Life History

Notes

• Ancestry Disk Archive Information
  William Peter Christian
  Born 1810
  Isle Of Man, United Kingdom
  Submitter: Bill Doty
  P.O. Box 1497 Krebs OK 74554
  
  According to Christian family sources, Peter worked from about age 13 in shipping with an uncle, said to have been established in New York at the time.  After probably about 7 years, he went to London for a while before emigrating to the US, seemingly directly to Monroe County, Arkansas.
  
  Harold Christian reports from family sources and his research that William married Susan Turner in Arkansas about 1844.  Their first daughter Mary Jane was born in Arkansas Mary was born December 10, 1844, so they married in the first quarter of the year, if not in 1843.  The location is not known, but William Peter later moved to Monroe County, in Blackton, so it is possible this is the location where he had first lived before he and Susan moved to Mississippi.
  
  Sometime between the birth of Mary and the birth of Margaret in 1847, William Peter and Susan moved to Mississippi.  Harold K Christian in the Christian Family History (private paper) reports that he found Peter in Chickasaw County, Mississippi, in the 1850 census.  I have found and present here that census entry for the Christian family.
  
  1850 Federal Census, Chickasaw County, Mississippi, 30 September, Eastern Division, page 642 (scan 626), Hse/Fam #214
  Peter Christian 40 M Farmer $700 Isle of Man
  Susan Christian 19 F Tenn
  Mary J Christian 6 F Arkansas
  Margaret Christian 4 F Miss
  Isabella Christian 3 F Miss
  John Christian 3 months M MS
  [thus born June 1850; appears to match James, listed as William age 10 in 1860, but he is 15 in 1870]
  Hilliard J Gore (?) 34 M SC
  George Turner 18 M TN
  
  Their first child Mary Jane, age 6 in that census, is reported as born in Arkansas.  According to the date from family information, Mary Jane was actually not yet 6 years old at the time of the 1850 census, since her birthday is reported as 10 December 1844.  Note that Susan's age here is reported as 19 years old.  For her to be Mary's mother, they would have had to marry when Susan was only about 12 years old!  That seems impossible.  (Judy Oldziewski reports that family tradition reported by Mary Jane's son Elbridge does hold that Peter married Susan when she was only 13 years old.  See notes below.)
  
  The family does have a tradition of an English wife accompanying Peter to the US, then dying there, and Peter returned to England before reruning and marrying Susan.  But in reported family memory, the years are later and overlap with Peter's marriages to Susan Turner and Mary (Polly) Waldon.
  
  The next child, 4-year old Margaret, was born in Mississippi.  From the date of the 1850 census and her age of 4 years, her birth would have been January 1846 or earlier.  It is just barely possible that Susan could be age 19 in 1850 and still be the mother of 4-year old Margaret.  But they would have had to marry when she was 14 years old.  This seems unlikely, with Peter age 35 at the time Susan would have been 14.
  
  It seemed likely Margaret may also be the daughter of the reported English first wife.  Between the 1850 and 1860 censuses, Peter had relocated to Calhoun County, where he is recorded in 1860.  But family tradition insists that young Susan Turner was the mother of both Mary Jane and Margaret.
  
  Mar Jane's son Elbridge Smith reported that Peter's English wife was named Sarah Graham.  Judy Oldziewski comments on these age and marriage factors.
  
  He left England and came to Mobile AL where he lived for almost three years.  (In another piece of correspondence, Mr Smith identified Peter's first wife as Mary rather than Margaret Turner.  Both names differ from Sarah Graham who was identified as Peter's first wife by Mrs. Tabor.)
  
  "Sarah Graham could have been Peter's English wife or as some speculate the mother of Susan.  At least some of the family believed Peter left his English wife in England and was still married to her when he married Susan Turner.  Supposedly Susan was only 13 when he married her and this does match with her age of 19 in the 1850 census with a six year old child.  There seems little doubt Susan was the mother of Mary and Margaret since all family records and family memories reflect this."
  --  Christian Family History, by Harold K Christian, http://objgenealogy.com/articles/williampeterchristianfamilyhistory.pdf, p 5
  
  Susan died in about 1859, possibly at the childbirth of Bartlett.  In the 1860 census for Calhoun County, Mississippi, Peter is already married to his second wife, reported as Mary in this census.  Not long afterwards they moved back to Arkansas, living in Blackton (Monroe County), where Mary Jane married Edward Smith in 1862.  The family lived there for only a short time before moving on to Texas.  They are found in the 1870 census for Titus County, Texas.
  
