- Birth: July 12, 1834
- First Marriage: Keziah Strang, February 5, 1856
- Second Marriage: Martha (Craig) Wilton, May 9, 1866
- Death: May 23, 1886
Early Life
Charles Frederick Christenot was born on July 12, 1834, in Wellsboro, Tioga County, Pennsylvania to Frederick Christenot and Asenath Sanford. Frederick was born in Switzerland and his mother in Connecticut. Charles was the third of nine children. His last name was consistently spelled as “Christenot”, yet his parents used variations of Christinat/Christinot/Christenat, as the name became more Anglicized or census takers chose their own spelling. It appears that Frederick and family were prospering in Wellsboro during 1830-1850 when Charles was growing up. Tioga County tax rolls list Frederick Christenot as a laborer, with one town lot and one cow in 1831. In 1844, when Charles was 10, Frederick is listed as a carpenter with a house, lot and one cow. In 1850, Frederick lists a house and lot, a lot on Pearl Street, and 51 acres of wild land in Delmar Township.
For some reason, family fortunes changed. On August 22, 1849, there is a death notice for Cornelia, daughter and ninth child of Frederick and Asenath. On August 28, 1850 a notice of a sheriff’s sale of their property was published. There is a Sheriff’s sale for Frederick in the September 11, 1850 edition of the Tiaga Eagle. This was a period of economic hardship for that community. The 1850 census for Wellsboro lists Frederick as a carpenter living with Horace Cook, an innkeeper.
It appears that the poor economy forced the Christenot family to head west to Wisconsin. The 1850 census for Barbaboo, Sauk County, Wisconsin records Asenath and children B.F. (20), Ann M. (18), Charles F. (16), Mary A. (12), Emily E. (8), and Louisa (5) all living with Asenath’s brother, merchant J.F. (Joseph Francis) Sanford.
Children of Frederick and Asenath Christenat, Siblings of Charles
- Benjamin Franklin Christenot (1830-1903)
- Anna Margaretha (Christenot) Edwards Douglass (1832-1910)
- Charles Frederick Christenot (1834-1886)
- Sarah Christenot (1836-1836)
- Mary Amelia (Christenot) Morrill (1837-1897)
- Sarah Christenot (1839-1839)
- Emily (Christenot) Marshall (1841-1881)
- Louesa (Christenot) Foss (1844-1923)
- Cornelia Christenot (1846-1849)
First Marriage – Keziah Strang
Charles was 21 years old when he married Keziah Strang (1836-1864) on February 5, 1857, in Rock, Wisconsin. Keziah Strang was born in 1836 to Jeremiah and Susan (Redner) Strang in Pennsylvania. The census of 1860 for Marston (Sauk County) Wisconsin lists “Chas” Christenot, age 25, and Keziah, 24. His occupation was farmer and their real estate value was $250, and personal estate $100. They may have lived with or next to his parents, Frederick and Asenath, and 15-year-old sister Louisa, whose census entries immediately precede those of Charles and Keziah.
Their son, Henry Chapman, was born on August 6, 1860, and their first daughter, Emma Susan, on October 28, 1861.
Children of Charles and Keziah Christenot
- Henry Chapman Christenot (1860-1912)
- Emma Susan (Christenot) Hough (1861-1941)
- Mattie (Christenot) Brill (1864-1898)
Voluntary Service in the U.S. Civil War
On December 22, 1863, a complaint of assault against Charles was filed by Margaret Bailey, wife of Charles Bailey. A warrant was issued for his arrest on December 23rd. He appeared in court the same day, pled not guilty, was tried, and a judgment of a $1.00 fine was made. Defendant Charles appealed. The documents are difficult to read, but it appears that a bond of $200 was posted to make the appeal from the judgment. Less than a week later, on December 30, 1863, Charles enlisted as a private in Company C of the 12th Wisconsin Infantry Volunteers at Janesville, Wisconsin.
Did he enlist to obtain the enlistment bonus to pay the bondsman, or to avoid possible conviction and jail time? Charles had a family of two children with a third on the way. Whatever the reason, this enlistment would prove to be a major change in his life.
Keziah gave birth to daughter, Mattie Christenot, on February 19, 1864. Keziah died on October 1, 1864. The older two children, Henry and Emma, were raised by Keziah’s brothers in Carlyle, Illinois. Mattie was raised by Charles’s sister, Anna (Christenot) Edwards, in Wisconsin.
