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1825 - 1900 (75 years)
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Name |
Bolivar Christian |
Prefix |
Col. |
Born |
26 Apr 1825 |
Augusta Co. VA |
Gender |
Male |
Died |
17 Jul 1900 |
Staunton, VA |
Buried |
Bethel Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Middlebrook, Augusta Co. VA |
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Notes |
- CENSUS RECORDS
1850 Census
Name: Boliver Christian
Age: 24
Birth Year: abt 1826
Birthplace: Virginia
Home in 1850: District 2, Augusta, Virginia
Gender: Male
Family Number: 1430
Household Members:
Boliver Christian 24
1870 Census
Name: Bolivar Christian
Age in 1870: 43
Birth Year: abt 1827
Birthplace: Virginia
Home in 1870: District 1, Virginia
Race: White
Gender: Male
Post Office: Staunton
Household Members:
Wm H Sale 33
Isabella J Sale 28
Laura Sale 5
Will C Sale 1
Kizie Shepherd 45
Dennis Baptist 40
Jane Baptist 40
Kate Mahoney 35
Mary Welch 21
Lizzie Cambridge 19
Samuel Sterling 60
Jane Sterling 54
Alfred Sowers 67
Bolivar Christian 43
1900 Census
Name: Bolivar Christian
Age: 74
Birth Date: 1826
Birthplace: Virginia
Home in 1900: Staunton Ward 1, Staunton City, Virginia
Race: White
Gender: Male
Relation to Head of House: Patient, Western State Hospital
Marital Status: Married
Household Members:
Bolivar Christian 74
MILITARY RECORDS
Sources: The Virginia Regimental Histories Series
Name: Bolivar Christian
Occupation: Lawyer
Age at Enlistment: 36
Enlistment Date: 19 Aug 1861
Rank at enlistment: Adjutant
State Served: Virginia
Survived the War: Yes
Service Record: Commissioned an officer in Company S, Virginia 52nd Infantry Regiment on 19 Aug 1861.Promoted to Full Lt Col on 15 May 1863.
Birth Date: 26 Apr 1825
Death Date: 17 Jul 1900
Death Place: Western State Hospl, Staunton, Virginia
COLLEGE INFORMATION
Catalogue of the officers and alumni of Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia, 1749-1888, Board of Trustees, BALTIMORE: JOHN MURPHY & CO. 1888.
http://www.archive.org/details/catalogueofofficOOwashrich
Class of 1844-1845
1259. Bolivar Christian, A. B,, A. M., Augusta Co.: Lawyer:
Lieutenant-Colonel C. S. A. : Member Virginia House of Delegates : Member Virginia Senate: Trustee Washington and Lee University, 1858-
On the law faculty
Practice and Pleading.
1875 Col. Bolivar Christian 1882-
OBITUARY
Staunton Spectator and Vindicator; Staunton, VA; 20 July 1900
Col. Bolivar Christian, who in his day was prominent in the affairs of this State, died at the Western State Hospital on Tuesday morning, aged about 75 years. Deceased was a son of John B. and Jane T. Christian, and was born at Greenville. Col. Christian is survived by one sister and one brother, Mr. A.G. Christian, of Mint Spring, and Mrs. W.T. Richardson, of Waynesboro.
Col. Christian studied law and in 1849 commenced the practice of his profession in this city, and was elected to the legislature, serving in both branches until the war came on. During the war he was a member of the 52 Regiment serving in the commissary department. After the war he resumed the practices of law, and continued it until his health gave way.
The funeral took place Wednesday at Bethel church, the interment being in the cemetery there by the side of his mother, the services at the grave being conducted by Rev. R.A. Lapsley assisted by Rev. Dr. Geo. W. Finley, of Tinkling Spring. The following gentlemen acted as pall-bearers: Thomas D. Ranson, J.N. McFarland, James Bumgardner, Lewis Harman, Wm. F. Smith and J. McD. McCue.
Honorary -- Jos. A. Waddell, Dr. T.V.L. Davis, C.G. Merritt and Wm. J. Nelson.
BOLIVAR CHRISTIAN MURDER SUSPECT
The Asylum Poisonings: Death, Politics, and ?Low Cussedness? in Staunton
Bill Bynum, Reference Archivist
Out of The Box, Library of Virginia; 19 November 2014,
http://www.virginiamemory.com/blogs/out_of_the_box/2014/11/19/the-asylum-poisonings-death-politics-and-low-cussedness-in-staunton/
On the morning of 24 February 1883, just after receiving their regular liquid medications, seven male patients lost consciousness. Four died almost immediately, two died in the next three days, and one recovered. An eighth patient vomited and experienced other ill effects, but recovered in a few days.
A coroner?s inquest concluded that the victims? cups of medicine must have been poisoned while sitting in an unlocked hall cabinet the previous evening. Other patients, taking the same medicine which had not been left in the cabinet, had no problems. Dr. W.W.S. Butler, head pharmacist at the asylum, testified that no poisons were missing from the dispensary.
Autopsies were performed, and University of Virginia chemistry professor John W. Mallet used the latest forensic techniques to analyze three of the victims? stomachs and their contents. Mallet concluded that the poison used was aconitia (also known as aconitine), an extremely toxic extract of the aconite or monkshood plant, and the coroner?s jury agreed. The asylum pharmacy had a bottle of highly diluted ?tincture of aconite,? but Mallet thought it was not strong enough to cause sudden death, and local drug stores did not stock any drugs derived from aconite.
