Research Is Done - It's Time To Write!

Today I visited the Colorado State Archives and the Colorado Historical Society Library. As usual, the rush of adrenaline kicked in as I drove to Denver anticipating the discovery of some great treasure that would give me a better understanding of the cattle rustling story. I parked near the archives and was pleased to see Terry Kettelsen, the State Archivist, walking by. He recognized me and we had a nice visit walking into the archives. Then it was time to get to work. I looked at some records, but didn't find what I was looking for, so I decided to move on to the Historical Society Library.

At the library, I requested some manuscripts that looked promising. However, as I looked through them, I really didn't find anything new. I jokingly said to the librarian, "Since I'm not finding anything new, I guess that means it's time to write the book!"

Driving out of Denver, I was disappointed. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized what I'd said to the librarian was true. I have most likely uncovered everything I'm going to find. Oh, I won't count out the research serendipity that seems to find me every so often, but I have to accept that there are just some pieces of information that were never written down, or if they were written, have disappeared from the record.

This means I have everything I need to write the book on Ernest Christison and Ed Watkins. Now it is up to me to piece the facts together and tell their story. It isn't easy for me to admit the research is done. It has been an integral part of my life the past two years. And I am as addicted to digging for treasure as my Christison ancestors were to digging for gold. But it's time to move on and and write the story. Not that I haven't been writing the story -- I have parts of 3 chapters written. Now I'll be able to write with more certainty.


I'm excited to be able to lose myself in the story and let the story tell itself. And now I have a different type of research to do. I'll be visiting Salida and Buena Vista more often to listen to the whispers of the valley, to soak up the landscape, and to transport myself back to the 1880's as I write the rest of this summer and fall.

Some of the disappointment is falling away as I look forward to the next step in this book process!

The Elbert Tornado - June 15, 2009

Looking Northeast from our deck.

Tornado touching ground. Looking west from Warren's farm.

My son, Kenny Gresham, cutting the 4-H steer out of the Brown's barn that was flattened. The steer wasn't injured.

The barn at the Brown's farm. This barn was built by my husband's great-great-uncle, Earl Squires. It was the Squires' farm.

Postcript:

The tornado did not do any damage to any properties owned now by my family or family members.

The tornado hit the Brown's barn around 1:40 on Monday June 15.

The Brown's barn was destroyed. This farm is about 3 miles northwest of my home. The tornado moved south-southwest across the road and took out the roof and loft of the Murray barn along with pine trees on the hill and cottonwoods along the creek. My son, Kenny Gresham, took the pictures of the tornado. He left home and went to his grandparents' house to help them to the basement. After the tornado passed, he went to the Brown's farm and used the chainsaw to cut out the steer that was trapped. The pictures are turned around - Kenny is standing on top of the steer when he is using the chainsaw. The second picture is when the steer was able to get up.

I was working at the library at the school and we had ten kids there for the library district's summer reading program. We received an alert about the tornado warning by telephone. I went out to look at the clouds and saw a funnel on the hill just above the school. This was a different funnel than the one in the pictures. We took the children to the hallway. As we heard more reports about the tornado, we went down into the basement. We spent about an hour in the hallway and the basement reading stories, playing Simon Says and singing songs. There was lots of tornadic activity in the area. An airplane hangar south of Elbert was hit while we were in the basement.

The National Weather Service determined the tornado was an EF2. The airplane hangar was hit by a different tornado.

Wilburn Christison - Handwriting Analysis

Last summer, Lynn Monroy and I met at the Colorado State Archives so Lynn could look at the handwriting of some of the people I'm researching. Lynn took copies of the documents with her to analyze the handwriting. Yesterday I received an e-mail from Lynn with the analysis of Wilburn’s handwriting in a court document. My husband, John, read it and asked, “Haven’t we read this before?” I answered, “No, we haven’t.” Then I realized that Lynn had captured the characteristics we had come to know in my great-great-grandfather! Amazing!

I have two documents that reveal Wilburn’s personality—a letter he wrote to the Rocky Mountain News in which he defended his honor during the Lake County War and his obituary. The traits that Lynn discovered in his handwriting are the very traits that show up in both of these documents.

Lynn wrote that Wilburn was protective of his image; willing to talk about himself when comfortable or with the right audience; the authority figure – “If someone tried to tell this man what to do, they would be wasting their time.” He was a lover and re-enforcer of the rules; set high goals for himself; helpful and kind; and could be argumentative, but was careful when and why to argue.

As a writer, this is the trait that intrigued me the most: “He had literary writing ability OR at the least, a huge lover of stories woven by words. If he didn't write, he loved the way words worked together. Would love to read or recite or orally pass on stories.”

We knew of this trait, too. The writer of Wilburn’s obituary wrote of spending hours at a time listening to the Judge discourse on the events of the early history of the state. “The Judge was never boastful of the part he performed in working out these changes, but he always was interesting, and often eloquent in his description of scenes of danger and trial with which he had evidently been most intimate.”

As I write and tell the Judge’s story, my goal has been to write it in a way as interesting as the story itself. It seems the Judge told stories in the same manner. Hopefully, some of his interesting and eloquent storytelling will filter down to his great-great-granddaughter.

