Step Into The River

Last fall, Julia Cameron was a keynote speaker at the Women Writing The West Conference in Santa Fe. I found her talk on her book, The Artist's Way, refreshing and bought the book to work through it. I made my way through the 12-week workbook, not perfectly, but open and trusting it to move me forward with writing my cattle rustling book. I appreciated finding my creativity opening like the petals of a flower, slowly and delicately.

As I found my creativity, three C's kept rising to the top - Creativity, Curiosity and Connection. These three C's drive me. When I approach life from the basis of creativity, curiosity and connection, I am open, curious and move forward in whatever I am doing. When life becomes a list of tasks watched over by a stern taskmaster, I am closed, fearful and anxious.

Applying the three C's to writing my book has helped me to write again after a couple of years of depression and writer's block. Allowing myself to be curious helps me step into the scenes. Sometimes it is being curious with the research and other times it's the simple curiosity of "What happens next?" Creativity means I can try writing it different ways, moving in and out of various points of view, seeing the manuscript as a lump of clay instead of an immobile object. Connection is the reason I am writing the book. It all started with a family connection, my great-great-uncle, but it is really a story of connections: who knows who, who did they work with, who were they friends with, who is related, who has past connections? It is also my connection to the story. What speaks to me, what draws me in, what is it that won't let me go?

Western performer, Mary Kaye, shared a video on creativity and in it she quoted her cousin, western yodeler, Kerry Christensen. When she started in the music business, he told her, "Any time you start a career in a creative profession, whether writing, music, or art, it's like stepping into a stream of moving water. You have to take the first step into the water and it's cold, it's scary, but you have to trust that the flow of that creativity is going to take you to exactly where you need to be."

When I picture stepping into the stream of moving water, of course I picture the Arkansas River in Salida. And I know that creativity, curiosity, and connection are what move me into the stream. The river is the unknown, but I trust my Creator to move me through it and trust that the flow will take me right to where I need to be and where the book needs to be.

I created the poster in the photo above, framed it in a blue frame, and set it on the shelf above my computer. It reminds me to to choose creativity, curiosity or connection in the book and to step into the river, trusting the book will end up exactly where it needs to be.

Searching For Elizabeth Jane Christison's Grave

Update: I found Elizabeth's obituary in the Canon City newspaper. She was buried in the Valley Cemetery (now known as the Howard Cemetery). Read her obituary on Colorado Historic Newspapers Grandma Christison Is No More  in the Pleasant Valley column. 

April 15, 1898 Salida Mail  Colorado Historic Newspaper Collection
http://coloradohistoricnewspapers.org

Ah, the Christison family and the sites of the eternal rest of their earthly bodies.

If ever a family wanted to throw their descendants into a fruitless search for gravesites, it is the Christisons. Apparently, stone monuments were not a necessity to the Christisons. Even Judge Wilburn Christison, whom we know died in Fairplay and was buried in Fairplay, does not have a marker in the Fairplay Cemetery.

Elizabeth Jane Lewis Christison's grave is also a mystery. To make matters worse, if you search for Elizabeth Jane on Ancestry, you will find that about half of the family trees say she died in Howard, Colorado and another half say she died in Blue Springs, Missouri. What? So far, I have not seen documentation for the Blue Springs death and burial. I have no idea where this idea originated.

I have 2 theories on where Elizabeth Jane Lewis Christison is buried. The first logical place would be for her to be buried beside her husband, Wilburn Christison, in the Fairplay Cemetery. But this is impossible to prove because there are no markers, nor are there any cemetery records.

The second theory, the one I believe to be the most likely, is that she is buried in the Howard Cemetery in Howard, Colorado.

First, let's look at her death. The newspaper clipping at the top is from the April 15, 1898 Salida Mail in the "Pleasant Valley Notes, Howard, Colorado" saying: "Mrs. Christison is very ill and serious doubts are entertained of her recovery."

I know Elizabeth Jane lived in Howard at the time of her son, Charlie's, death in 1892. I also have a family record stating "Mother" (Elizabeth Jane) died May 10, 1898 in Howard. I received this handwritten copy from Betty Regnier, Ernest Christison's granddaughter. At the top is a note, "The original of this was handed down through the family." I am guessing the printing was done by Betty's mother, Helen, and the cursive writing are Betty's notes.

Christison Family Record, Betty Regnier
Click Photo To Enlarge

So, I believe these two documents, the newspaper clipping, and the family record prove that Elizabeth Jane Lewis Christison died in Howard, Colorado on May 10, 1898.

