Abbie Mandana Christensen

Timeline of Abigail Mandana Holmes 1852-1938

1852 Abbie Mandana Holmes was born on January 28th to Reuben and Rebecca Holmes in Westboro, Massachusetts.

1864 Abbie moved with her family to Beaufort, South Carolina.

1866-68 Abbie attended Ipswich Female Seminary in Ipswich, Massachusetts.

1868		Rebecca Holmes (mother) died on February 27th in Bellevue Mental Hospital.

1870 Abbie commenced work as a teacher in an African American school in Beaufort.

1872-74 Attended Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in South Hadley, Massachusetts.

1874 Returned to Beaufort after stepmother's death. Met Niels Christensen. First folklore tale published inThe Springfield Daily Republican on June 2nd: “De Wolf, De Rabbit An' De Tar Baby.” Second story, “The Story Aunt Tilda Told,” was published in the New York Independent on November 5th.

1875 Married Niels Christensen on April 13th in Beaufort's Charles Street Baptist Church. Published “A Story-teller” on October 28, 1875. Published “The Rabbit, the Wolf, and the Keg of Butter” on November 18, 1875.

1876 Gave birth to Niels Christensen, Jr. on April 21. Published “The Rabbit Desires a Long Tail” on March 9, 1876; “The Reason Why Brother Rabbit Wears a Short Tail” was published on June 1, 1876.

1877 Gave birth to Frederik Holmes Christensen on December 9th. Published “The Rabbit and the Wolf Plant Potatoes and Hunt Honey” on November 1st.

1880 Gave birth to James (Jamie) Winch Christensen on September 5th.

1882 Arthur Olaf Christensen was born. Abbie inherited $17,000 from deceased uncle, Alden Winch, former director of the American News Company of New York.

1883-84 Used a portion of inheritance to help establish interdenominational “Union” church in Beaufort named the Carteret Street Church.

1884 Gave birth to Andrea Rebecca Christensen.

1885 Jamie Christensen died of diphtheria. Buried at the National Cemetery. Carteret Street Church construction completed.

Ca 1886 Developed an interest in “Mind Cure.”

1887 Gave birth to Abbie Winch (“Winnie”) Christensen on January 28th.

1888 Joined the Women's Christian Temperance Union. Around same time, Abbie became involved in the suffrage movement.

1890-92 Abbie was elected to board of directors of Women's Temperance Publishing Association.

1892 Afro-American Folk Lore Told Round Cabin Fires on the Sea Islands of Georgia was published.

1893 Hurricane hit Beaufort; Abbie became involved in relief efforts from Boston.

1900 –01 Port Royal Agricultural School was founded. Abbie assumed role on administrative board.

1902 Port Royal Agricultural School received its charter.

1928 Abbie began participating in the Rosicrucian Order of Christian Mystics through correspondence courses.

1932 Named Elector at Large for the Socialist Party in South Carolina as delegate for presidential candidate Norman Thomas.

1938 On September 21st, Abbie died at daughter Andrea's home in Greenville, South Carolina, after a brief illness.

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Wikipedia Entry for Abigail Mandana Christensen 1852-1938

Abigail Mandana Holmes Christensen (1852–1938) was an American collector of folklore.

Abigail ("Abbie") Christensen was born in Massachusetts to abolitionist parents, her family later moved to South Carolina. She investigated the African origin of the folklore recorded in the region, forwarding selections to newspapers and journals, she eventually published several works on African-American tales and dialect. Christensen was, for a short time, a member of the American Folklore Society and published in its journal. She sympathised with contemporary movements concerning temperance, protest on inequality, and other socialist causes, but gave special regard was given to the plight of the peoples from whom she gathered her material. Her major work was Afro-American folk lore: told round cabin fires on the Sea Islands of South Carolina,[1] Christensen intended that profits from this be used to advance African American equality and self-determination, she assisted in the funding of the Port Royal Agricultural School for this purpose. Christensen's paper on African-American spirituals and shouts was read to attendees at the World's Columbian Exposition.

• Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abigail_Mandana_Holmes_Christensen

Note: The Port Royal Agricultural School was modeled after the Tuskeegee Institute. Abbie's legacy would live on through the hundreds of students educated at the school she worked so hard to bring into being.

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https://www.scencyclopedia.org/sce/entries/christensen-abbie-mandan...

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Example of Abigail's writing::

DE RABBIT, DE WOLF, AN DE TAR BABY

Now de Wolf, 'e bery wise man; but not so wise as de Rabbit. De Rabbit 'e mos cunnin man dat go on four leg. 'E lib in de brier- bush. Now, de Wolf 'e done plant corn one 'ear, but Rabbit 'e aint plant nuttin tall. E' lib on Wolf corn all winter. Nex 'ear Wolf aint plant corn, 'e tink  crop too poo';  so 'e plant groun- nut. Rabbit, 'e do jes' de same as befo'. 

Source: Afro-American Folk Lore: Told Round Cabin Fires on the Sea Islands of South ... By Abigail M. H. Christensen; copyright 1892; J.G. Cupples Co.

• Link:https://books.google.com/books?id=yT3CL6TEdasC&pg=PA62&lpg=PA62&dq=...

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Source :'Searching for Their Places: Women in the South Across Four Centuries

By Thomas H. Appleton, Angela Boswell

Source:Cultivating a New South: Abbie Holmes Christensen and the Politics of Race and Gender; By Monica Maria Tetzlaff; Taylor and Preston; Salem, Mass.

Source: Christensen Family Papers 1806-1999 Selected Chronologies #1

Source: Christensen Family Papers 1806-1999 Selected Chronologies #2

• Link:https://books.google.com/books?id=ObHptCEugG0C&pg=PA166&lpg=PA166&d...
• Link:https://books.google.com/books?id=XQIfAfyUmr4C&pg=PA2&lpg=PA2&dq=ru...
• Link: http://library.sc.edu/socar/mnscrpts/christensen2.html
• Link: http://library.sc.edu/socar/mnscrpts/christensen1.html

Compiled by D. Glenn/2015