National Miners Day

Lewis Christison standing in the background

Today is National Miners Day. When I think about my Colorado roots, those roots run deep in mountain mining shafts with three generations of Colorado miners and prospectors in my family. The above photo shows my great-grandfather, Lewis Christison, standing in the background at a mine near Buena Vista. Lewis spent his life as a hard-rock miner, moving his family from mine to mine, prospect to prospect. Villa Grove, Canon City, Buena Vista, Rosita, Alder, and Turret are a few of the places I know he mined and prospected.

Ken Christison, Sr. with his father, Lewis Christison

Ken Christison, Sr. at Gold Crown Mine 

Lewis' son, Ken Christison, Sr., my Grandpa, was also a miner and prospector. In 1936, he moved to California and worked at the Gold Crown Mine in Twenty-Nine Palms. He met The Girl From 29 Palms (an Andrews Sisters song my grandmother said was written about her) and married her. He returned to Colorado later and I loved to go camping near his mining claim up on Poncha Pass when I was a little girl.




My Christison family miners started with Lewis' father, Wilburn Christison, who brought his wife and six children to the mining camp of Cash Creek, Colorado in a covered wagon in 1861. Wilburn was active in placer mining and in locating mines. He was involved in several mining companies, including the Pioneer Lode Mining Company.

Ernest and Nancy Jane Christison

Several of Wilburn's sons were active in mining, too. His oldest son, Leslie, worked in mines and was a mining inspector. Ernest Christison, whom I tend to think of as a cowboy, was also a miner. He and Leslie had a mining company near Twin Lakes. He also worked in mines at Cripple Creek and Victor, along with his sons, Leslie and John. 

Enos Frankenbery with his family

Lewis Christison's father-in-law, Enos Frankenbery (my other great-great-grandfather) was also a miner. He owned a coal mine near LaVeta. In 1893, he was badly burned in an explosion and lost his sight in one eye. But he continued to mine and later had a silver quarry near Canon City. He died in 1918 of a heart attack and had spent the day going over  Colorado Fuel and Iron holdings, which he operated, with company officials.

The 1929 Prison Riot at the Colorado State Penitentiary

89 years ago today, on October 3, 1929, my great-great-grandmother's second husband, Ray Brown, was shot and killed in the 1929 Prison Riot at the Colorado State Penitentiary where he was a prison guard. 

Margaret Johnson Frankenbery married Ray Brown on November 24, 1925. She was 64 and he was 55. It was also his second marriage after being widowed. Ray Brown had lived in Cripple Creek for 15 years before moving to Canon City and being employed as a guard at the prison in 1922.

Jimmie Pardue and Danny Daniels put their plan to escape prison into motion at around noon on October 3, 1929. Pardue shot and killed the first guard, Elmer Erwin, who was in the Crow's Nest. After taking Erwin's rifle, Pardue shot and killed Walter Rinker, who was on top of the administration building, and then shot and killed Ray Brown, who was in Tower 8. Guard Myron Goodwin was also shot, but didn't die until a week later on October 10.

Pardue and Daniels held 11 guards hostage in Cell Block 3 for twelve hours. During this time, another group of 100 or so prisoners set a fire which destroyed Cell House 1 & 2, including the dining room, library and chapel.

Daniels gave his demands to Warden Crawford for their release; Crawford, however, called in the National Guard. When Daniel's demands weren't met, he began killing his hostages execution style. He first shot guard Jack Eeles in the head and dropped his body from a window. Guards Walter Rinker and R.A. Wiggins were also killed.

The Warden and National Guard tried several plans throughout the night to end the riot. 2,000 rounds of ammunition were shot into Cell Block 3.  A charge of 150 pounds of dynamite was set off outside the wall of cell block 3, but the charge failed to bring down the wall. Finally, tear gas was dropped into the building and Daniels, seeing no way out of the situation, shot Pardue and two other prisoners who helped with the escape plan before turning the gun on himself at about 4:00 a.m. on the 4th of October.

Reading through the newspaper reports of the riot, I can't imagine the fear and anxiety of having a loved one working in the prison. Margaret Brown's home was across the Arkansas River from the prison, within a mile of it. Surely, she heard the gunshots. Did friends gather with her at her home or did she go to a location where other family members of those who worked at the prison waited? One report highlights the plumes of smoke from the prison, the percussion of the dynamite blast broke windows in houses within ten miles of the prison, airplanes flew overhead day and night, and the constant gunfire throughout the night.

One article in the Canon City Record shares the story of E.J. Hollister's family, "All through the terror-filled hours of the afternoon and night, they waited for word from their loved one - their husband and father... Each shot that rang out during that horror-filled night brought new terror, more heavy anxiety to Miss Grace Hollister, oldest of the three daughter, who waited in heart-breaking fear for news of her father." 

My grandfather, Ken Christison, Sr., was about 12 years old at the time and lived with his family in Rosita, a small town southwest of Canon City. He recalled in an interview with my dad in the 1970's that there were rumors that 40-50 inmates had run for the mountains, but it proved to be untrue. None of the inmates escaped during the riot.