  I did not have information from this 1850 census until July 2007.  I originally had only two children's names, from previous Christian family information of my cousin Harold Christian.  These were the two oldest sons, William and Daniel, who were are present in the 1870 census for this family.
  
  I first discovered  the older children in July 2007, in the 1860 census for Calhoun County, Mississippi, thanks to my distant cousin Judy Oldziewski, who searched out some sources for me.  In the 1960 census, there are also 4 children named Waldron (Waldon), who from their ages appear to be younger siblings of Mary (listed as Polly A in 1870).  Note that in this census the name is written as Waldron, rather than Waldon.
  
  1860 Federal Census, Calhoun County, Mississippi, 25 September, Cherry Hill, page 163, Hse #1140, Fam #1156
  Peter Christian 45 M Farmer England (b abt 1815)
  Mary [Waldon] Christian 25 F Ala (b abt 1835)
  Mary Christian 14 F born Arkansas (abt 1846)
  Margaret Christian 13 F born Mississippi (abt 1847)
  Clara [Sarah Isabella?] Christian 12 F born Mississippi (abt 1848)
  William Christian 10 M b Mississippi
  (b abt 1850, matches John 1850 census, but note 1870, age 15!)
  Daniel Christian 8 M Miss (abt 1852)
  Bartlett Christian 5 M Miss (abt 1855 but compare 1870, age 11)
  Sarah E Waldron 11 F Miss (abt 1849)
  Mary Waldron 9 F Miss (abt 1851)
  Thomas Waldron 11 F Miss (abt 1853)
  James Waldron 5 F Miss (abt 1855 but compare 1870, age 11)
  George Turner 26 M Ditcher VA (b abt 1834)
  
  George Turner  is likely a brother of Peter's first wife Susan Turner, who died in 1859.  George's birthplace looks like Georgia.  Judy Oldziewski interpreted it as Virgina (Va).  It does not look like a V, but I later noted that it is different from one entry in another family with birthplace Geo.  There are no other entries on the page for Georgia or Virginia by which to compare.  It does appear that the enumerator meant Virginia as George's birthplace.  I find, as shown above, that in the 1850 census, George's birthplace is shown as Tennessee, the same as Susan.
  
  By 1870, they had moved to Titus County, northeast Texas.  Family sources tell us Peter and Polly moved to Blackton, Arkansas for a period before moving on to Texas.
  
  "Mr. Elbridge B (Bartlett) "Bridge" Smith, another descendant of Mary Jane, also reported Peter's place of birth as London.  Bridge also related that Peter's family moved from the vicinity of Blackton, AR to East Texas, near Douglasville in Cass County on the Sulphur River.  His second wife died there.  About 2 years later he married Elizabeth Long.  They had been married about one year when he died of congestive chill.  He was 89 years of age.  Pete Christian was buried in the Union Chapel Cemetery (1 ½ miles south and 3 miles east of Bryan's Mill, Cass County, TX."
  --  Christian Family History, by Harold K Christian (unpublished), pp 1-2
  
  In 1870 in Titus County, Texas, there are no Waldon (Waldron) or Turner family members living with or near Peter and Polly.
  
  The age of William in 1860 matches "John" in 1850.  William is 10 years old, making him born abt 1850.  I considered that "John" could be a mis-write by the enumerator for James, referring to William James.  Worse things have happened.  Joseph Sanford Jenkins was recorded as John Jinkins in the 1860 Cass County, Texas, census.  Though William's age of 10 matches John, 3 months old in 1850 (thus born in June 1850), William is strangely recorded as 15 years old in 1970.
  
  On the other hand, Harold Christian reports that there is a birth date recorded for William in his family Bible:  Based on information from William's family Bible, he was born 20 November 1853.  It is probably safer to accept this as an accurate birth date, and attribute error to the various censuses, which are often erroneous.  And then we should consider John as a child who died between the 1850 and 1860 census, as Harold did in his analysis.
  
  The birth state information also tells us that Peter and Susan moved from Arkansas to Mississippi in late 1846 or early 1847, between the births of Mary and Margaret.
  
  The family was back in Arkansas briefly between the 1860 and 1870 censuses, when descendants report that the family lived in Arkansas, as detailed above,  before moving to Titus County, Texas.
  
