Kentucky County, Virginia
William Christian acquired land claims in Kentucky in payment for his service during the French and Indian War (also known as Seven Years' War). There were also people moving to the frontier of what is now Kentucky following the American Revolutionary War. William had a zealous interest in moving to Kentucky; Christian acquiesced to his decision. As was common for the time, women generally had a lack of influence on decision-making.
Christian's family and a number of their enslaved people traveled the Wilderness Road to Kentucky in the spring of 1785. There were some of their enslaved workers who went to Kentucky ahead of them.
They settled near present-day Louisville on Beargrass Creek in August of that year. William operated a saltworks near present-day Shepherdsville, where some of his enslaved people worked. The saltworks, located in Saltsburg or Bullitt's Lick, was "one of the largest and most important early businesses in Kentucky". Salt was an important commodity on the frontier and was used as a form of cash. Salt was used by households and the military to preserve meat.
To Ann Fleming, her sister-in-law, she wrote of the travel to Kentucky, they "came through the wilderness… the roads are bad beyond description & the weather is so violently hot & such great scarcity of water." She told her mother-in-law Elizabeth Starke Christian of Bellmont, Botetourt County (now Roanoke County) that she "never saw any trouble until I came to this country."
In the spring and summer of 1785, there were numerous raids by Native Americans who resisted settlement by Anglo-Americans. There were attacks on travelers and settlers and horses were stolen, but it was difficult to mobilize and coordinate local militias to fight against the Native American tribes. Since Kentucky was not yet its own state, a military expedition required approval from the capital of Virginia.
In February 1786, their daughter Priscilla married Alexander Scott Bullitt, who came to the Louisville area ca. 1783.
William participated in an exhibition north of the Ohio River. He was shot and killed on April 9, 1786. He knew that he had a mortal wound, but hoped to reach home before he died, but he died after traveling just a few miles. Her brother, Patrick Henry, wrote to her following the death of his good friend, "I am at loss how to address you my dearest sister. Would to God I could say something to give relief to the dearest of women & sisters." In her letters to loved ones, she expressed that it was very difficult to live in the wilderness, removed from friends and family. She was "devastated by breaking home ties," a feeling that became more significant after her husband's death.
Alexander Bullitt was an executor of his estate. He also oversaw the estate. William had left "ample support" for the family and Annie managed the family's finances so that they remained financially independent as well as to plan for her children's future. Initially, she took over the operation of the salt mine. She then rented out the salt mine for income. In the event that she died, she planned on leaving the enslaved people to her children, who could hire them out for income. Christian told her brother that if anything happened to her, she wanted Patrick and their brother-in-law Col. Samuel Meredith Jr. to raise the children in eastern Virginia. Their land in the west was to be sold and the money used for the children's education.
While she was married, her husband alone managed the family's finances. As a widowed woman, she attained the legal status of feme sole which meant that she could enter into contracts, buy and sell property, and be sued in court. She is one of several women—like Martha Washington and Catharine Flood McCall—who oversaw significant business operations that relied on slave labor in the late 1700s and early 1800s.
Christian moved to the Danville, Kentucky area after her husband's death. She first stayed with Rosanna Christian Wallace and Caleb Wallace. Rosanna was William's sister. Then, she settled with her five youngest children at Cove Spring in the fall of 1786. In September 1787, she rented a plantation. She managed the family's finances to protect her children's inheritance.
