DAR #A1032694

Christian Crist was born 4 May 1745, in the lovely town of Montgomery, Orange County, New York. Montgomery is in the Hudson River valley, northeast of New York City. Christians’ parents were Johannis Crist (Christ/Krist) and Elisabeth Schleumer. Johanes had arrived 1729, to New York from the Palatine area of Germany. Elisabeth’s father, Mathias, was among the first Palatines to arrive in New York in 1709. Both families are well documented in the Palatine books by noted Palatine genealogist, Henry Z. Jones, and in old church records.

Christian Crist and Elizabeth Weller were married about 1767, probably in the Brick Reformed Church in Montgomery.

Christian Crist and many of his relatives were among signers of a “Pledge of Association of Hanover Precinct” signed at Montgomery New York, May 8, 1775. "...shocked by the bloody Scene now acting in the Massachusetts Bay.....to adopt and endeavor to carry into Execution, whatever measures may be recommended by the Continental Congress..." This was a pledge of loyalty and support for Revolutionary activities.

When the Revolutionary War started Christian and Elizabeth had three small children with the fourth on the way. Christian Crist began his service in the American Revolutionary War by 1777. His service was scattered among several regiments and time periods all the way through late 1780. Records of his service are available from several sources, including Fold3.

Two more children were born during the war, and in January 1791, their tenth child was born. All ten of the children were baptized in the Brick reformed Church, Montgomery, Orange County, New York. At least one of the children died before reaching adulthood.

The last entry for Christian Crist and Elizabeth Weller Crist in the Montgomery Brick Reformed Church books was 23 Jan 1791, when their last child was baptized.

There are no surviving deeds that show what, if any, land Christian may have owned in Montgomery, New York. There are no records to show what occupation Christian may have had, although most of his sons became successful farmers, and one son was a river trader.

In about 1795, Christian Crist and his six known living children, all unmarried sons, ages 10 to 27, moved to the Northwest Territory in what became Hamilton County, Ohio. They settled with other early pioneers near where the Little Miami River flows into the Ohio river a few miles East of Cincinnati. They had followed friend, Nathaniel Terwilleger, who had immigrated in the Spring of 1795 with his children, and many relatives. (Nathaniel Terwilleger is also my Rev War ancestor.) . In 1796 this group of relatives and friends founded the town of Montgomery, Ohio, naming the town after their New York home. Montgomery is thirteen miles northwest of Cincinnati.

Christian Crist left little evidence of his life in Montgomery, Ohio. In October, 1801 he had a letter waiting for him at the Cincinnati Post Office. There are no deeds that prove that he owned any land, and no probate record. The Crists were founders and early members of the Montgomery Presbyterian Church, but the surviving records begin in about 1820, after Christian’s death. A number of his children and grandchildren are mentioned in the records.

It is not known whether Christian’s wife died before the move to Ohio or if she made the trip. Family lore includes different versions. It is most likely that she did go to Ohio and that she outlived Christian.

Christian is buried in historic, beautifully maintained Hopewell Cemetery, Montgomery, Ohio, with a modern military stone that reads “Christian Crist, Pvt 1 Regt N.Y. Levies Rev. War 1814”. His date of death comes from descendants of son Moses, who recorded that Christian died at Moses’ home. On the immediate North side of Christian's tombstone there is a grave with no stone, but a remaining base where a stone once stood. Could this be wife Elizabeth Weller Crist's grave? Elizabeth’s death date and place have not been confirmed.

Christian’s grave site in Hopewell Cemetery is listed in Patricia Law Hatcher’s, Abstract of Graves of Revolutionary Patriots (Dallas: Pioneer Heritage Press, 1987).