Notes for: Robert Wickliffe Bodine

Robert Wickliffe Bodine



Robert Wickliffe Bodine was born on June 19, 1817± in Woodford County, Kentucky. [On his marriage bond (Muhlenberg County Marriage Bonds, Book 9, pp. 199-200), R.W. Bodine lists his birthplace as Woodford County.] His first wife was Sally Ann Sharp. They married on January 17, 1856 in Muhlenberg County at the house of her father, Charles Culberson Sharp. Witnesses were Moses Wickliffe and H.A. Sharp. [January 17, 1856 is the date given in the Muhlenberg County Marriage Bonds, Book 1A, p. 117. However, Charles Culberson Sharp's family Bible says they were married on February 17, 1856. The legal document might be the one to be taken here. The certificate number is 1201, but this was not available in Frankfort.] Sally was the daughter of Charles Culberson Sharp and Joannah (Milligan) Sharp. She (Sally) was born on June 7, 1835.± Her father, C.C. Sharp, was born April 22, 1808†± in Muhlenberg County and died on July 16, 1889.†± He married Joannah Milligan on December 24, 1830.† She was born June 7, 1811†± in Muhlenberg County and died July 15, 1897.†± C.C. and Joannah Sharp are buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery. Grandma Bodine is still in possession of Charles Culberson Sharp's family Bible. It was printed in 1841. Sallie Ann died at the age of twenty-four on August 6, 1859.†± She is buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery near her parents.

A Murder in the Family

There is a story about a murder in our family concerning Charles Culberson Sharp, the father of Sallie Ann (Sharp) Bodine. This happened before the Civil War. A certain prominent man in Muhlenberg County went around in the county getting produce such as bacon, ham, chickens, etc. He then took this by flat-boat (similar to a barge) and drifted with the current to New Orleans, Louisiana. He took one load and was to pay for the produce after he sold the goods in New Orleans. When he came back, he told all the people that he had gone broke and did not pay for anything. But he made the mistake of showing his money to Culberson Sharp, and Sharp's brother-in-law, Billy Milligan. These two told the people who had been swindled out of their money and these people sued the guy who owed them money.

Later, Billy Milligan and his friend, Tommy Casebier, decided to take a boatload of produce to New Orleans. Their helpers on the barge were a white man by the name of Rhoads and a slave. The man being sued arranged with Rhoads and the Negro to kill Billy Milligan [Joannah (Milligan) Sharp's brother]. Of course, they had to kill Tommy Casebier, too. The swindler promised Rhoads the money from all the produce and he promised the Negro his freedom.

Milligan and Casebier were killed and their bodies were dumped into the Ohio River. Rhoads shot Billy Milligan; and the slave, a family slave of the Milligans, cut Tommy Casebier's throat with a razor. They had it all timed. That night, someone broke into Culberson Sharp's house and tried to kill him. But Sharp was a light sleeper. He woke up, grabbed a poker, and the man ran. Sharp then got his rifle (the very one that my dad, Robert O. Bodine has now) and sat up all night watching and waiting for the killer. Hearing the wind blowing through the bushes, he was scared out of his wits thinking someone was hiding in them. The next morning, he cut down all the shrubs and flowers in the yard.

Three months later, the bodies of Milligan and Casebier rose to the surface and were identified. The flatboat, which was loaded at Ceralvo, Kentucky (about five miles north of the J.R. Bodine farm), drifted with the current down the Green, the Ohio, and the Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans. (My great-aunt, Eula Bodine Rowlands, the sister of my grandfather, wrote down this story. Culberson Sharp was her great-grandfather.)

In the 1860 Census, Robert is still in Muhlenberg County with his two young children, Sally Ann, who was three years old, and James Robert, who was one. Some time after this, he moved to Henderson County and took up residence in town. He first shows up there in the 1869 tax books. In the 1870 Census, he is by himself (his wife, Sally Ann, having died). The location of his two children is not listed. Possibly they were in the guardianship of someone else.

CENSUS: 1870 Henderson Co., KY, page 213, enumerated 28 Oct 1870: Household No. 105.
Royster, Jno (62) Va hotel keeper & Emily (62) Va
Virginia (19) Mo
Bodine, Robt (52) tobacco buyer
Kirthey, Andrew (38) works in tobacco factory
Linthicum, N. M. (22); Otha M. (20)
Linthicum, Sanders E. (17)

Robert Wickliffe Bodine later married Hettie Elizabeth Sharp on December 25, 1873 in Muhlenberg County at the home of her father, Robert C. Sharp. At that time, Robert was still a resident of Henderson County and fifty-six years old. [Muhlenberg County Marriages, Book 9, p. 199. This is the bond. It has a lot of information. The marriage certificate, #498, can be found in Muhlenberg County Marriage Bonds and Licenses, Book 2, p. 333.] Hettie was born July 20, 1836 and died March 10, 1916. (Exact birth dates for Hettie come from BH. She says Hettie's father was James Sharp.) She was thirty-seven years old when she married Robert Wickliffe Bodine. Hettie was the double first cousin of Sally Ann Sharp. Hettie's father, Robert C. Sharp, and Sally Ann's father were brothers. And Hettie's mother, Hettie (Milligan) Sharp, and Sally Ann's mother were sisters. Robert C. Sharp was born October 7, 1804± in Muhlenberg County and died July 9, 1880.± Hettie Milligan Sharp was born June 1, 1816± in Muhlenberg and died June 13, 1899.± Their tombstones are in Mount Olivet Cemetery.