My Christison Line

This is my line of Christisons:

Adam Christison (1794-after 1880)
Married Margaret Silvers
Children:
Hester Christison Dupree
John Christison (1819-1901)
Toland McReary Christison (1824-1901)
Wilburn Christison (1827-1882)
Francis Marion Christison (1832-1909)

Wilburn Christison married Elizabeth Jane Lewis
Children:
William Leslie Christison (1850-1916)
Virgil Ernest Christison (1852-1939)
Arthur Boone Christison (1853-1864)
Clara Columbia Christison Hathaway (1857-1913)
John Celdon Christison (1859-1890)
Mary Alwilda Christison St. Cyr (1861-1896)
Nellie Jane Christison Martin (1863-unknown)
Lewis Daniel Christison (1865-1953)
Charlie Christison (1867-1892)

Lewis Christison married Rosine Belle Frankenbery
Children:
Wilburn Enos Christison (1899-1965)
Neil Theodore Christison (1901-1975)
Clement Daniel Christison (1907-1997)
Laurabelle Christison VanBuskirk (1909-1981)
Douglas Boone Christison (1911-1995)
Kenneth Keith Christison (1917-1995)

Kenneth Keith Christison is my Grandfather.
His oldest child, Kenneth Keith Christison, Jr. is my Dad.

If you are related to any of these Christisons, I’d love to hear
from you! E-mail me at GayleGresham@gmail.com

Another Gayle Christison - And We're Related!

April is Genealogy Month and I am presenting genealogy workshops in the Elbert County Library District. I decided I'd better brush up on some of the newer genealogy websites and blogs and refresh my memory about some of the other websites. This brought me to the Rootsweb Message Boards - where I've been rewarded in the past with special treasures and contacts. I found a message written in 2001 requesting information about Neil Theodore Christison. It surprised me that I hadn't seen the message before, since Neil Theodore "Ted" was my grandfather's brother. A reply from someone else in 2008 had no response from the requester, so I looked at the profile and found Mike Christison's name. When I Googled his name I found Mike's obituary - he had died in 2008.

Reading through Mike's obituary, I stopped in shock when I saw the name of his sister - Gayle Christison. I couldn't believe there was another Gayle Christison, spelled the same as my name, and we are 2nd cousins. Unbelievable.

So, I looked up her phone number and called. I'll be honest, I probably wouldn't have called any of the other family members. But I couldn't pass up talking to Gayle Christison. The phone rang and rang. I left a message explaining who I was and hung up wondering if she would have any interest in calling back. Well, she called back while I was at the library and she talked to John. Gayle and I finally talked yesterday after a couple of days of playing phone tag.

Gayle was as excited as I was to talk! I learned that her father, my Dad's 1st cousin, is still alive. Gayle's dad remembers seeing his father (Ted) only twice - once when he was 5 and again at 7. So he really didn't have any information about his family. I really don't have much information about Ted, either, but I could tell her lots about the Christison family in Colorado!

Gayle and her dad live in South Carolina. My family is planning a trip in May to visit my parents in North Carolina. We are hoping to arrange a visit. And we are planning many more phone conversations!

There must be something about these genealogy workshops. In 2007 I discovered that a co-worker in the library district was my third cousin, once removed. You can read about that experience in this post - You Never Know...

The Serendipity of Research and Writing

Last weekend my family went to Canon City to see our friend, western singer Barry Ward, perform in concert. Barry is a wonderful musician and singer and we had a great time. A local group, Saddle Strings, opened for Barry. During their performance, the lead singer, Dave, mentioned he lives in Howard and runs Bandera's Bunkhouse, where they have cabins and a motel along the Arkansas River. After the concert, I asked Dave if he had heard the story of the cattle rustlers in the Howard area in the 1880's. Not only had he heard the story, Dave told me he could take me to the gulch where the cattle rustlers (Watkins and Christison) butchered the stolen cattle!

Serendipity: "The faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for." (Merriam-Webster's Dictionary)

When I told Barry what had happened, he said, "You were meant to be here tonight!" I e-mailed my writer friend, Dianne Butts, about it when I got home and wrote, "Can you believe it?" She replied, "Yes, I can believe you found more people to take you further on your book-writing journey. You know why? Because stuff like that ALWAYS happens to you!!! THAT'S what I can't believe!"

For those of you who follow Colorado Reflections, you know this to be true. More often than not, the great finds and contacts I've made have not been diligently searched for, but have been surprises I found when least expecting them.

A few examples:

Photograph of Wilburn and Elizabeth Christison

You Never Know - Discovering a cousin who worked in the same library district as I do

Lynn Monroy, Graphologist - Coming into contact with a woman who does handwriting analysis

Black Mountain - Contacted by a Mulock Descendant

Writing a book is a journey and one that I am enjoying moment by moment. I am reminded of what author Jane Kirkpatrick told me: "The story wants to be told and will find ways to reveal itself to you." Sometimes I want to rush to finish the book, but I know it will be done at the proper time as the story makes itself known to me.

The 1861 Colorado Territorial Election

Elizabeth Jane and Wilburn Christison

The Territory of Colorado was created on February 28, 1861 when President Buchanan signed the Colorado Organic Act -- almost three weeks after the Confederate States of America were formed with Jefferson Davis as president. President Lincoln appointed William Gilpin as the governor of the new Colorado Territory on March 21. Governor Gilpin was told by officials in Washington to do all he could to save Colorado for the Union, so he set out to organize a strong, territorial government. The first Territorial election was held Monday, August 19, 1861.

This week I discovered a list of voters in the 1861 Territorial Election on the Denver Public Library website and a Wm. Christison is listed among the Lost Canon [sic] Precinct voters. Lost Canyon is in the same vicinity as Cash Creek.

Wilburn's obituary says he located in Cash Creek in 1861, but this is the first documentation I've found that proves it. The list of voters is on microfilm at the Colorado State Archives and I'm anxious to look at it. There is a note that there are numerous misspellings in the original list.

Wilburn was a zealous Southern Democrat, so I'm certain he didn't vote for the the man who won the congressional seat - Republican Hiram P. Bennett.

Other Chaffee County pioneers I recognize on the list are John Burnett, F.W. Sprague (probably Galatia), and George Bertchy. 136 men voted in the Lost Canon precinct.