Robert Henry Crist
Robert Henry Crist was born on December 19, 1829, in Bethel, New York, to Peter M. Crist and Lillian Hunter. His father was a carpenter who owned $1,600 of real estate in 1850. His mother died in 1843, and his father married Nancy Frazier later that year. The family lived in New York until 1845, when they moved to Plainfield, Illinois.
 
Crist worked as a carpenter, and he moved to West Liberty, Iowa, around 1852. He returned to Plainfield two years later before moving to Natchez, Mississippi, in 1859. He worked as a master mechanic for the West Feliciana Railroad. In the fall of 1860, however, a local vigilance committee reportedly “notified [him] that he must leave because of his loyalty to the Union.”
 
He moved to Bedford, Indiana, and he enlisted in the Union army on July 24, 1861. He mustered in as a private in Company F of the 21st Indiana Infantry later that day. He expressed devotion to the Union and sent home patriotic poetry. In January 1862, he declared that "the South must be whiped and if slavery suffers let it suffer--it cannot be shielded without shielding the South, and I am not willing to do that." The regiment became the 1st Indiana Heavy Artillery in February 1863. He earned a series of promotions: to 2nd lieutenant on November 18, 1863, to 1st lieutenant on September 9, 1864, and to captain on March 1, 1865. He served as commissary sergeant from September 1861 until November 1863, when he became regimental quartermaster. He mustered out on January 13, 1866.
 
Crist settled in Wilmington, Illinois, after the war and resumed his work as a carpenter. According to a local writer, he was “an expert in the line of mosaic woodwork.” He married Frances E. Bates on April 14, 1867, and the couple apparently had no children. He applied for a federal pension in August 1890 and eventually secured one. He supported the Republican Party, and he was reportedly a “sta[u]nch advocate of its principles.”
 
His wife died in November 1898. He remained in Wilmington until at least 1910, and he died in Joliet, Illinois, on October 26, 1912.  
 
Image: Robert H. Crist (William Wallace Stevens, Past and Present of Will County, Illinois)
3879
DATABASE CONTENT
(3879)Crist, Robert Henry1829-12-191912-10-26
  • Conflict Side: Union
  • Role: Soldier
  • Rank in: Private
  • Rank out: Captain
  • Rank highest: Captain
  • Gender: Male
  • Race: White

Documents - Records: 26

  • (10880) [writer] ~ Robert H. Crist to Peter M. Crist et al., 16 September 1862
  • (10884) [writer] ~ Robert H. Crist to Peter M. Crist, 2 April 1865
  • (13498) [writer] ~ Robert H. Crist to Peter M. Crist, 20 December 1863
  • (13499) [writer] ~ Robert H. Crist to Peter M. Crist, 27 January 1864
  • (13500) [writer] ~ Robert H. Crist to Peter M. Crist, 12 February 1864
  • (13501) [writer] ~ Robert H. Crist to Parna J. Crist, 29 March 1864
  • (13502) [writer] ~ Robert H. Crist to Parna J. Crist, 7 May 1864
  • (13503) [writer] ~ Robert H. Crist to Lee M. Crist, 26 May 1864
  • (13882) [writer] ~ Robert H. Crist Diary
  • (14135) [writer] ~ Robert H. Crist to Friends, 9 August 1861
  • (14136) [writer] ~ Robert H. Crist to (?) Bowen, 20 August 1861
  • (14137) [writer] ~ Robert H. Crist to Friends, 24 September 1861
  • (14138) [writer] ~ Robert H. Crist to Peter M. Crist, 9 October 1861
  • (14152) [writer] ~ Robert H. Crist to Peter M. Crist, 3 November 1861
  • (14153) [writer] ~ Robert H. Crist to Parna J. Crist, 28 December 1861
  • (14154) [writer] ~ Robert H. Crist to Peter M. Crist, 9 January 1862
  • (14156) [writer] ~ Robert H. Crist to Deborah Crist, 13 March 1862
  • (14157) [writer] ~ Robert H. Crist to Peter M. Crist, 22 September 1863
  • (14158) [writer] ~ Robert H. Crist to Parna J. Crist, 11 October 1863
  • (14166) [writer] ~ Robert H. Crist to Peter M. Crist, 26 April 1864
  • (14167) [writer] ~ Robert H. Crist to Peter M. Crist, 14 July 1864
  • (14168) [recipient] ~ Samuel B. Crist and Catharine Crist to Robert H. Crist, 20 November 1864
  • (14169) [associated with] ~ Unknown to Unknown, undated
  • (14181) [recipient] ~ Catharine Crist to Robert H. Crist and Peter M. Crist, 7 February 1866
  • (14194) [associated with] ~ "Hope," Poem, undated
  • (14195) [associated with] ~ Poem, undated

People - Records: 16

  • (3879) Crist, Robert Henry is the [aunt/uncle of] (5431) Weeks, Esther A.
  • (3880) Crist, Peter M. is the [parent of] (3879) Crist, Robert Henry
  • (3881) Crist, Parna Jane is the [sibling of] (3879) Crist, Robert Henry
  • (3882) Crist, Deborah is the [sibling of] (3879) Crist, Robert Henry
  • (5419) Hunter, James G. is the [aunt/uncle of] (3879) Crist, Robert Henry
  • (5420) Weeks, Mary E. is the [sibling of] (3879) Crist, Robert Henry
  • (5421) Weeks, William P. is the [sibling-in-law of] (3879) Crist, Robert Henry
  • (5422) Crist, Nancy Jane is the [step-parent of] (3879) Crist, Robert Henry
  • (5423) Crist, Samuel Barkley is the [aunt/uncle of] (3879) Crist, Robert Henry
  • (5424) Crist, Catharine is the [cousin of] (3879) Crist, Robert Henry
  • (5425) Andrews, Catharine is the [cousin of] (3879) Crist, Robert Henry
  • (5427) Hunter, James Hollister is the [cousin of] (3879) Crist, Robert Henry
  • (5428) Hunter, William H. is the [cousin of] (3879) Crist, Robert Henry
  • (5430) Crist, Isabella is the [cousin of] (3879) Crist, Robert Henry
  • (5432) Crist, Ann is the [cousin of] (3879) Crist, Robert Henry
  • (5512) Crist, Lee Mitchell is the [half sibling of] (3879) Crist, Robert Henry

Places - Records: 2

  • (2650) [birth] ~ Bethel, Sullivan County, New York
  • (1975) [death] ~ Joliet, Will County, Illinois

Show in Map

Regiments - Records: 1

  • (996) [officer] ~ 1st Indiana Heavy Artillery

Groups - Records: 2

  • (3) [member/supporter] ~ Republican Party
  • (6) [member/supporter] ~ Grand Army of the Republic
SOURCES

1850, 1880, 1900, and 1910 United States Federal Censuses, available from Ancestry.com; Presbyterian Church Records, 1701-1970, available from Ancestry.com; Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles, 1861-1865, available from Ancestry.com; Illinois Marriage Index, 1860-1920, available from Ancestry.com; General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934, available from Ancestry.com; Herald News (Joliet, IL), 28 October 1912; William Wallace Stevens, Past and Present of Will County, Illinois (Chicago, IL: S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1907); Robert H. Crist to Peter M. Crist, 9 January 1862, DL1938.008, Nau Collection