Manuscript Database - Subject: Bullitt, William C. (William Christian), 1793-1877

Bullitt, William C. (William Christian), 1793-1877

William was the youngest child of Alexander and Priscilla Christian Bullitt. He practiced law for a few years and then retired to his Oxmoor estate as a farmer. He married Mildred Ann Fry in 1819. William's papers include his personal correspondence dating from 1814 through 1859 and include letters re: the murder of Oxmoor overseer Joseph Frederick by Armistead Churchill and Churchill's subsequent trial, slave buying and selling, and the state constitutional convention. Of particular interest were two letters dated 22 August and 10 October 1847 between Zachary Taylor and Bullitt re: Taylor running for president. (354- 359) His business correspondence dates from 1813 to 1829 and includes letters to and from Henry Massie, Richard Hawes, and various other people he represented while he was practicing law. In particular there was a lot of correspondence between Bullitt and Francis Preston as Bullitt acted as Preston's agent in Kentucky in regards to his land and business affairs. Bullitt corresponded with Nathaniel Hart, David Castleman, and Sarah Preston in regards to the business he was overseeing for Preston.(360-363) His business and legal papers pertain to lawsuits he was involved in, such as his lawsuit against the Fayette Paper Mill Company and the Beeler heirs, and lawsuits that he attended to while he was practicing law, as well as various papers and a memorandum book re: Francis Preston's property in Louisville and his father Alexander Scott Bullitt's estate. There were several contracts and receipts in William C. Bullitt's papers that pertain to the building of a brick addition onto Oxmoor that were dated 7, 12, and 17 July 1829.(364-366) Also among Bullitt's papers were Texas Resolutions drawn up in 1844 by the Whigs of Jefferson and Oldham counties in Kentucky and Clark county in Indiana, a ledger book dated 1818 to 1864 and include farm and personal expenses, copies of the legal documents pertaining to the trial of Armistead Churchill, documents re: his father Alexander's guardianship of his stepdaughter Eliza Prather, papers re: his administration of Robert Ligget's estate, and copies of his will.(367-372) There were also receipts dating from 1809 through 1859 with local merchants and fellow citizens in Bullitt's papers. (373-377) Land papers among William C. Bullitt's materials date from 1814 to 1872 and pertain to Bullitt's Lick, Oxmoor, Ridgeway, Mercer County farm, Jessamine County farm, Cottonwood farm, and various lots he owned in Louisville. Of particular interest is a scrapbook of original deeds, surveys, plats, photos, etc to the Oxmoor property. (378-381) Among Bullitt's military papers were receipts for paying his militia and muster fines from 1811-1837 and a contract dated 1813 in which his father hires a substitute for him after he had been drafted for service in the War of 1812.(382) There were also two pamphlets written by Bullitt in 1869 re: the confiscation of part of his Oxmoor property for the Louisville & Beargrass Railway. (383) There were also law books Bullitt used for studying law, books on the history of the world and England and misc. envelopes, wrappers, and papers. (384-388) William was mentioned in a legal document re: his father estate dated 9 July 1816.(41) Deed dated 4 September 1801 from Alexander Scott Bullitt to his son William part of the Bullitt's lick in Bullitt County. (45) There were letters and references to William in his sister Annie C. Howard's correspondence dated 14 December 1808 and 6 April 1809.(57) Bullitt was named in a legal document dated May 1829 dividing the estate of Samuel Lawrence. (69) Deed dated 12 February 1868 from William to his son Thomas the Cottonwood farm in Union and Henderson counties.(72) Undated receipt to William C. Bullitt for collecting judgment for Ray Clark from Jefferson County Sheriff for his brother Cuthbert who was Clark's lawyer.(95) Papers re: Cuthbert Bullitt's (1774-1825) estate for whom William C. Bullitt was the executor. (101- 106) In his son Henry M. Bullitt's family history he compiled in 1892 he gave a short biography of William C. Bullitt and also included a copy of his obituary. (133) There were numerous references and letters to and from William C. Bullitt re: his farm and political activities, including his election as a delegate to the state constitutional convention in 1849, in the correspondence to his son John C. Bullitt from his family and friends dating 1839 through 1851.