The superintendent of the asylum, Dr. Robert S. Hamilton, suspected the poisonings were politically motivated, intended to discredit him and the Readjuster-Republican coalition administration of Governor William E. Cameron. Cameron had made heavy use of his patronage power, including the appointment of a new asylum board of directors who in turn had appointed Hamilton and replaced most of the former staff. To investigate the case, Hamilton, with Cameron?s approval, hired the famed Pinkerton?s National Detective Agency. Two Pinkerton agents interviewed druggists in Richmond, Alexandria, Washington, Baltimore, and Philadelphia to see which ones had sold aconitia, but found no good leads.
F. M. Smiley, a 27-year-old Pinkerton investigator with two medical degrees, went undercover in the asylum for over two months, posing as a patient suffering from ?melancholia? (depression). Soon the case had as many suspects as an Agatha Christie novel. Hamilton?s initial suspects were two melancholia patients: Charles J. Armistead, a former theology student who had once attempted suicide by drug overdose, and Bolivar Christian, a lawyer and former Confederate officer. Both were, in Hamilton?s words, ?sharp, shrewd, highly educated and were also strong adherents of the opposition [Democratic] party and were bitterly opposed to the present management of the Institution.?
Armistead was, according to Hamilton, ?a thorough chemist? familiar with drugs. Christian had previously accused Dr. Butler of tampering with his own medicine. Both had access to the hall at the time when the medicine was poisoned. Detective Smiley, playing his part well as a patient who had occasional ?bad spells? but was generally rational, gained the confidence of Armistead, Christian, and a third suspect, a supervisor named Hull who disliked Hamilton and, in the investigator?s opinion, ?would stoop to any low cussedness.? Smiley also heard rumors that Dr. H. S. Crockett, Hamilton?s second-in-command, was ?working his hardest to ruin Dr. Hamilton.?
Some people found it suspicious that Crockett?s uncle William B. Byars, who had been under treatment for melancholia at the asylum for three and a half years and who had unusual access to the pharmacy because of his family connection, was discharged three weeks after the poisonings and soon moved to Texas. ?The general opinion is that Dr. C. furnished the ?aconitia? and that his uncle used it? to kill the victims, wrote Smiley.
Asylum attendant Duet Andrews, one of the few remaining Democrats on the staff, told the detective that he thought the poisoning ?was done to beat the d[amne]d readjusters and I wouldn?t squeal if I knew? who did it. Smiley suspected Andrews may have conspired with another attendant and with a former attendant, a ?dirty mean scamp? who had been fired but returned to Staunton the day before the poisonings. On the other hand, the Democratic editor of the Staunton Telegram newspaper believed the poisonings were not murders, but accidents caused by Dr. Butler?s carelessness.
Pinkerton superintendent R. J. Linden?s final report dismissed the possibility that a patient or staff member could have caused the deaths, concluding only that ?the poisoning resulted from no carelessness or lack of precaution on the part of the faculty, but was evidently? perpetrated by parties outside of the institution, whom it is unnecessary and would also be injudicious to name at this time.? Tantalizingly, Dr. Hamilton said ?I have reason to believe that the detective had other information than that reported, and that he had other information which led him to suspect a certain individual.? For whatever reason, no charges were brought.
While the asylum board of directors considered themselves and Hamilton to be vindicated, their political enemies thought otherwise. John N. Opie, Democratic member of the House of Delegates for Augusta County and Staunton, demanded an investigation of ?gross mismanagement? at the asylum.
Spurred by the committee report and by other complaints, the General Assembly?s 1883-1884 session passed acts removing the boards of all state hospitals as of 15 April 1884, and putting the choice of new boards in the hands of the Board of Public Works instead of the governor. Soon Hamilton and his entire management team were out the door, and the old administrators from before the 1881 election were back in charge. There was one new staff member: clerk C. J. Armistead, one of the former inmates and suspects! The opponents and supporters of the ousted administrators agreed on only one thing: ?the whole affair is still shrouded in doubt and mystery.? Over 130 years later, the mystery endures.
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Person ID |
I31293 |
Master File |
Last Modified |
13 Sep 2015 |
Father |
John Brownlee Christian, b. 01 Sep 1784, Augusta Co. VA , d. 09 Jul 1837, Augusta Co., VA (Age 52 years) |
Mother |
Jane Tate FINLEY, b. 22 Jun 1797, Augusta Co. VA , d. 22 May 1854, Augusta Co., VA (Age 56 years) |
Married |
26 Jul 1820 |
Augusta Co. VA |
- Dodd, Jordan R., et al.. Early American Marriages: Virginia to 1850. Bountiful, UT, USA: Precision Indexing Publishers.
Name: John B. Christian
Gender: Male
Spouse Name: Jane Finley
Spouse Gender: Female
Marriage Date: 26 Jul 1820
County: Augusta
State: Virginia
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Notes |
- John's first wife Isabella Tate was first cousin once removed from his second wife Jane Tate Finley.
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Family ID |
F12888 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
Family |
Margaret Paxton, b. 1850, New York , d. Feb. 1900 (Age 50 years) |
Married |
26 May 1875 |
Loudoun Co. VA |
- Virginia, Marriages, 1785-1940. Salt Lake City, Utah: FamilySearch, 2013.
Name: Bolivar Christian
Gender: Male
Marital Status: Single
Age: 45
Birth Date: 1830
Birth Place: Augusta Co., VA.
Marriage Date: 26 May 1875
Marriage Place: Loudoun, Virginia
Father: John B. Christian
Mother: Jane T. Christian [Jane F.]
Spouse: Margaret Paxton
Gender: Female
Marital Status: Single
Age: 25
Birth Date: 1850
Birth Place: New York
Father: Chas. R. Paxton
Mother: Rachel A. Paxton
FHL Film Number: 32374
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Children |
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Last Modified |
13 Sep 2015 |
Family ID |
F13160 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
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