- In 1818, Louis & Salome (Ringier) Christinat with their children Margaret, Rudolph, Samuel, Frederick emigrated from Switzerland to Wellsboro, Pennsylvania.
- Louis and a son, Samuel, died by 1823. Widow Salome with sons Rudolph and Frederick moved in the household of daugther Margaret and her husband, Benjamin B. Smith.
- Margaret & B.B. Smith and Rudolph & Adeline Christenat stayed in the area. Frederick & Asenath Christenot moved to Baraboo, Wisconsin, in 1850. Two of their children, Benjamin Christenot and Charles Christenot, moved to Montana in the 1860’s.
Christenot Roots Tour, October 2024
A tour of Wellsboro, Pennsylvania, is planned for Friday, October 11th through Sunday, October 13th, 2024, to learn more about the community where the Christinat family first settled from Switzerland in 1818. We’ll tour areas where the family lived, worked, and went to school, and discover how they made an impact on the brand new community. Some family stayed in the area, and some headed west in 1850. Let’s gather all the branches and learn more about our history together. Come meet new cousins, enjoy the family history displays, speakers, and tours, and take part in the quest to find the evidence of our family’s roots in, and around Wellsboro! Please RSVP so we’ll know you’ll be there!
Modern Wellsboro
Wellsboro, population 3,458, is a popular destination with an old-fashioned looking downtown complete with town square and gas-lit lamps. The Christenot Roots Tour will coincide with the peak time of the fall colors of the leaves, yet the weather should still be agreeable for seeing the historical buildings and museums, touring rural properties, and visiting local areas of beauty.
Maps
- Read more about the town in the article, Stepping Back in Time with a Visit to Wellsboro, Pennsylvania,
- Downtown Map
- Downtown walking tour, with interactive pictures of historical buildings.
- Road Map of modern Tioga County.
- Read, Wellsboro: The Town that Saved Christmas for a shiny, bright story.
We’ll have fun at the Tioga County Early Days, a weekend-long celebration of historical farming, forestry, and mining held at the local fairgrounds. We’ll spend some time there and grab a great meal.
View this year’s brochure at this link.
View or order the Visitor’s Guide from the Potter/Tioga County Visitor’s Center. Their website is full of tips and local attractions. Farther away are the Corning Museum of Glass or the Little League Museum, to be visited en route.
Christenot Roots Tour
Plan to Visit: Wellsboro is very remote, so start planning for the fun now! Our tour, on October 11-13, 2024, will coincide with the Columbus Day weekend, perhaps adding an extra day of travel for some. The closest mid-size airport is in Scranton, PA., with the largest in Rochester and Buffalo, New York. These are closer to Wellsboro than Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
Reserve Your Lodging Now! This is prime Leaf-Peeping time and the lovers of fall colors of leaves will be planning ahead to invade town. Make your reservations now at area hotels or campgrounds.
- Wellsboro Hotels: Canyon Motel, Penn Wells Hotel, Penn Wells Lodge, and the Sherwood Motel, or look for Airbnb offerings.
- Mansfield Hotels: Mansfield Inn, Hampton Inn, Quality Inn, and Microtel Inn among others. (10 miles east of Wellsboro.)
- Campgrounds: Hills Creek State Park, Pettecote Junction Campground with cabins, Stony Fork Creek Campground, and Twin Streams Campground.
Natural Beauty: Colton Point State Park and Leonard Harrison State Park are found on either side of the Pine Creek Gorge, known as the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania, with 62 miles of hiking and biking trails from packed surfaces to rugged terrain. The Pine Creek Trail is a rail-trail that starts in Wellsboro and ends in the canyon. The visitor center and most famous views of the canyon and all those colorful leaves are found at Leonard Harrison State Park. We’ll be sure to work in a visit of this beautiful valley!
Please let us know you’ll be there!
Please send us your headcount and any questions or suggestions. We need to know how many of you are coming so we can reserve the right size hall! Use the form on the “Contact Us” page or send email to questions@christenot.org.
Historical Wellsboro
Wellsboro is the county seat for the sparsely populated Tioga County, known for farming, timber, and coal. The town plot was surveyed in 1806, yet was slow to grow. Louis and Salome Christinat, with four children, arrived in 1818 and joined other Swiss settlers to farm in the Delmar Township, west of Wellsboro. Many later moved to town, became leading citizens, and helped to shape the area. Properties held by some of the Swiss can be found still in their names on an 1862 map and that’s where the search for land where the Christinats first farmed will begin.
Background: Within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, there are sixty-seven counties. Under Pennsylvania law, there are four types of incorporated municipalities: Cities, boroughs, townships, and a few towns.
In Tioga County, there are twenty-nine townships and ten boroughs. Townships are rural, scarcely populated and governed by a three-person council. Boroughs are town-like and more densely populated, and governed by a mayor and council. Wellsboro was first settled in 1806. It was incorporated as a borough, carved out of the Delmar Township, in 1830.
Documents that pertain to our earliest family members are only available at the courthouse or library. There are some records found online through the nearby Mansfield History Center. See these links for Tioga County and Wellsboro, and Delmar Township.
Christinat Roots in Wellsboro
Louis and Salome Christinat, with four of their children, arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1818, aboard the brig Rebecca Ann. They joined other Swiss settlers to farm just west of Wellsboro. Their four children were Margaret, 15; Rudolph, 14; Frederick, 10, and a son, possibly older than Frederick. He may have been named Samuel or Frank.
The 1820 Census shows them in one home, minus Margaret, who had married Benjamin B. Smith. By the 1830 Census, Louis and the unknown-to-us son had died, so Salome, with sons Rudolph and Frederick, went to live at the Smith house.
Wellsboro is the county seat for the sparsely populated county of Tioga, known for farming, timber, and coal. The town plot was surveyed in 1806, yet was slow to grow. As our kin grew, and started their own families and careers, they became city leaders and helped the area to grow into a thriving community.
Benjamin B. Smith was a teacher, newspaperman, and merchant. Many of Margaret and Benjamin’s children stayed in the area. Rudolf Christenat married Adeline Austin in 1834. He was a lumberman and a farmer, and their children stayed in the area. Frederick Christenat married Asenath Sanford in 1829 and he worked as a carpenter. With six children, they moved to Baraboo, Wisconsin, in 1850. With his sons Benjamin and Charles, Frederick settled in Montana by 1866. And found friends from Wellsboro in Virginia City! When Benjamin went east looking for investors in his gold mill, he went to Pennsylvania!
Keziah Strang Connection:
In 1850, Charles Christenot was 16 when his family moved from Wellsboro to Wisconsin. In 1856, Charles, 21, married Keziah Strang, 20, in Rock, Wisconsin. Had they known each other in Pennsylvania? Keziah was born in Tioga County, perhaps in Westfield, 25 miles from Wellsboro and her family later lived in nearby Potter County. Read more about their marriage and three children at the webpage for Charles Christenot. Please pass along any research you have for the Strang Family and help us to locate property or graves that can be visited during the October Roots Tour.
We look forward to learning more about the family and their time in Wellsboro! Our families who descended from Louis and Salome Christinat use different spellings such as Christinat, Christenat, Christenot, and Christnot. No matter how you spell it, we hope you’ll join the fun reunion in Wellsboro, Pennsylvania, on October 11-13, 2024!