  The 1870 census in Mount Pleasant, Titus County, Texas, appears to report this family:  Father Peter, age 56, is maintaining a household with the help of what appears to be a second wife Polly, age 36.  This is consistent with the death of William Peter's wife, which we know from family history occurred in about 1859.
  
  1870 Federal Census, Titus County, Texas, 6 August, Mt Pleasant, page 161, Hse/Fam #1120
  Peter Christian 56 M W Farmer England
  Polly A Christian 36 F W Alabama
  William Christian 15 M W Mississippi
  Thomas Christian 13 M W Mississippi
  Daniel Christian 12 M W Mississippi
  James [Waldon] Christian 11 F W Mississippi
  Bartey (mis-write for Bartley?] Christian 11 M W Mississippi  [Mother Susan Turner]
  Nancy Christian 9 F W Mississippi [Mother Polly]
  Malissa Christian 7 F W  Mississippi [Mother Polly]
  Henry Christian 5 M W Mississippi [Mother Polly]
  
  It appears from this census that Polly had no children after their marriage before the 1870 census.  Bartlett (Bartey) was the  last child of Susan Turner.
  
  Titus County is just north of Cass County, Texas.  Peter moved to Cass County, probably after Polly's death in 1871.  Peter married an Elizabeth Long in about 1873, only a year before he died.  Harold Christian reports that a granddaughter of William Peter, Annie Christian Tabor, said that he died near Bryan's Mill in Cass County, Texas, 1874.
  
  "Peter's family moved from the vicinity of Blackton, AR to East Texas, near Douglasville in Cass County on the Sulphur River.  His second wife [Polly Waldon] died there.  About 2 years later he married Elizabeth Long.  They had been married about one year when he died of congestive chill. ... Pete Christian was buried in the Union Chapel Cemetery (1 ½ miles south and 3 miles east of Bryan's Mill, Cass County, TX".
  --  Christian Family History, by Harold K Christian (unpublished), http://objgenealogy.com/articles/williampeterchristianfamilyhistory.pdf, p 2
  
  In 1880 sons Bart, Willie, Zene, Henry and Peter are all living near each other in Cass County.
  
  In the 1880 census, Elizabeth Long Christian is enumerated as the head of the household in Precinct 9 of Cass County, on Atlanta and Cussetta Road, with her two children William S and Joan Lee [Long] Christian.  In 1900 William is reproted as William S Long, and his sister by her married name Lee Tate.  The 1880 enumerator just gave the children their mother's last married name.
  
  All the genealogies I have seen report that Polly died in 1870.  But not one gives any documentation.  In the census for 1870, taken at their home in August 18790, they were living in Titus County, Texas.  So if she died in 1870, it would likely have been in Titus County, not Douglasville in Cass County.  Or if it was after they moved to the Douglasville area, that 1870 date of death repeated by all those undocumented genealogies is wrong.  I have found no documentation of her death or burial.  It seems likely she died in childbirth with here last child in September 1870, which would have been in Mt Pleasant, Titus County.
  
  Broderbund Family Archive #018, Ed. 1, Family Queries: Everton's "Roots" Cellar
  William Peter Christian
  Died 1874 Cass County, Texas
  Submitter: Bill Doty
  P.O. Box 1497 Krebs OK 74554
  
  Broderbund Family Archive #018, Ed. 1, Family Queries: Everton's "Roots" Cellar
  William Peter Christian
  Died 1874 Cass County, Texas
  Submitter: Judy Oldziewski, Lawndale, CA
  
  I put up a memorial for William on Find a grave.
  
  --------------------
  William Peter Christian
  Birth 1810, Isle of Man (domain of the British Throme, but not a membr of the United Kingdom)
  Death 1874 Douglassville, Cass County, Texas
  
  William Peter Christian was born on the Isle of Man, off the west coast of England in 1810.
  
  The Isle of Man, though a dominion of the Crown of England, is not part of the United Kingdom, and is self-governing. Though it is not part of England, due to the geographical limitations of the choices in Find a Grave, for ease of reference, we are putting the country as England.
  
  After working with his uncle in export business to New York from his youth, Peter immigrated to the United States in about 1930, apparently coming directly to Monroe County, Arkansas.
  
  In about 1844 he married Susan Turner in Arkansas. They migrated to Chickasaw County, Mississippi, where he was enumerated in the 1850 census. After a move to Calhoun County, Mississippi, Susan died there in about 1859. Peter married widow Mary (Polly) Waldron and they were recorded in the 1860 census. Before 1870, they moved to Titus County, Texas, reported there in the 1870 census. Polly died in late 1870, and Peter moved to nearby Cass County, Texas, where in about 1872 or 1873, he married Elizabeth Long.
  
