County of Christian, Kentucky. Historical and Biographical. Edited by William Henry Perrin. F. A. Battey Publishing Co., 1884, pp. 339-340.

HENRY G. ABERNATHY was born April 30, 1825, in Brunswick County, Va. He is the third of four children born to Raleigh H. and Martha T. Abernathy (nee Avery). Amanda, the eldest, is the widow of Col. Thomas Rowlett, of Petersburg, Va.; John E. died in Ballard County, Ky., and William A. is still a resident of the same county. Their parents died many years past in Virginia, and in 1842 Henry G. removed to Tennessee, locating in Montgomery County, near the State line, where for four years he engaged in farming. In 1846 he again removed, this time settling further north, in the southern portion of Christian County, Ky. Here he devoted himself chiefly to agricultural pursuits, with which he combined mercantile business for some time, as well as engaging for several years in teaching school, in which profession he manifested especial fitness. He came to Hopkinsville in 1869, and that year erected the first tobacco warehouse built in that city. Since that date he has been the pronounced leader in the local tobacco market, and is still actively engaged in the tobacco trade. Mr. Abernathy was married in Christian County to Miss Ophelia F., daughter of Benjamin and Elizabeth Leavell. Mrs. Abernathy is a native of Christian County, descending from one of the oldest as well as most honorable families of Kentucky. They have but one child - a son, named Henry H. Abernathy, junior member of the firm of H. G. Abernathy & Son. Both Mr. and Mrs. Abernathy are members of the Baptist Church of Hopkinsville. A portrait of Mr. Abernathy will be found in a group elsewhere in this volume.