Life History

Other facts

Notes

• The connections to ancestors of Joseph Benjamin Christian are somewhat tenuous, but it appears his father was named Benjamin Franklin Christian.  Sources are sometimes confused, especially some genealogies, who don't document well.
  
  There are numerous individuals in different family lines named Christian with the name Benjamin Franklin, as well as Joseph Benjamin.  Sources that appear to be for the same Benjamin Franklin Christian report birth date around 1817 or 1818.
  
  There is a marriage record in Montgomery County, Tennessee in 1939 for a B F Christian, whose bride was named Caroline Carr.  This may be Caroline Mabel Gilbert. Censuses report ages that indicate Caroline's birth about 1820, so she would have been about age 19 in 1839.  We know Ben's wife Caroline Mabel was the daughter of Captain Mabel Gilbert, so her maiden name was Gilbert, not Carr.  At 19 it is possible she was married briefly before this 1939 marriage.  The identify of a Caroline Carr has not otherwise been determined, nor a previous marriage for Caroline Gilbert.
  
  Montgomery County, Tennessee, Marriage Index, 1799-1953
  Christian B F
  Caroline Carr (name usually found as maiden name Caroline Gilbert)
  Solemnized by John Cooke, JP
  Married 21 November 1839
  Recorded Montgomery County Marriage Book, p 17
  
  Now to account for Joseph Benjamin Christian, thought to be Ben's son, who was born in about 1835, based on later census records.  This would mean that Benjamin Franklin Christian had another wife before marrying Carline Carr, if this was the same B F Franklin, making Caroline Gilbert (Carr) his second wife, while she is normallly reported as his first.
  
  B F's obit reported that he moved to Texas in 1844, settling first in Upshur County.  The 1850 census reports that he owned 540 acres of land in what was listed as Upshur District of the State of Texas.  Only the Agricultural schedule of the 1850 census has been found.  It is possible he still owned land in Upshur after moving to Bonham, which is in Fannin County.
  
  1850 Federal Census Upshur District, Texas, 2 Oct, Agriculture Schedule, page 819
  B F Christian 35 acres improved, 505 acres unimproved, $150 land value, $60 implement value, 1 horse, 1 mule, 6 milk cows, 8 cattle
  
  In 1860 B F and his wife C M are living near his parents James W and Louisa in Bonham, Fannin County, Texas.
  
  1860 Federal Census, Fannin County, Texas, 19 June, Beat 1, P O Bonham, p 32, Hse #219, Fam #221
  B F  Christian 43 M Farmer $4500 Real Estate Value $522 Personal Estate b Tenn [b abt 1817]
  C M Christian 40 F b Pennsylvania [b abt 1820]
  
  It seems that C M's maiden name was Gilbert.  Another researcher had found the name C M Gilbert as the wife of Joseph Benjamin Christian, who seems to be B F's son.  Her full name was Caroline Mabel Gilbert.  Ben's obituary identifies her as the daughter of Capt Mabel Gilbert.  Some genealogies have confused Joseph Benjamin Christian Sr with his father Benjamin Franklin Christian.
  
  "My investigation has identified Benjamin Franklin Christian. first wife (CM) as Caroline Mabel Gilbert (1820 PA - 1863 TX)."
  --  Loyd Keith Farris, Ancestry Messaging to Orville Boyd Jenkins, 10 March 2017
  
  1860 Federal Census, Fannin County, Texas, 19 June, Beat 1, P O Bonham, p 31, Hse #209, Fam #211
  J W Christian 70 M Farmer $5660 Real Estate Value $10,600 Personal Estate b NC [b abt 1790]
  Louisa Christian 61 F b Tenn [b abt 1799]
  James D Christian 20 M b Tenn [b abt 1840]
  Louisa P Christian 17 M b Tenn [b abt 1843]
  
  A book on the history of Grayson County, Texas, reports that B F Christian was born about 1814 in Tennessee.  But his grave memorial says his birth date was 1 July 1817.  The actual gravestone has the date of death and age down to the day.The 1817 date is a match, as such records go, for the age of B F Christian in the 1880 census making birth about 1818.
  
  His wife is reported as Louisa.  But some genealogies have mixed sources for our B F Christian and similar records for another Benjamin Franklin Christian in Missouri whose wife's name was Lavinia.  Some genealogies have her as Lavinia Louisa.  That Ben and Lavinia died in Atchison County, Missouri, not Texas.
  
