Manuscripts Collection
David Bertie Christie was born on September 6, 1848, in Clyman Township, Dodge County, Wisconsin, the youngest son of James C. and Eliza (Reid) Christie. He spent his childhood on his father's farm in Wisconsin and attended country schools. When his older brothers, William and Thomas, enlisted to fight in the Civil War, it was left to David and his brother, Alexander, to help their father on the farm. After William and Thomas returned from the Civil War, the four brothers went to Minnesota to look for suitable land for farms. In 1868 David, with his father, James, settled in Rapidan Township, Blue Earth County, Minnesota. They resided there until 1886 when David, for health reasons, moved to Bridger Canyon, near Bozeman, Montana. While living in Minnesota, David served as treasurer of the local school district.
On July 4, 1870, David married Mary Emma Stratton. She was born March 15, 1854 in Wisconsin, the daughter of James Stratton. David and Emma had ten children; their first child, James, died when he was two years old. David B. Christie died on July 20, 1920, and Emma Christie died on March 16, 1921. They are buried in Bozeman, Montana.
The papers are arranged chronologically and contain letters to and from David Christie. The main correspondent is David's brother, Alexander Christie. Alexander writes about his teaching, his education at Harvard University, his work with the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey in Washington, D.C., and his journey to and stay in Alaska (1898-1901). In later years Alexander describes his writing and teaching while living in Montana. There are occasional letters from David's sister Sarah, and his brothers William and Thomas.
David's letters to his brothers and sister concern his farm, his journey to Colorado and Montana to find land for his family, his struggles to become established as a sheep rancher, his health (he had asthma), and his children and their activities. Included in the correspondence are letters from the Stratton family in Minnesota, who wrote about various members of the family and about their farming activities in Blue Earth County, Minnesota. The principal correspondents from the Stratton family are Emma's sisters, Lydia and Ellen.
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Some family photographs are located in the Minnesota Historical Society sound and visual collections.
Audio tapes of an oral history interview (1976) with Leonard and Lowell Christie, are available in the Minnesota Historical Society sound and visual collections.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the
Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics,
persons or places should
The Christie Family Papers are composed of three separate collections (P1281, P1282, P1283) of letters and other papers from several generations of the Christie family. The Christie papers were originally given to the Minnesota Historical Society in 1965 by a descendent of Sarah Christie Stevens (1844-1919), and were cataloged as a single collection. As more additions were received, the single collection was divided into three: the papers of James, Thomas, and David.
Accession number: 9,920; 11,836; 11,957; 11,958; 11,959; 11,962; 11,963; 11,985; 12,054; 12,074; 12,110; 12,121; 12,138; 12,442; 13,188; 13,444; 16,186
Processing and cataloging of this collection was supported with a Basic Project
grant awarded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission
Catalog ID number: 001716524
Data sheets prepared during cataloging contain content notes on each folder of papers. Subjects and authors are noted as well as letters of particular interest. A separate summary sheet for each box of the collection relates the family's activities during that period and lists principal subjects.
Genealogy of the David B. Christie family, compiled in 1975 by Ira Christie Denton and Dela Koch Rider.