  Peter died on his farm on the Sulphur River, near Douglasville, Cass County, Texas. "They had been married about one year when he died of congestive chill. ... Pete Christian was buried in the Union Chapel Cemetery (1 ½ miles south and 3 miles east of Bryan's Mill, Cass County, TX."
  -- Christian Family History, by Harold K Christian, http://objgenealogy.com/articles/williampeterchristianfamilyhistory.pdf, pp 1-2
  
  Spouse Mary A Christian (1834 - 1870)
  Children:
  Sarah Isabell Christian Snelgrove (1848 - 1868)
  Henry Harvey Christian (1866 - 1944)
  
  Burial Union Chapel Cemetery, Douglassville, Cass County, Texas
  
  Created by Orville Jenkins 27, 2014
  --  Find A Grave Memorial #134952015, http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=134952015
  --------------------
  

Sources

• 1. 1850 Federal Census, Chickasaw County, Mississippi
  • 30 September, Eastern Division, page 642 (scan 626), Hse/Fam # 214
• 2. Christian Family History, by Harold K Christian
  • p 1
• 3. Broderbund Family Archive #018, Ed. 1, Family Queries: Everton's "Roots" Cellar
  • Bill Doty, 3 Jan 2007
• 4. Christian Family History, by Harold K Christian
• 5. Christian Family History, by Harold K Christian
  • p 2
• 6. Judy Oldziewski
• 7. 1860 Federal Census, Calhoun County, Mississippi
  • 25 September, Cherry Hill, page 163, Hse #1140, Fam #1156
• 8. Broderbund Family Archive #018, Ed. 1, Family Queries: Everton's "Roots" Cellar
  • Judy Oldziewski, 3 Jan 2007
• 9. Christian Family History, by Harold K Christian
  • p 7
• 10. 1870 Federal Census, Titus County, Texas
  • 6 August, Mt Pleasant, page 161, Hse/Fam #1120
• 11. Christian Family History, by Harold K Christian
  • p 8
• 12. Harold Keith Christian, Family Group Record, January 1990
• 13. Ancestry Disk Archive Information
• 14. Email Sources
• 15. 1900 Federal Census, Sevier County, Arkansas
  • 4 July, Bear Creek Township, District 149, page 5B, Hse #423, Fam #433
• 16. 1910 Federal Census, Washita County, Oklahoma
  • 28 April, Oakdale, District 263, page 8B, Hse #146, Fam #153
• 17. Christian Family History, by Harold K Christian
  • p 6
• 18. Find a Grave Memorial Registry
• 19. 1900 Federal Census, Washita County, Oklahoma Territory
  • August 3, Union Township, District 211, page 13A (147A), Hse/Fam #189
• 20. Oklahoma Gravestone Project, Oakdale Cemetery, Washita County, Oklahoma
• 21. 1900 Federal Census, Cass County, Texas
  • 13 January, Justice Precinct 3, District 22, page 13A, Hse/Fam #40
• 22. 1880 Federal Census, Cass County, Texas
  • 10 July, Precinct 3, page 59, Hse/Fam #559
• 23. 1900 Federal Census, Cass County, Texas
  • 9 June, Precinct 3, District 22, page 8B,  Hse/Fam #135
• 24. 1910 Federal Census, Kiowa County, Oklahoma
  • 5 May, District 179, page 9B, Hse/Fam #118
• 25. 1920 Federal Census, McCurtain County, Oklahoma
  • 9 April, Idabel, District 157, page 17B, Hill St, White Town, Hse #257, Fam #360
• 26. 1900 Federal Census, Titus County, Texas
  • 26 June, Winfield, District 18, page 16B, Hse #247, Fam #299
• 27. Gravestone of Henry and Ida Christian, Denison Cemetery, Idabel, McCurtain County, Oklahoma
  • A triple grave
• 28. 1930 Federal Census, Kiowa County, Oklahoma
  • 7 April, Mt View, District 24, page 6A, Hse #120, Fam #126
• 29. 1940 Federal Census, McCurtain County, Oklahoma
  • 11 April, White Township, District 45-33, page 5A, Hse #85, Rents $65.
• 30. 1870 Federal Census, Cass County, Texas
  • 6 August, Mt Pleasant, Titus County, page 161, Hse/Fam #1120