(138-144,147- 165) Deposition of Bullitt dated 26 December 1845 for the Polly Bullitt will case.(259) There were references to William in his wife Mildred's correspondence in letters dated 4 May 1859 and 9 January 1860.(282) There were numerous references to and letters to and from William C. Bullitt in his son Thomas W. Bullitt's correspondence dated 1857-1862, 1864, and 15 May 1873 re: family news, farm news, and his opinion about the Civil War.(295-301,303,305) Thomas W. Bullitt mentioned his father in a narrative he wrote in August of 1907 about his experience as a Confederate soldier serving in John H. Morgan's cavalry. (330) In a manuscript written in 1906 by Thomas W. Bullitt titled My Life at Oxmoor he wrote about his father in great detail as to his temperament, his early life, and his work as a farmer and slave owner. (332-335) Statement from the sheriff of Jefferson County dated 30 June 1821 re: the case brought by Hite as the administrator of John H. Christian's estate against Cuthbert and William C. Bullitt as the executors of their father Alexander's estate. (407) Letter dated 20 April 1845 from William C. Bullitt (Oxmoor) to Lyman Draper (Baltimore, Md.) re: Draper's request for information about his father, Alexander Scott Bullitt, and his grandfather, William Christian.(415) Receipt dated 8 June 1827 from Elizabeth Dickinson to Bullitt for payment re: a suit brought against her by John W. Hunt and his attorney S.S. Nicholas.(448) In letters dated 15 and 30 May, 21 June, and 8 September 1903 from Susan Bullitt Dixon to her niece Julia Bullitt Gross re: her early life living on the Bullitt family farm, Oxmoor, she mentioned her father, William. (450) In an undated biography that Susan Bullitt Dixon wrote on her brother John C. Bullitt she Included the ancestry of the Bullitt family and mentioned their father William. (452) William was mentioned in his father-in-law Joshua Fry's legal and land papers in documents dated 7 November 1819, 28 August 1824, 3 July 1828, 12 October 1838, and undated. (463-464) William was mentioned throughout his sister Helen Bullitt Massie Martin Key's correspondence in letters dated 1811-1813, 12 July 1816, 13 July 1819, and 1865.(505) William was mentioned in an undated document in Henry Massie's handwriting that listed his debts in Kentucky and Ohio. (506) In her will dated 27 March 1859 Helen Key left her brother William part of her estate.(507) William was mentioned in a document dated 29 April 1872 re: dispersals of Louisville Gas Co. stock to the devisees of Helen Key's will.(508) There were letters and references to William in a letter press book of his son Thomas' correspondence, while he was living in Philadelphia, dated November 1860, 5 December 1860, 18 April 1861, and 3 March 1862 re: the war atmosphere in Philadelphia, the northern financial crisis, his opinion on slavery and its role in the war, and Kentucky's role in the war.(892) There were letters and references to William in his son Thomas' letterpress books of business correspondence dated 1873-1874, September 1877 re: his death, 23 May 1881-1884, and 22 September 1893 re: his estate. (895-896,899,904,906,908,924) There were documents re: William's estate in his son Thomas' business papers dated 1877- 1893.(961, 992a) Thomas W. Bullitt mentioned his great grandfather William in a speech he gave before the Filson Club in 1980 re: Oxmoor and the Bullitts.(1317,3170) In a letter dated 23 February 1912 Mildred Stites wrote to her cousin William Marshall Bullitt about her remembrance of Oxmoor, including the farm work, and the daily lives of her grandfather and grandmother William and Mildred Bullitt. (1398) Among William Marshall Bullitt's genealogical papers there were letters and papers re: research he had done on his grandfather William C. Bullitt.(2426) Among the papers re: the Oxmoor cemetery there was a contract dated 1871 between Helen Key and her brother William C. Bullitt re: the rebuilding of the stone wall around the Oxmoor cemetery, and the inscription from William's tombstone. (3181,3188) Among William's oversize papers there was a copy of a French map of the United States focusing on the Mississippi River and labeling the Indigenous tribes, 12 February, 8, 22, and 29 April 1816 copies of the Louisville Correspondent, and maps and surveys of Cottonwood, his plantation in Union/Henderson County. (3284 ovsz) Broadside for William's run-away slave Hope dated 1822. (3285 ovsz) Plat showing how the Oxmoor land was divided under William's will in 1877. (3319 ovsz)