Alexander Scott Bullitt

Alexander Scott Bullitt (1761 – April 13, 1816) was an American pioneer and statesman who was an early settler in Kentucky. He was a political leader in the early days of Kentucky statehood.

Alexander's family had come to America as refugee French Huguenots in 1685. Arriving first in Maryland, part of the family settled in Prince William County, Virginia. Alexander was born there in 1761, the son of Cuthbert Bullitt and Helen (Scott) Bullitt. His father was a leading lawyer in local and colonial affairs. Alexander's early schooling was directed at making him a lawyer. But his uncle Thomas Bullitt was a pioneer and military leader, involved with western exploration. In 1783 Alexander followed in his uncle's footsteps and moved to Kentucky.

Bullitt settled first in an area that is now Shelby County but soon found the area too isolated, and subject to Indian attacks. His uncle Thomas had surveyed a town site in 1773 at the Falls of the Ohio, and in 1800 the Virginia legislature named it Louisville. Alexander bought 1000 acres (4 km²) about 9 miles (14 km) south of there and began his farm again. He named it Oxmoor, after the fictional farm in Tristram Shandy. In 1784 he made his first steps in Kentucky politics. He became an officer in the local militia, and met with others at Danville in a convention that first proposed a separation from Virginia.

In August 1785, his neighbor, Colonel William Christian, who had been developing a neighboring property, brought his wife Anne (née Henry) and family from Virginia. Two months later Alexander married their young daughter Priscilla. While this improved his political connections (her uncle was Patrick Henry), they were a devoted couple. They built Oxmoor, starting the main house in 1787, and there they grew tobacco, hemp, and corn. They raised a family of four: William Christian, Anne, Helen Scott, Cuthbert on the farm.

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