Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 5.djvu/341

 VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

781

terests of the city through his presidency of the Young .Men's Christian Association. His tremendous energy and capacity for as- siduous labor enabled him to do lull and complete justice to his many duties, and there was no organization or institution ot Richmond with which he was associated but realized the value of his support and felt keenly the loss caused by his death. An- drew Henry Christian Jr. departed this life April 21, 1913, amid the sincere mourning of numberless friends, their deep sorrow the stamp of approval upon a life passed gener- ously and usefully and from which much good came to others.

The Christian family is descended from an ancient family located on the Isle of Man, where members were for centuries the dempsters or judges of that island. The coat-oi-arms of that family is described: Azure, a chevron humettee between three covered cups, gold. Crest: A unicorn's head erased, silver, collared and armed, gold, and these arms are found on a spoon brought to Virginia by the founder of the family, Thomas Christian. Seven differeiit crests belonging to various Christian families are known, of which only three have the uni- corn's head, which is erased on but two, and in only one family, that of the Isle of Alan, has it a collar on the neck.

Mr. Thomas Christian was founder of the family in Virginia, and his title indicates social standing, as it was given only to those of education and worth. He patented ten hundred and eighty acres in Charles City county, Virginia, October 21, 1687. In 1694 he received a patent for one hundred and ninety-three acres south of Chickahominy swamp. A considerable portion of his land has continued in the family to the present time. A Thomas Christian, undoubtedly his son, patented lands in 1712 and 1727 on Beaver Dam creek, in what is now Gooch- land. James Christian, son of Thomas Christian, of the parish of St. Peter's, New Kent, married Amy (perhaps a daughter of Gideon Macon, of New Kent), and they were the parents of William Christian, for- merly of Goochland, who was probably a member of the Charles City committee of safety in 1775. It is thought that his first wife was a Miss Collier, and he married (second) Susan Browne, .^he was the mother of Henry Christian, who lived in Amherst county, \'irginia, and was a cap- tain in the revolutionary army under ]\Ia-

jor-General Marquis de la Fayette. He married Martha, daughter of Jonathan Pat- crson, and their second son was Henry As- bury Christian, who married (first) Lucy Wood Dunscomb, daughter of Major An- drew Dunscomb, a soldier of the revolution from New York, distinguished as a finan- cier. After the war he was sent by the legislature of his state to settle her claim against the state of Virginia, and settled at Richmond, where in 1787 he was ap- pointed commissioner for settling war ac- counts between Virginia and the United States. Subsequently he was an officer of the first bank established in Richmond, was ma}or of Richmond in 1795, and died in 1804. His wife, Philadelphia (Duval) Christian, was a daughter of Colonel Samuel Duval, and his wife, Lucy (Claiborne) Du- val, a descendant of William Claiborne, sec- retar}' of state for the colony in 1625. For many years Colonel Duval represented Flen- rico county in the Virginia house of bur- gesses, and was a member of the first Vir- ginia convention, which assembled at Wil- liamsburg, August I, 1774, and also the second, at Richmond, in 1775. He was a member of the committee appointed in 1780 to locate the capitol square in Richmond, and was one of the trustees of the town of Richmond. His sons. Colonel Shepard Duval and Alajor William Duval, were sol- diers of the revolution, and his grandson, AX'illiam Pope Duval, was governor of Florida. Major Andrew Dunscomb was a son of Daniel Dunscomb, a Scotchman, fol- lower of Charles Edward, the Pretender, who came to America after the battle of Culloden, and settled in New York. He was a member of the general committee of safety for the city and county of New York, chosen May i, 1775. His wife is said to have been a native of Amsterdam. Holland. .Andrew Henry Christian, son of Henry Asbury and Lucy W. (Dunscomb) Chris- tian, lived and died in Richmond. He grad- uated from the University of Virginia and the University of Pennsylvania, and settled in Chesterfield county. Virginia, where he engaged for some j-ears in practice, and re- moved immediately after the civil war to Richmond, where he was active in profes- sional labor until advancing years and fail- ing health compelled him to retire. His death occurred in i8qo. Fie married Mary \\'hitfield, who survived him seven years, reaching the age of seventy-four. She was