Eighth Generation

228. Capt. Christopher GIST^{107,108,109,110} was born about 1706 in Baltimore County (now Harford), Maryland. He died from complications of smallpox on 25 Jul 1759 in Winchester, Virginia.

Christopher was a friend and personal guide of George Washington in 1753-54 (twenty years before the American Revolutionary War). He was Sequoyah's grandfather.

He resided at Green Spring Traverse and Adventure. He was a planter, merchant,
surveyor, explorer, scout and military engineer. He owned Gist's Lime Pits. He owned a sloop called Two Brothers.

He moved to Yadkin River, North Carolina, c. 1745-1750. He was an explorer for the Ohio Company, 1750-1753.

"Monday 26, 1750: Tho I was unwell, I prefered the Woods to such Company & set out from the Loggs Town down the River NW 6 M to great Beaver Creek where I met one Barny Curran a Trader for the Ohio Company, and We continued together as far as Muskingum. The Bottoms upon the River below the Logg's Town very rich but narrow, the high Land pretty good but not very rich, the Land upon Beaver Creek the same kind; From this Place We left the River Ohio to the SE & travelled across the country."

He moved to Monongahela River, Virginia, 1752. He moved near Winchester, Virginia, c. 1754. He was a guide for British Gen. Braddock during the French and Indian War of 1755. He became an Indian Agent, Southern District, 1757-1759.

He died 7-25-1759 of smallpox while guiding Catawba warriors to Winchester to guard the frontier against the French and other Indians.

The listings of many of the children were taken from his will or estate records of the parents.

There may have been other children that did not survive a parent or were not mentioned in those records.

GIST, CHRISTOPHER, soldier, frontiersman (c1706-July 25, 1759). Born in Maryland, he received a good education and became a surveyor by profession and an explorer and frontiersman by inclination.

By 1750 he was living in the Yadkin, North Carolina, country near Daniel Boone. October 31, 1750 he was appointed appointed by the Ohio Company to explore the trans-Allegheny as far as later Louisville at the falls of the Ohio River. He visited Shannopin's Town, later Pittsburgh, crossed the Ohio and reached several Indian towns, including Pickawillany, Ohio, near present Piqua where the Picks, part of the Shawnees, lived.

After exploring Kentucky to some extent he returned to the Yadkin. The next year he discovered the Blue Stone River, in Mercer County, West Virginia, and Gist's River, in the Cumberland Mountains of present Russell County, Virginia.

In 1753 he settled briefly at Brownsville, Philadelphia, returned to Maryland in November, joined George Washington on a mission from Governor Dinwiddie to Fort Duquesne and the two journeyed westward, Gist twice saving Washington's life. Gist was with Washington in the defeat of Coulon de Jumonville. May 28, 1754, and the surrender of Fort Necessity, July 4, 1754.

Gist served as scout in the Braddock campaign and took part in the unfortunate battle July 9, 1755, later being made captain of a company of scouts.

In 1756 he went south to CHEROKEE COUNTRY, attempting to enlist Indians for the British cause; he was an Indian agent briefly.

He was an able, intelligent explorer of great courage and persistence and did much to advance the frontier in the trans-Allegheny; his journals have extraordinary value.

More About Christopher Gist:
# Children: 5
# Marriages: 1
Military service: Scout for George Washington
Note: Grandfather of Sequoyah [--Kenneth Lemmon]

Along with his son Joshua, Nathaniel Gist signed for the state of Franklin (now Tennessee) to become a separate state. Franklin was a state from 1784 to 1788 with the capitol at Jonesborough. He was christened in the St. Paul's Church in Baltimore, MD. In 1757, he lived for a while in Bedford County, VA. [- Diana Noel ]

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CHRISTOPHER GIST was of English descent. His grandfather was Christopher Gist, who died in Baltimore County in 1691. His grandmother was Edith Cromwell. They had one child, Richard, who was Surveyor of the Western Shore and was one of the Commissioners for laying off the town of Baltimore. In 1705 he married Zipporah Murray, and Christopher was one of three sons. He was a resident of North Carolina when first employed by the Ohio Company. He married Sarah Howard. He had three sons, Nathaniel, Richard and Thomas, and two daughters, Anne and Violette. Nathaniel was the only son that married. With his sons, Nathaniel and Thomas, he was with Braddock on his fatal field of battle.

Urged by bribes and the promise of rewards, two Indians were persuaded to go out on a scouting expedition. As soon as they were gone, Christopher Gist, the General's guide, was dispatched on the same errand. On the 6th both Indians and Gist rejoined the army, having been within half a mile of the fort. Their reports were favorable and the army advanced. After Braddock's defeat he raised a company of scouts in Virginia and Maryland and did service on the frontier, being then called Captain Gist.

In 1756 he went to the Carolinas to enlist Cherokee Indians for the English service. For a time he served as Indian Agent. He died in the summer of 1759, of smallpox, in South Carolina or Georgia. Richard Gist was killed in the battle of King's Mountain. Thomas lived on the plantation.

Anne lived with him until his death, when she joined her brother Nathaniel in Kentucky. Nathaniel was a Colonel in the Virginia Line, during the Revolutionary War, and afterwards removed to Kentucky, where he died early in the present century. He left two sons, Henry Clay and Thomas Cecil. His eldest daughter, Sarah, married the Hon. Jesse Bledsoe, United States Senator from Kentucky. His grandson, B. Gratz Brown, was the Democratic candidate for Vice-President in 1872. The second daughter of Colonel Gist married Colonel Nathaniel Hart, a brother of Mrs. Henry Clay. The third daughter married Dr. Boswell, of Lexington, Kentucky. The fourth married Francis P. Blair, and they were the parents of Montgomery Blair and Francis P. Blair. The fifth married Benjamin Gratz, of Lexington, Kentucky.

Capt. Christopher GIST and Sarah HOWARD were married before 1728 in St Paul's Parish, Baltimore, Maryland - Now Harford. Sarah HOWARD¹¹¹ (daughter of Joshua HOWARD and Joanna (O'Carroll) CARROLL) was born about 1711 in Baltimore County (now Harford), Maryland. She died on 21 Dec 1736 in St Margaret's, Westminster Parish, Anne Arundel, Maryland. Capt. Christopher GIST and Sarah HOWARD had the following children:

+367	i.	Capt. Benjamin GIST , Justice of the Peace.
+368	ii.	Voletta GIST.
+369	iii.	Col. Nathaniel GIST.
370	iv.	Anne GIST was born about 1734 in Baltimore, Maryland. She died after 1795 in Clark, Kentucky. Richard Gist was killed in the battle of King's Mountain. Thomas lived on the plantation. Anne lived with him until his death, when she joined her brother Nathaniel in Kentucky. Nathaniel was a Colonel in the Virginia Line, during the Revolutionary War, and afterwards removed to Kentucky, where he died early in the present century.