Christie, Thomas, 1761-1796

Thomas Davidson Christie was a Congregational missionary who worked in Turkey from 1877 to 1920. He was born January 21, 1843, in Sion Mills, County Tyrone, Ireland, the son of James and Eliza (Reid) Christie. In 1846 the family immigrated to the United States and settled on a farm in Clyman Township, Dodge County, Wisconsin. Educated in country schools, he was an insatiable reader of the family's many books.

In October 1861 he, along with his brother William, enlisted in the First Minnesota Light Artillery Battery at Fort Snelling, Minnesota . They served in the First Battery until 1865. After his discharge he surveyed land for the Winona and St. Peter Railroad Company near Winona, Minnesota. In April 1866 he entered a preparatory school in Beloit, Wisconsin. In 1868 he entered Beloit (Wisconsin) College, graduating in July 1871. In August 1871 he started teaching at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. On March 14, 1872, he married Sarah Carmelite Brewer of Lee Center, Illinois. He returned to Beloit College in September to teach and to complete work on his Master of Arts degree, which he received in 1874. He then enrolled in Andover (Massachusetts) Seminary, from which he graduated in 1877, and was thereupon ordained a minister in Beloit.

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