California Biographies
Mendocino and Lake Counties, California
 
Transcribed by Peggy Hooper

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives 
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

 

Source:
History of Mendocino and Lake Counties, California
With Biographical Sketches
History by Aurelius O. Carpenter And Percy H. Millberry
Illustrated, Complete In One Volume
Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, California, 1914


JOHN HENRY CHRISTY.� Conspicuous in Mendocino county as one 
of the pioneers of the section, Mr. Christy has spent his years in this county 
to the best advantage, lending a hand in its progression and viewing with 
pride the great and splendid results attained by his fellow workers in the 
development and improvement of the surrounding country. Inured to hard- 
ship, stalwart and courageous, he stood his ground against the many vicis- 
situdes which confronted him in the early life in California, and with it all 
retained a stanch heart, whose sympathy and kindliness were never-failing; 
his hand always ready to give and his home ever open to the less fortunate 
and needy. 

Mr. Christy was born in Beaver county. Pa., May 24, 1832, and in that 
county he spent the early years of his life. Circumstances did not allow him 
to attend school for a long period, and when the family later removed to Ohio 
he worked with his father on the farm place until he was twenty-one years 
of age. Reports of the unusual opportunities on the coast attracted his 
attention at this time and he decided to make his way to California across the 
plains. The trip covered a hundred and thirty-five days, during which time 
he drove six hundred and sixty head of cattle, which band dwindled to one 
hundred head before reaching their destination, due principally to the hard- 
ships of the journey. In 1853 Mr. Christy arrived at Stockton, Cal., alone, a 
stranger in a strange land, but he immediately set to work to find employ- 
ment and worked in a mine in Calaveras county for some time. During his 
period of service there he took up a government claim in Solano county, and 
this land he successfully farmed for twelve years, then selling his property. 
It was in 1869 that he came to Mendocino county, and he has made this 
county his home since, never removing from the home place which he at 
that time purchased. It is located in Coyote valley and at the time of pur- 
chase was unimproved land. However, it is now under cultivation, part 
planted to orchard of pears, apples and prunes, while the remainder is in 
alfalfa and grain. A portion of the place was leased for a time to a neighbor- 
ing farmer, but in 1911 Mr. Christy disposed of it and divided the remainder 
of the land among his children, seven of whom are living of the nine born to 
him as follows: Jasper, David (deceased), Elizabeth (deceased), Cornelius, 
Mirtin, Martha, Lura, Ellen and Ruby. The mother of these children was 
in maidenhood Miss Lucy Huckins, a native of Illinois, who died in 1888. 

Mr. Christy's politics are Republican, his interest in that party covering 
a long eventful period, and he takes pleasure in recounting the events of his 
earlier years and the many experiences of his youth, when despite the diffi- 
culties of pioneer life he enjoyed the exhilaration of helping in the creating 
of a new country and taking a potent part in that development. 



Mendocino County Biographies
John H. Christy
Transcribed by: Pat Howard

	Born in Pennsylvania, May 24, 1832. When six years of age, his 
parents moved Ohio, where the subject of this sketch grew up on a farm. At the 
age of twenty-one, he, leaving his parents behind, came to California, crossing 
the plains with a drove of cattle, arriving in San Joaquin county September 26, 
1853. He went direct to the mines, and followed mining for about four years. In 
1857, he went to Solano county, where he followed farming seven years; he then 
moved to Yolo county, where he followed different occupations until 1869, when 
he came to Mendocino county and settled on his present place, consisting of one 
hundred and thirty-three acres, located in Coyote valley, where he is engaged in 
farming and gardening. Married, November 22, 1869, Miss Lucy Huckins, a native 
of Illinois. Their children are Hattie J., Jasper, Martha, and Cornelius; they 
have lost two, Elizabeth E., and David H.
 
SOURCE: History of Mendocino County, California - San Francisco, Cal. Alley, 
Bowen & Co., Publishers. 1880 Pp. 564