Charles suffered a heat stroke at the Battle of Atlanta, on July 22, 1864, which left him with epileptic seizures. Muster records show him on furlough from November 1864-February 28, 1865, possibly to settle his children and recover from sun stroke. He returned to his unit in March 1865.
Charles mustered out of the Army with the rest of his unit on July 16, 1865. He had just turned 31, was five feet seven inches high, fair complexion, blue eyes, dark hair, and, when enrolled, a carpenter. He may have traveled to Illinois to join his children.
Second Marriage – Martha (Craig) Wilton
Charles married Martha (Craig) Wilton, the widow of Civil War soldier Henry Wilton, on May 9, 1866. This marked the end of their lives in the Midwest, as they began a journey to Montana Territory. They traveled by oxen train from Nebraska City, Nebraska to Virginia City, Montana. With them was Martha and Henry Wilton’s daughter, Alice May Wilton, age 3. Left behind were Charles and Keziah’s three children; Henry Chapman, age 6, Emma Susan, age 5, and Mattie, age 2. There is no record Charles ever again seeing his first three children. A letter from Emma to Charles of May 15, 1879, is the only correspondence found among them.
The Bozeman Trail to Montana
Charles, Martha and her 3-year-old daughter, Alice Wilton, traveled along the Bozeman Trail from June to October of 1866. They departed Nebraska City, Nebraska, in an oxen train under the management of Thomas A. Creigh. This train of 52 wagons and 235 yoke of cattle departed on June 20, 1866, with 81 tons of freight including gold crushing machinery for the Montana Gold and Silver Mining Company. Additional family on the train included Frederick Christenot and his second wife Margaret (Charles’s mother, Asenath, passed away on July 11, 1861), and his niece Amelia (Benjamin F. Christenot’s daughter with his first wife, Lucretia Mary O’Cain). Another woman traveling with the Christenot family was Miss Smith. She is likely Azubah R. Smith who married Benjamin on October 16, 1867. He did not travel with the train as he returned to Virginia City on August 4th, 1866, presumably to supervise the construction of the stone mill building at Union City.
After a six-month journey, the ox train arrived in Alder Gulch, Montana on October 12, 1866. They settled by the Christenot Mill in a small settlement known as Union City.
Children of Charles and Martha Christenot
- Hattie (Christenot) Kyle (1867-1936)
- Anna (Christenot) Swisher (1869-1950)
- Mary (Christenot) Patrick (1872-1919)
- Charles Christenot (1874-1875)
- Amelia “Mae” (Christenot) Pendarvis Jordan (1876-1959)
- George Christenot (1878-1934)
- Frank Christenot (1880-1956)
- Fred Christenot (1883-1961)
- Clemma (Christenot) Newton Briscoe (1885-1970)
Life in Madison County, Montana
Charles and Martha had nine children and all reached maturity except baby Charles. Hattie, their first child together, was born in Alder Gulch in 1867, when Martha was twenty-one. Their youngest child, Clemma, was born on October 1, 1885, when Martha was 39 years old.
The extended Christenot family lived and worked at Union City. Life there revolved around the operation of the Christenot Mill in 1867 and 1868. The pay was good, if you could collect, as Charles demonstrated with a mechanic’s lien that he filed in 1868 for $673.40 against the Montana Gold and Silver Mining Company. He stated that he had worked as a carpenter for 110 days at $5.00 per day making sleds, tubs for mines, desks and ore frames, and repairing buildings. The Madison County Supreme Court upheld judgment in his favor on December 31, 1868. He ended up receiving $398.30.
The family may have moved from Union City and lived in Virginia City, while Charles still worked at the Mill. But the Mill failed and was ordered sold at a Sheriff’s Sale in 1869. In June of 1869, the Montana Democrat listed eight Sheriff’s Sale notices for the Christenot Mill and Oro Cache properties to satisfy unpaid depts. Charles was listed as a creditor.
They lived in Brown’s Gulch and William’s Gulch, near Virginia City. The July 27, 1870, census shows Charles, age 35, miner, together with Martha (24), Alice (7), Hattie (3), and Anna (9 months). Finances were a problem for them. This may be attributed to the epilepsy suffered by Charles limiting his ability to work, and part to costs associated with their ever-growing family. Much of what is known about them comes from affidavits supporting many claims for military pensions. The claims included widow claims by Martha and her daughter, Alice, for her first husband, Henry, and Charles for his disability.