  Texas, Select County Marriage Index, 1837-1965
  Benjamin F Christian
  Louisa Davis
  License issued 5 October 1864 in Sherman, Grayson County, Texas
  Marriage performed 6 October 1864 by M Y Brockett, Minister of the Gospel
  
  Ben was reported in the tax list for Grayson County, Texas, in 1886, reported as a Hotel Keeper in Sherman.  This matches the report of occupation in his obituary for his residence in Sherman, Grayson County.
  
  May 1886 Tax List, Grayson County, Texas, p 21
  Benj F Christian
  Residence Sherman
  Occupation Hotel Keeper
  
  Some records suggested that Benjamin Franklin Christian may have lived in Marion County, Texas.  There are black Christian families with similar names in that county, and the Christian families in this genealogy lived in surrounding counties of East Texas, especially Cass County, to the northwest, and Titus County, a little farther northwest.
  
  In light of fairly continuous and now voluminous records in Grayson County, Texas, the Marion County connection seems unlikely.  And since other Christians that seem to be connected are in that area, his connection to the Cass County and Marion County families may not be as firm as earlier thought.  The same or similar name may occur among the Cass-Marion Countires Chrsitan family.
  
  Other Christian families assert a connection, as in the family information and research of descendant Keith Farris, who has been in correspondence with this genealogy since 2015.
  
  "Mineola Christian Battles (1890 - 1972) was my maternal grandmother. Her father was Joseph Benjamin Christian and his father (my second great grandfather) was Benjamin Franklin Christian (1817 - 1870)."
  --  Loyd Keith Farris, Ancestry Messaging to Orville Boyd Jenkins, 31 December 2015
  
  The Benjamin Franklin Christian I find with these birth and death dates is reported in numerous genealogies, but has no son named Joseph Benjamin Christian in any of them.  Furthermore, he was born and died in Georgia.  Thus we have no basis for 1870 as a date of death for our Benjamin Franklin Christian.  Some genealogies have confused Benjamin Franklin Christian with Joseph Benjamin Christian as the husband of Louisa Taylor  in Cass County, Texas, whose second husband was Joseph Sanford Jenkins.
  
  Joseph Benjamin, born about 1835, seems to be the son of Ben Franklin Christian, but the dates of marriage form Ben's obit for his marriages would put the birth of Joseph Benjamin before the first known marriage of Ben to Caroline M Gilbert.  Caroline's age reported in the 1860 census, also, would make her birth in about 1820, making her only about 15-16 years old when J B was born.  Possible, but not likely.
  
  Ben may have been married first in Tennessee before coming to Texas in about 1844 where he married Caroline Mabel Gilbert in Fannin County.  No marriage record has been found that firmly matches and nothing was mentioned in his fairly detailed obituary about a wife before C M Gilbert.
  
  -----------------
  Marion County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 census, its population was 10,546.  Its county seat is Jefferson.  Marion County is in East Texas and is named for Francis Marion, the Revolutionary War general from South Carolina who was nicknamed the "Swamp Fox." ...
  
  The legislature formed Marion County from Cass County in 1860 and named for Revolutionary War Swamp Fox Francis Marion.  Jefferson, named after Thomas Jefferson, became the county seat.
  
  Adjacent counties and parish
  Cass County (north)
  Caddo Parish, Louisiana (east)
  Harrison County (south)
  Upshur County (west)
  Morris County (northwest)
  
  --  "Marion County, Texas," Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marion_County,_Texas
  -----------------
  
  We have established that the B F Christian we are following here was in Grayson County.  In the 1880 census, he is with his wife, Ellen B.  Ellen matches other reports for Louisa (Lou) Davis.  There is a niece named Davis in their 1880 household.
  
  1880 Federal Census, Grayson County, Texas, 1 June, Whitesboro, District 14, page 1 (scan 343A), Hse/Fam #5
  Christian, B F  W M 62 Husband Cattle Dealer TX AL TN [b abt 1818]
  Christian, Ellen B  W F 50 Wife Keeping House -- -- -- [abt 1830]
  Davis, John Anna W F 15 Niece Student TX  -- -- [abt 1865]
  
  A marriage record in an unstated county reports a marriage in 1864 between a Benjamin F Christian and one Louisa Davis.  Other records establish that this marriage took place in Fannin County, Texas, along the Red River.  This record matches the report in his obituary that he married Lou Davis as his second wife.  The genealogy also reports that he married his first wife, a "daughter of Capt. Mabel Gilbert" (whom we know as Caroline Mabel Gilbert) in 1844 (or after that date) when he came to Texas.  the Obit reports that his wife Lou survived him when he died in 1886.
  
