Remembering John S. Christian, 1900 Storm Victim

21st Street and Avenue O 1/2. “Debris where 60 bodies were recovered.” Photographer: E. D. Aiken, Galveston, [September 1900]. G-1771FF7.8-12

John S. Christian, a day laborer, was 45 years old at the time of the hurricane. He was born in April 1855 in Germany. Christian immigrated in 1870 and seven years later married his wife Nancy, who was born in Texas in October 1857. They had six children: John (age 23), Mollie (20), Joseph (18), Edward (14), Bertha (19), and Arthur (6). The children were all Texas natives. The Christian family resided in Galveston at 2120 Avenue O 1/2 in Ward 9 (located between 21^st Street and Rosenberg and bounded by Broadway to the north and the Gulf of Mexico to the south). Ward 9 saw relatively few casualties in comparison to the city’s other coastal wards.

The Rosenberg Library has been engaged in documenting known victims of the hurricane since spring 2015. Data are being compiled in a 1900 Storm Victims Database, which will be uploaded for public access through the Galveston and Texas History Center’s website.

Casey Edward Greene
Rosenberg Scholar