohannon of Franklin County bought 109 acres on Mullins (Mullings) Fork of
Town Creek from William Stegall for 40 pounds on 18 February 1787. Witnesses were
James Young, Henry Bohannon and William Hunter. It was recorded 01 October 1787.16
On 04 October 1787 William Bohannon of Franklin County sold 110 acres on the
branches of Town Creek to Henry Bohannon of the same place for 10 pounds. This
parcel was bounded by “... the old line at the head of a Branch; Edgecomb Guilliams
Line; ... down the branch as it meanders; ... mouth of Town Creek; ... up Town Creek; ...
on a branch; ... the old line; Keels line; his own line; ... crossing said Creek.” William
signed the deed with his distinctive W mark before witnesses Wm. Mullins (Millings),
Edgecombe Guilliams and Dan'l Brown. The deed was recorded on 05 May 1788.17
Having just paid 40 pounds for the land, the sale to his son Henry Bohannon for 10
pounds seems to be a gesture of parental generosity.
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