The Christenot family lived in many locations throughout Madison County. Charles was listed as a carpenter and as a miner in various census documents. He worked at a saw mill and managed to cut off two fingers while operating a shingle machine. According to an advertisement in the Madisonian, he was the Proprietor of the Nevada Hotel in Nevada City. Mary was born in 1872.
On May 4, 1874, Charles was granted a pension as Guardian of Alice Wilton, age eleven. Baby Charles was born in 1874 and died in 1875.
They lived at Puller Springs near the Ruby River, where Charles served as a constable and worked in construction and as a farmer/rancher. Amelia was born in 1875 and George in 1878. During 1875-1878, Charles thought he was in partnership with Curtis D. Newbary, the husband of Martha’s daughter, Alice. They had married on January 18, 1877. Charles brought suit against Curtis in 1878 seeking partnership assets, but he lost his case. The loss of his lawsuit in 1878 may be part of the reason why his daughter, Emma (Christenot) Hough wrote in her 1879 letter about his misfortune in losing everything”.
They lived at Home Park and other places in the Upper Ruby Valley. Lew L. Callaway states in a 1909 affidavit that:
“I was well-acquainted with Charles F. Christenot during his lifetime. I knew him from 1880 until 1885 very well. I helped him survey ditches. He surveryed with an old-fashioned triangle and I drove the pegs. I also worked with him in the hay field, and, at times, rode the range with him. He was at that time living in the Upper Ruby Valley, in Madison County, Montana, where I resided during portions of the spring, summer and fall. I went to school in Virginia City in the winter time. I have been well-acquainted with Martha Christenot, wife of said Charles F. Christenot, and their children since the year 1880. The eldest girl lived at our house about a year in 1881 and 1882. I think she was then about 13 years old.” Also: “During the year 1881, the family lived on a ranch belonging to my father, which adjoined the ranch I was living on, and during the years 1882, 1883, and 1884 they lived within a mile of the ranch upon which I lived.” The “eldest girl” would have been Hattie.
Frank was born in 1880, Fred in 1883, and Clemma in 1885.
End of Life
The heat stroke suffered by Charles at the Battle of Atlanta on July 22, 1864, was exacting its toll in the form of epileptic fits. Adriel B. Davis (the Vigilante of Virginia City who tied the knot for the hanging of George Ives) claimed in an affidavit that he had known Charles since 1866 and had seen many of his fits. These, he said, grew worse in length and frequency with age. Charles was sent to the Insane Asylum at Warm Springs, Montana, on March 18, 1886. He died there on May 23, 1886, for falling during his last fit. He was 51 years old.
When he died, Martha was 40 years old and without financial support, other than some Civil War pensions. The children still at home were Mary (14), Amelia (10), George (8), Frank (6), Fred (3), and Clemma (8 months old).
Various documents have indicated Charles was buried in Deer Lodge, Montana, but no trace of the grave is found there, nor at Warm Springs where he died. In 2016, Gwen (Christenot) Henderson (George line) obtained a memorial stone for Charles from the Veterans Administration. It was placed with permission at the private Jack Creek Cemetery during the 2016 Christenot Family Reunion. This is the oldest and nearest cemetery to Puller Hot Springs.
Charles Frederick Christenot lived in turbulent times. His Civil War injury prevented him from working enough to support his family.
Sources
Callaway, L. L. (1930, October 10). Tales of Alder Gulch. The Madisonian.
Creigh, T. (2000). Thomas Alfred Creigh Diary. In S. B. Doyle, Journeys to the Land of Gold (p. 688). Montana Historical Society Press.
Recke, C. (2016). Christenot Gold Mill. Treasure State Lines.
Shrauger, N. (1998a). Union City. Montana Ghost Town Quarterly.
Shrauger, N. (1998b). The Christenot Mill at Union City. Montana Ghost Town Quarterly.
Shrauger, N. (2001). Christenot Family. In L. Wostrel, Dreams Across the Divide (p. 112). Stoneydale Press Publishing Company.
Shrauger, N. (2006). Christenet Family History Chronology.
Shrauger, N. (2019). Christenot Family History: A Compilation of Stories by Family Members.
Research
More information, photographs, and documents about Charles Frederick Christenot are available and will be added over time. This research is based on the sources listed and the primary documents found on the Christenot Family Tree at Ancestry.com.
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