Catherine Rose Thompson Christian died November 26, 1946 and her husband Philip died twelve years later in June. His son James (Fritzie) preceded him in death, October 1955. Philip and Catherine have six children, seventeen grandchildren, thirty-seven great grandchildren, seventy-one great great grandchildren and twenty-one great great great grandchildren with another one due to make her grand appearance in September 2009.
Most of my research came from my Grandmother Mimi's bible. She kept detailed records on the family. She always wanted to trace her family tree so her descendants knew where they came from. When "Roots" was released in the late 70s, she became more determined than ever to find our ancestors and mend broken branches in the family tree. She passed that project onto me, I needed to keep the search going. Armed with the information in Mimi's bible I visited the obituary archives at the Daily News (a local paper) and gathered a lot of useful information. I was able to find parents, siblings and accurate dates. Catherine's brother Grant was married and had two sons Harry Sr. and James Thompson. Harry Sr. had four children, Harry Jr. (Sonny), Rose Marie, Sandra and Hubert.
Philip Christian was born June 27, 1874 in Charlottesville, VA. He was the son of Philip and Millie (maiden name unknown) Christian. In the Portrait on the right, Philip looks maybe he's in his late twenties or early thirties. He may have had a brother who relocated to Canada, this has not been confirmed nor if he had any other siblings. Philip married Catherine Rose (Thompson), also from Charlottesville, she was the daughter of Alfred and Rose Anna (Ferguson) Thompson. Catherine, born May 19, 1886, had a sister Ada Parker, two brothers Grant and Fred Thompson. Her mother Rose Anna Ferguson had a brother Robert Ferguson.
Philip, his wife Catherine (whom my mother is named for) and her siblings relocated to southwestern Pennsylvania from Charlottesville, Virginia. The year is not known at this time. Philip and Kitty (Catherine's nickname) had six children, Alfred Uncle (Chicken), William, Elizabeth Batch, Hilda Dudley, James (Fritzie, my grandfather) and Helen Draper. Unfortunately I don't have any photographs of Catherine. I have been given various descriptions of her, from short to tall, brown to light skinned, beautiful long hair to short thin hair. But the search is not over, it's getting fun!
I also have a copy of the 1920 census that list Christian family ages at that time. I know there has been a lot of discrepancies regarding birth years. After having a conversation with Cousin Johnny (Aunt Helen's son) I got his mother's correct birth year which agreed with the information that was on the census report. Sorry folks they were much younger than you thought. During their time, a lot of people lied about their age to get employment, acquire insurance policies, to receive medical treatment or sign themselves out of school.
That's all that I have found so far I will keep you up date as I get new information. This has been a thirty year project, getting information has been slow but worthwhile.
PHILIP & CATHERINE'S GRANDCHILDREN
RENZIE PARK, AUGUST 2005
Unfortunately missing from this photo is Earl Batch, Jr. (Elizabeth's son) died a few months before the reunion. He was the eldest grandchild and was always talking about having a family gathering. His son, Paul, came to the reunion and the family was ecstatic. No one has seen him since he was a child and it was my first time meeting him. We dedicated the 2005 family reunion to Earl. A few of the grandchildren are missing from this photo that were in attendance, it's hard gathering folks for a photo shoot! LOL! Aunt Kitty's nephew Harry (Sonny) Thompson was also in the photo. Cousin Sonny told me that Catherine's nickname was Kitty. I lost contact with him, he was a wealth of family knowledge.
