Sarah Emma Christian

Death info from copy of funeral service program Birth date from Christian family bible

                                                      Sarah Emma Pace (1859-1923)

Sarah Emma Pace was born on May 22, 1859 in Leon, Iowa according to family tradition, and died at Lusk, Wyoming on February 27, 1923. She is buried in the Pleasant Ridge Cemetery in Kirtley, Wyoming. Family files contain a photograph of her tombstone. She married Christian Lars Christiansen on July 11, 1878 at Carroll, Iowa. Sarah’s mother was Tabitha Moore who, according to Florence Christian Wormwood, died at age 86 in Oklahoma. Sarah’s father was James Pace, born about 1830, perhaps in Wales. He “was accidently killed in 1880 when a wild horse jammed him into a manger in the barn” according to Florence.

Sarah had five siblings; Dick, Martha, Mary, George and Geneva. Sarah may have been a school teacher. According to the family, Sarah was a “Dunkard”, a religious sect, part of the German Baptist protestant tradition. Dunkard’s believed in a threefold immersion (separately in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit). They originated in Germany early in the eighteenth century. They encountered persecution there, and emigrated virtually en masse to America, settling in Pennsylvania, Virginia and the Midwest.

She and her husband had 13 children, 9 girls and 4 boys. The first six children were born in Iowa.

    1. Florence May, born May 22, 1879 who married Charles Wormwood on August 30, 1907.  She lived in Glendo, Wyoming in 1934. In November 1962 she wrote to her cousin Mary Christian Fisher about the family history. This letter is in the family files. Florence died on July 30, 1969 possibly at Glendo, Wyoming.

     2. Amy Edith, born October 19, 1880 who never married and who lived in Lusk. She died at Lusk in January 1944. Amy was a candidate for the office of county superintendent of schools in Niobrara but was defeated in the 1928 election. She was elected to this office at another election. She also worked in the county land and abstract offices for some time.

    3. Andrew Lewis, born July 28, 1882. He married Ella Larson in 1911 They had one son. He lived at Kirtley and Lusk, Wyoming. He died possibly in 1973.

    4. James Hans, born March 3, 1884  He married Orpha Boyles in 1908. They had two daughters; Mary m. Fisher, and Juanita m. Phipps. In 1934 he lived in Harrison, Nebraska. He died January 2, 1962.

    5. Nelsena Tabitha “Nellie” was born January 12, 1886. She married Morey A. Park in 1909. They moved to Parksburg, Pennsylvania and in 1934 they lived in Wilmington, Delaware.  She had one son, and adopted a son of her sister Eliza. Virginia Reynolds Signaigo Land Hurd and her mother visited Nellie in Pennsylvania in 1921 when Eliza died. Later, in 1936, Virginia went east to stay with her in Wilmington. Nellie and Morey moved to Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho in about 1948, when Morey retired.

    6. Rollin William who was born February 17, 1888 was never married. Rollin served in World War I, the only son to do so. He died August 6, 1919 at Kirtley.

    7. Eliza Elizabeth was born on August 8, 1890. She married Jay 	Nicodemus in 1910. and they had two sons and a daughter. She died June 7, 1921 at Parksburg, Pennsylvania. She was buried in the yard of the Presbyterian Church, Wilmington, Delaware.

    8. Raymond Ellwood was born on July 8, 1892. He married Lillian Lovelace on July 7, 1925.They had two children. Ray lived at 	Kirtley on his ranch until his son Dan took over, when he moved to Lusk. He died April 19, 1974 while living at a nursing home at Crawford, Nebraska.

    9. Bertha Elmetta Christian by whom our family line continued. Bertha was born June 27, 1894 at Kirtley, Wyoming , 25  miles East of Lusk. When she attended high school she moved 	into Lusk. She married George Reynolds in 1911. They lived on the Reynolds ranch as well as in Montana and South Dakota where he ran cattle for his father.  They had two children, Oliver George and Virginia Estella. After her husband died she married Merle Ekwall. The obituary of Chris Christian mention’s Mrs. Elmeta Ekwall at Chadron, Nebraska in 1934. She died June, 1944 at Wilmington, Delaware.

    10. Mabel Charlotte was born July 26, 1996. She married G. D. Wilson in 1919. They adopted a daughter. In 1934 she lived in Chicago, Illinois and was unable to come to her father’s funeral. She died in November 1973 at Ashville North Carolina where she and her husband had retired. Her husband preceded her in death, and according to the family her daughter died soon after her mother died.

    11. Jennie Mary, born December 26, 1898, married Orin Moyer in 1917 and they had two daughters and a son. In 1934 she lived in Henderson, Texas. She died January 18, 1973. One daughter, Billie, lived in Wilmington, Delaware where she was a librarian for the Dupont Company. She died there of cancer in about 1970. Daughter Jean lives in Bellingham,  Washington. Son Michael is a librarian at Edwards Air Force Base and lives in Lancaster, California.

    12. Georgia Wyoming was born June 23, 1901. She married June 6, 1922 a C. L. Johns and they had two sons and a daughter. In 1934 she lived in Valentine, Nebraska but shortly thereafter she moved to Indianola, Iowa. She died there on June 18, 1953. 	Her two sons live there, while daughter Bonnie lives in Aurora, Illinois with her husband Lawrence Lombard and their five children.

    13. Fredia, born December 8, 1905 married John Eschleman on 	April 12, 1925. She attended Beaver College in Pennsylvania. They had one daughter. In 1934 Fredia lived in Peru, South 	America and was unable to come to her father’s funeral. She died in March, 1977 at Whittier, California.

Sarah and Chris moved to Eastern Wyoming in 1890 and settled on property near Chris’s brother Andrew’s ranch. Because of the availability of well water for stock, they were able to contain their cattle to their own land and avoided the land wars over the use of public lands for grazing.

Virginia Reynolds Signaigo Laing was only seven years old when her grandmother Sarah died but Virginia remembered her as a calm serene woman. Virginia and her mother had visited Sarah, along with a physician from Chadron, shortly before she died of Bright’s disease. They traveled the more than 100 miles in the caboose of a freight train to make the trip.

Dan Brockman Barrington IL Updated for Geni April 18, 2013 Copyright 2013 ©