Alexander C. Christopher, born August 20, 1823, in Cincinnati, attended Woodward College in 1836. He worked as a mechanic from 1839 to 1850, then as a merchant from 1851 to 1858. During the Civil War, he enlisted in the 6th Ohio Volunteer Infantry regiment, rose to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, and mustered out on June 23, 1864. After the war, he worked in the post office department from 1864 to 1866, and in the Internal Revenue Department from 1866 to 1873. His first wife was Susannah J. Steele, and he later married Sarah A. Brown. He had one son and two daughters.
Alexander and Susannah's son, Charles W. Christopher, was born in Ohio on November 1, 1847. Charles entered the Naval Academy on February 24, 1863, and graduated in 1867. He served on the Minnesota from 1867 to 1868, then on the Dacotah in the Pacific fleet from 1869 to 1870. He was promoted to master in 1870, commissioned as a lieutenant in 1871, and subsequently served on the Frolic in 1872 and the Portsmouth from 1872 to 1874. He was granted sick leave from 1875 to 1877, during which time he stayed with Owen Holt, a rancher in Hawaii. He returned to a post in the navy-yard on Mare Island in California in 1878. In 1882, he retired from active service, and died on January 7, 1884.
From the guide to the Alexander C. and Charles W. Christopher papers, Christopher, Alexander, 1863-1888, 1876-1886, (William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan)
