Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 02.djvu/218

 CHRISTIAN.

CHRYSTAL.

CHRISTIAN, Joseph, jurist, was born at Hewick, Middlesex county, Va., July 10, 1828; son of the Rev. Richard Allen Christian, M.D., and brother to Dr. William Steptoe Christian, a prominent physician, temperance advocate, and Baptist church worker in Virginia. He attended an academy at Richmond, and in 1849 was graduated at Columbian college, which con- ferred upon him the degree of A.M. in 1853 and that of LL.D. in 1872. He was admitted to the Virginia bar, and located himself in Middlesex county, Va., where he became eminent as a lawyer, and served as judge of the 6th Virginia district. He was for some years in the Virginia senate, serving both before and after the civil war. In 1871 he was appointed judge of the Vir- ginia court of appeals. Mr. Christian made his home in Richmond, Va. where he engaged in the practice of his profession.

CHRISTIANCY, Isaac Peckham, senator, was born in Johnstown, N. Y., March 12, 1812. Hav- ing at an early age to support his family, his education was somewhat limited, and for some time he taught school in order to obtain thi means to pursue the more advanced branches of learning. He studied law under the tutelage of John Maynard, in 1836, and removed to Mon- roe, Mich. Here he was admitted to the bar, and from 1838 to 1857 practised his profession. From 1841 to 1846 he was prosecuting attorney for Monroe county. In 1848 he was a delegate to the Buffalo free soil convention, having differed from the Democratic party on the subject of slavery. From 1850 to 1852 he was a member of the state senate, and in the latter year was the un- successful candidate on the free soil ticket for governor. He was a prime mover in the political combination of 1854, of which the result was the organization of the Republican party. This party not only had its birth in Michigan, but received its name at a convention held in the city of Jackson. He was a delegate to the national convention held in Philadelphia in 1856. The following year he purchased and became the editor of the Monroe Commercial, which had up to that time been a Democratic paper. Later in 1857 he was an unsuccessful candidate for U. S. senator. In 1857 was elected judge of the su- preme court, and was re-elected in 1865 and again in 1873. He became chief justice in 1872. He was elected U. S. senator in 1875, resigning his seat in 1877 and in 1879 was appointed by Presi- dent Hayes United States minister to Peru, which office he held for two years, returning to the United States in 1881, when he resumed the prac- tice of law. During the civil war he served on the staff of General Humphreys and on that of General Custer. He died at Lansing, Mich., Sept. 8, 1890.

CHRISTMAN, Joseph Alonzo, lawyer, was born in Evausburg, Pa., Sept. 1, 1838. He was graduated at Yale in 1857. While a staff officer of Gen. S. R. Curtis he was severely wounded at Pea Ridge, Ark., March 8, 1862. At the close of the war he was admitted to the bar in Louisville, Ky., and practised in St. Louis, Mo., 1866-'67. He was U.S. district attorney for California, 1867-'69; in law practice in St. Louis, 1869 -'76, and banker in Paris, France, 1876-88. He be- queathed $60,000 to Yale university and $10,000 to St. James's church, Evansburg, Pa. He died in Paris, France, April 5, 1888.

CHRYSTAL, James, author, was born in New York city, May 20, 1832; son of Bernard and Winifred (Waters) Chrystal. His parents were born in Ireland, his mother being of English descent and his father of Scotch. They immi- grated to Massachusetts about 1821 and removed to New York a few years later. James was graduated at Madison university in 1855. He was Greek and Latin tutor at Burlington college, N.J., 1857; head-mas- ter in Greek and Latin at Churchill's school. Sing Sing, N. Y., 1858, and a stu- dent at the General theological seminary of theProtestantEpis- copal church. New (\ „ . /*¥ //

York city, 1858-'59. ^<^^^^^-^ Lky^oi^ He was ordained a u

deacon in 1859 and a priest in 1860, serving various parishes, 1859-68. During a visit to Greece in 1868 he met Alexander Lycurgus, a reforming archbishop of the Greek church, and in 1869 he received Greek church orders, intending to build up a church in America, that would support the reforming party in Greece. The Patriarch of Con- stantinople required the acceptance of the edict of the seventh council of A.D. 787, and Chrystal declined, returned to America the same year and continued in the ministry of the Protes- tant Episcopal church, until 1879, when he re signed liis ministry. He published : History of the Modes of Christian Baptism (1861) ; The Large System Book of Christian Worshi2), Disci- pline, and Doctrine {Fart I., 1877) ; A Larger Catechism for the Anglican Communion (1898) ; and translations of The Ecumenical Council of Niccea, A.D., 325 (1891) ; and of The Ecumenical Council of Ephesus A.D., 431 (Vol. 1, (1895) ; Vol.2, 1899), the first complete translation of the whole ever made into any modern tongue.