  Texas, Select County Marriage Index, 1837-1965
  Benjamin F Christian
  Spouse Louisa Davis
  Marriage 1864, Texas
  
  "My Ancestry.com research identifies Benjamin Franklin Christian (1818 TN-1886 TX) as being a son of James W. Christian (1790 NC-1865 TX); and it appears that JWC's father was Drury Christian (1766 VA-1833 TN))."
  --  Keith Farris, Ancestry Messaging to Orville Boyd Jenkins, 7 March 2017
  
  I had trouble getting BF's FAG memorial to show up in searches.  Finally, when Keith Farris mentioned in our correspondence that he had found it, with some more searching I did manage to locate it.  It contains an obituary that appears to be contemporary with his death, but the memorial gives no credit or documentation.  No burial information has been found for his wife Louisa Davis (who may be the same person as Ellen B Davis reported as his wife in the 1880 census above).  His genealogy says he was born in Tennessee; assuming it is right then indicates the error in the 1860 census, reporting him born in Texas.  Considering that the info in the obituary probably came from a family source, we will follow this report, rather than the census.
  
  -----------------
  Benjamin F "Ben" Christian
  
  Birth Jul 1, 1817
  Death Oct 16, 1886 Whitesboro, Grayson County, Texas, USA
  
  When a man dies and those who knew him all say he was a good man, and his life has been worthy to be an example for every young man, then those who knew him not will appreciate anything that will perpetuate the memory of such a noble character. Such a man was Benjamin F. Christian, who first saw the light in Tennessee about the year 1814. He came to Texas in 1844 and settled in Upshur County. He removed from there to Bonham shortly afterward, and married a daughter of Capt. Mabel Gilbert. In 1858, he located in Sherman and engaged in the hotel business. His wife died in 1863, and in 1864 he was married to Miss Lou Davis, daughter of Micajah Davis, one of the earliest settlers of Grayson County. After the loss of the late war he removed to Whitesboro and engaged in the mercantile business with Capt. Sam B. Savage. He died October 16th, 1886. His last wife survives him.
  
  "Uncle Ben," as he was familiarly called, was a devoted Odd Fellow. It may be justly said of him that he was the father of Odd Fellowship in North Texas. For years he traveled from the Sabine to the extreme western frontier, even when the Indians deprecated the western counties, organizing Lodges and lecturing. Under dispensation of the Grand Master of the Sovereign Grand Lodge, he instituted the first Lodge in the Indian Territory, at Caddo. He was a charter member and organized the Lodge at Whitesboro, which was named for him, in the year 1868. In 1872 he was elected Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Texas.
  
  He was a consistent member of the Cumberland Presbyterian church, and one of the most active workers in the Old Settlers' Association, having delivered a most touching valedictory at the reunion in Sherman in August 1886, about two months before his death. He was buried at Oak Wood Cemetery in Whitesboro, Texas.
  
  Burial Oak Wood Cemetery, Whitesboro, Grayson County, Texas, USA
  [Note that the sign for the cemetery spells the name Oakwood.]
  
  Created by JSB Jan 23, 2016
  --  Find A Grave Memorial #157382669, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/157382669/christian
  -----------------
  
  Texas, Wills and Probate Records, 1833-1974
  B F Christian
  Probate 29 Oct 1886 Grayson County, Texas, USA
  Death Abt October 1886 Grayson County
  Witnessed and proven in court 9 March 1887 in March Special Term 1887
  WIfe Lou N B Christian appointed Executor
  Probate Minutes, Vol O, 1885-1887, p 533-534

Sources

• 1. 1880 Federal Census, Grayson County, Texas
  • 1 June, Whitesboro, District 14, page 1 (scan 343A), Hse/Fam #5
• 2. Find a Grave Memorial Registry
• 3. Ancestry Messaging
• 4. Texas, Wills and Probate Records, 1833-1974
• 5. 1860 Federal Census, Fannin County, Texas
  • 19 June, Beat 1, P O Bonham, p 32, Hse #219, Fam #221
• 6. 1850 Federal Census Upshur District, Texas
  • 24 December, Agriculture Schedule, page 819
• 7. Texas, Select County Marriage Index, 1837-1977
• 8. Montgomery County, Tennessee, Marriage Index, 1799-1953
• 9. Various Sources
• 10. Texas, Marriage Collection, 1814-1909 and 1966-2011