On his marriage certificate and on the 1850 Federal Census, Robert W. Bodine is listed as a farmer. From March 1854 to July 1855, he served as postmaster of South Carrollton (Camplin, p. 113). On the 1860 Census, he is a trader. It was early in 1860 that he deeded a tobacco house and three lots of land in South Carrollton over to a Joseph Fatman from New York. Fatman and two other men, one from Havana, were representing Fatman & Company [(Muhlenberg Co. Deeds, Book 20, p. 67). January 13, 1860. For $2600. Lots 13, 14, and 15 in the Gown addition of South Carrollton on Walnut Street between Musberg and Sinking Alley.] This was just shortly after Robert W. Bodine's wife, Sally, had died. On the 1870 Census, he is a tobacco buyer. And on his death record, he is listed as a tobacconist. It seems he made a pretty good living in the tobacco industry. (In the 1860 Federal Census, his personal estate was valued at $6000. This made him one of the wealthier citizens of Muhlenberg County.)

DEEDS: The following data was taken by Jack Snyder from the microfilm copy of Henderson County, Kentucky, Index of Deeds (Grantees) found at the Henderson Public Library, Henderson, Kentucky:
Year Grantee Grantor Book/Page Description
1869 Bodine, R.W. William Eblen W 386 Lt.
1874 " Hettie Edwin Powell Z 610 115.5 a on Highland Cr
1877 " Hettie Jos. Toy 3 532 50 a on Green River
1877 " Hettie Thomas Powell 3 533 53 a on Rock Cr
1885 " R.W. J.D. Robards 13 473 Lt. Washington St
1889 " Mrs. H. Mrs. M.A. Walden 14 158 Lt. Second St
1896 " Hettie R.W. Bodine heirs OD-3 440 Lt. Washington St
1901 " Jack Arch Sandefur 31 112 73.94 a near Geneva
1901 " Jack J.D. Collins 31 157 Int in 73.9 4 " "
1901 " J.W. Hettie Bodine 31 414 Lt. Washington St
1901 " J.W. Chester Martin 31 432 93.85 a near Geneva
1902 " J.W. George McClain 32 81 Lt. Green St

NOTE: There are numerous other transactions by J.W. and Hettie in the Grantees book, but Jack couldn't find them in the Grantors book.

1952 Bodine & C, J.R. J.W. Bodine(Afdvt) 156 275 Afdvt of Descent
1952 Bodine & C, J.W. Hettie Bodine 156 275 Afdvt of Descent

By 1880, Robert and Hetty had moved from Henderson to Union County, the next county to the west. They had a small farm there, 158 acres in the name of Hettie E. Bodine, his wife. In the 1880 tax books, they are listed as having two horses, three mules, eight hogs, four cattle, six tons of hay and 1500 bushels of corn.
CENSUS: 1880 Morganfield, Union Co., KY: Household No. 371
Bodine, R. W. (62) farmer, KY, KY, KY
Hettie E. (43) wife, KY, KY, KY
J. W. (5) son, KY, KY, KY
Jane (3) daughter, KY, KY, KY

Robert Wickliffe Bodine died on May 18, 1888. His death record gives the cause of death as a "sore throat" (Henderson Co. Death Records, 1839-1911). He and his second wife, Hettie, are buried in Fernwood and Faremont Cemetery in Henderson, Kentucky, along with their son Jackson Wickliffe Bodine.

DEATH RECORD: The Henderson County Library, Henderson, KY, has microfiche copies of Kentucky Vital Statistics relating to Henderson County. Included in these records is a death record for Robert W. Bodine with the following information:
Age: 70
Occupation: Tobacconist
Date of death: 18 May 1888
Cause of death: Sore throat
Place of birth: Muhlenberg, Co., KY
Residence: Henderson, KY
Place of death: Henderson, KY
Physician: W. A. Kitchell

TOMBSTONE INSCRIPTION: Fernwood Cemetery, Henderson, Henderson Co., KY, plot no. 585. The tombstone inscription reads: R. W. Bodine, born June 19, 1817, died May 18, 1888

Robert W. Bodine's Grave

Both of Robert and Hettie Bodine's children were well known in their respective communities. Louise Martin was a well-to-do member of the community in Greenville. And Jackson was a prominent citizen of Henderson, Kentucky. Jackson died suddenly of pneumonia at the age of 43. At one time, he was the city tax collector and a member of the grocery firm of Posey, Robinson, and Bodine. He also dealt in real estate and was one of the owners of the ill-fated excursion boat John S. Hopkins. (Henderson Daily Gleaner, Saturday, January 11, 1919, p. 1.) This was a beautiful, two-hundred foot long wooden boat built in 1880. It was used in the packet trade between Evansville and Paducah before being used for Sunday excursions. It was a very popular attraction in the Henderson area. While tied up for the winter on the Green River, the steamer burned to the water's edge and sank on January 11, 1917. (Henderson Daily Journal, Friday, January 12, 1917. If a cause was given, it was not readable on the microfiche.)