John Christmas
John Christmas was born in Manchester, England, and emigrated to America when he was eighteen years of age. He lived for a time in Washington County, Pa., across the Monongahela river from Brownsville, and from there removed to Georgetown, at the mouth of the Little Beaver, opposite Smith's Ferry.
Here he followed merchandising until 1818, when he came to Wooster, and engaged in mercantile pursuits. His wife was of the Beall- Stibbs family. His son, Joseph Christmas, became a Presbyterian minister, and preached the first sermon ever delivered in the old brick Presby- terian church. He was an artist and poet of ability, and died in New York city, at the age of 27.
Charles Christmas, his oldest son, was born in Washington County, Pa., November 20, 1796, and removed with his father to Wooster, in 1818. In February, 1821, he was appointed Surveyor of Wayne County, by Judge Parker, serving three consecutive terms, by appointment. In 1829, he surveyed public lands on the Elkhart Plains; in 1830-31 he surveyed in Michigan, and in 1832 on the Seneca Reservation.
In 1850 he left Wooster, and arrived at the Falls of St. Anthony in July of that year. He helped to organize Hennepin County, Minn., in 1852, had the first appointment as Surveyor of the county, and helped to establish Minne- apolis, the county seat. He was married to Mary A. Rogers, in December, 1820, and had fifteen children. He is now, if living, 81 years old, and the only survivor of the family bearing the name. He surveyed a great deal of the present site of Wooster, and is the author of what is known as "the old Christmas map" of Wayne County. His father built the brick house now occupied and owned by Samuel Johnson, Esq., and the stream known as "Christmas Run" was named for him.
From History of Wayne County, Ohio, From the Days of the Pioneers and First Settlers to the Present Time, by Robert Douglass, 1878