To view photos of the prison riot and more of the story, visit this article on the Denver Post blog

Johnson Family Connections

Margaret Johnson Frankenbery with grandson, Armyn

One of the things I love about genealogy are the connections I find. I've discovered I was working with a third cousin, once removed  when I was a librarian and I've found several other amazing connections. But, the connection I found this week blew me away!

First, a little background: Margaret Johnson Frankenbery is my great-great-grandmother. She was born in Missouri in 1861 and she married Enos Frankenbery in 1879. They moved to LaVeta, Colorado around 1885, where Enos owned a coal mine. By 1900, they lived in Canon City, Colorado where he was first employed at a hardware store, and later owned a quarry with his son, Roy Frankenbery. Enos and Margaret's daughter, Rosine Belle, married Lewis Daniel Christison. They are my great-grandparents.

Using Ancestry, I found that Margaret's father was Joseph Harrison Johnson. And the matches to my DNA test appear to confirm this. Margaret's obituary states she was one of 17 children! Her mother, Hannah Phillips, was Harrison's second wife. I believe they had seven children together before she died. 

But the surprise was yet to come. As I looked at Harrison's 3rd marriage to Mary Byrd Gunn, I noticed one of her daughters from a previous marriage, Mary J. Gunn had married John Hood Tidwell in Oklahoma. The Tidwell name rang a bell. My daughter-in-law's grandfather's name is Tidwell. I texted Shelby and asked her great-great-grandfather's name. She later texted back, "George Dallas Tidwell." Unbelievable! George Dallas Tidwell is the son of Mary J. Gunn and John Hood Tidwell!

So, my great-great-grandmother, Margaret Johnson (b. 1861), was a step-sister to Mary J. Gunn (b. 1867), my daughter-in-law's 3rd great-grandmother.

Shelby's mom and I are 4th step-cousins, Kenny and Shelby are 5th step-cousins. Crazy, huh?

Hutchinson Homestead

36 years ago, I visited Dr. Wendell "Hutch" Hutchinson to ask him about my great-great-uncle,  Ernest Christison and Ed Watkins. Hutch gave us a tour of his family's homestead and showed us the location of a Christison cabin on the Hutchinson Ranch.

This weekend we returned for the "Ranching Voices: Stories of Our Valley" program at the Hutchinson Homestead. It is now a National Register Historical District and Learning Center to educate youth and families about history and agriculture. The speakers were from four of the oldest ranches in Chaffee County and they shared the histories of their ranches and their stories as ranchers. 

I felt like I was sitting at a family reunion listening to the stories of the early settlers I have spent so many years researching! Many of the stories were familiar to me, told through books like Under The Angel Of Shavano by George Everett and Dr. Wendell Hutchinson. Other stories or people mentioned are connected to the story of Ernest Christison and Ed Watkins. 

This morning felt like a repeat of the past when Hutch's son, Art Hutchinson, showed me the location of Henry Van Kleeck's house and dairy in Poncha Springs. Art shares his father's love of history and the people who settled the Upper Arkansas Valley. Talking with him felt like talking to an old friend who knows all of the people I know!

Here is a photo of two descendants of 1860's Cash Creek miners, Joseph Hutchinson and Wilburn Christison:

Gayle Christison Gresham and Lewis "Art" Hutchinson

The Redemption of Ernest Christison Article in the Mountain Mail

Virgil Ernest Christison's grave marker in the Fairview Cemetery, Colorado Springs

I've been enjoying the articles written by Joy Jackson, archivist at the Salida Regional Library, about Salida stories of the past in her column, "At the Library." My friend, Margy, sent me copies of the four-part Cattle Thieves series published from November 2017 to February 2018 in the Mountain Mail. And a couple of other friends sent me links to the articles. 

The final article is "The Redemption of Ernest Christison." It is fun to see my great-great-uncle, Ernest, have his own headline and article. Jackson refers to newspaper articles from 1883-1884 which I have also used extensively in my research. It is interesting to read someone else's conclusions. 

I thought I would fill in a little family history information. Virgil Ernest Christison was the second oldest son of Judge Wilburn and Elizabeth Christison. In 1879, he married Nancy Jane Taylor. Their first child, John, was born in 1882. Their daughter, Grace, was born in August of 1883 before Ernest went to jail in Buena Vista.

Ernest was sentenced to two years in the Colorado State Penitentiary and was released two months early for good behavior in March of 1886. Ernest and Nancy had two more daughters, then two more sons (the first Roy, born in 1893, probably the baby mentioned in the article) and finally, a daughter, Helen, born in 1904.

Ernest died in 1939 in Colorado Springs. His obituary reads in part, "Virgil E. Christison, 86, who came to Colorado as a youth and engaged in the mining and freighting business shortly after the Civil War, died yesterday at the residence of a daughter, Helen."