Where is she buried? I believe in Howard Cemetery. 

There are two lots marked on the 1923 map of the Howard Cemetery that I think are Christisons. 

Howard Cemetery Map located at the Royal  Gorge Regional Museum
And History Center, Canon City, Colorado
http://www.rgmhc.org/

 The first is faint and there is a tear in the map that runs through the name. To some it reads "Dan Christisen." Someone else suggested "Dau." possibly for an infant that died. 

At some point (perhaps a WPA project?), someone put a marker up, reading "Dan Christinsen." Notice the "n" added on the marker is not in the name on the map.

One day, I got to thinking about the graves in Howard and recalled an experience I had as a librarian at the Elbert Library. A name was transcribed wrongly from a map to a cemetery record and I helped figure it out. Here's that Unknown Grave story.

What if "Dan Christisen" was really "Jane Christison?" I could see where the lower part of a cursive "J" could be faint and the letter look like a "D." And the "e" at the end could simply look like a line ending the name.

The Royal Gorge Museum and History Center has the original linen 1923 map. But this map must have been transcribed from other records; perhaps another map, perhaps a list of names and burials; or perhaps it was a survey of markers. What if there was a wooden marker that said "Jane" but was so weathered that the best guess was "Dan?"

The "Dan Christisen" grave is next to Julia Ann Taylor and her husband, John Wesley Taylor, who happen to be the in-laws of Elizabeth Jane's son, Virgil Ernest Christison, who died in 1905 and 1906. Perhaps Ernest  bought the lot, buried his mother there and 7 years later, buried his mother-in-law beside her?

My family has always called her "Elizabeth." But this is a family where many of the children went by their middle name. It seems logical that she went by "Jane."

I have searched for a "Dan Christinsen" or "Christensen" or "Christisen" and I haven't located any in the area.

The other grave is in the next row over, marked "Christinson" on the map. I believe this is Charlie Christison who died on April 29, 1892 at the age of 25 from an illness. His obituary states he was buried in the Howard Cemetery.

I know there is no way to prove with certainty that Elizabeth Jane Lewis Christison is buried in the grave marked "Dan Christinsen," but to me, it seems the most believable. 

Additional Blog Posts Relating To Elizabeth Jane Christison:

Elizabeth Jane Christison's Obituary
Elizabeth Jane Christison - A Colorado Pioneer
The Death of Judge Christison

Elizabeth Jane Christison - A Colorado Pioneer

Elizabeth Jane Lewis Christison is my great-great-grandmother. She is also the great-grandaughter of Hannah Boone (Daniel Boone's sister) and John Stewart (who was killed by Indians in 1770 during an expedition with Daniel Boone).

Elizabeth was born to Daniel Pennington Lewis and Polly Paine Lewis on November 10, 1828 in Platte City, Missouri. She married Wilburn Christison September 24, 1848 in Platte City. The family moved to Leavenworth County, Kansas in 1855. In 1861, Wilburn, Elizabeth and their six children crossed the plains with a covered wagon pulled by oxen to the mining camp of Cash Creek in the Colorado mountains near Twin Lakes. The youngest child, Mary Alwilda, may have been born during the journey.

While Wilburn ran an Indian trading post and practiced law, Elizabeth raise their children and bore three more babies. The family suffered a tragedy on August 17, 1864 when Arthur Boone "Boone" was struck by lightning and died at the age of 11.

The family moved south to where Buena Vista is today and then moved to Adobe Park (before Salida was there). In 1872, Wilburn was elected Park County Judge and the family moved to Fairplay. Wilburn died of pneumonia on February 7, 1882 in Fairplay. Wilburn Christison Obituary

Elizabeth moved to Brown's Park near Salida with her two youngest sons. And, by 1890, lived in Howard, Colorado, where her son, Virgil Ernest Christison, and family lived.

Her life wasn't easy after Wilburn died. Virgil Ernest spent 2 years in the State Penitentiary for Grand Larceny (cattle theft) from 1884-1886. Her middle son, John, committed suicide in 1890 in Aspen, Colorado. And her youngest son, Charlie, fell ill while working in Creede and died at her home in Howard in 1892.

Elizabeth Jane Christison died on May 10, 1898 in Howard, Colorado.

Additional Blog Posts Relating to Elizabeth Jane Christison:
Searching for Elizabeth Jane Christison's Grave