Caroline Crislip
born 1853
Caroline Crislip (Friedrich Carl Christlieb1, Jacob Christlieb2, John Chrislip3, Martin Luther Crislip4 & Sarah Ann Chrislip4) [526], born 1853; married 1st, John Nixon; married 2nd, George Tyler Faris, born 14 August 1849; died June 1883, Braxton County, West Vriginia; married 3rd, Isaiah Gillispie.
"Caroline was my grandmother and Edward Luther Nixon was her oldest son and my father. My dad was from her first of three marriages. If you may recall, I had a conversation with you when you were looking for Martin Luther’s burial place. I had heard my dad tell about his grandfather owning a nice rolling cleared land at Good Hope, in Harrison County and that he had sold the land and bought land in the wilderness of Barbour County. You had written me that you had found records of where he had sold land there.”
“One day I remembered I had some old papers that were at my Mom’s house and I hadn’t really looked at them for many years – probably long before I knew much about the Crislip family. While going through them, I found this writing that my dad’s brother-in-law evidently had compiled at some time. I.D. Mason was married to my Aunt Cora Gillispie, my father’s half-sister.” June Nixon Henry, September 2004.
Ira Darl Mason, my uncle by marriage, wrote:
“Martin Crislip and Sarah Ann Crislip lived in Barbour County near Philippi, W. Va. They traded their farm for a thousand acres of wilderness land in Cannan, Upshur County, West Virginia. With no road to get to it, they had to hack a road through the woods for miles to get a two-wheel oxcart to the place on top of the hill where they planned to build a big log house at a spring. But they never finished the house. They had to build a smaller one to live in and stabled their horses and cows beneath a big rock over the brow of the hill. To market his hogs, he drove them across the countryside to Good Hope, on to Salem and loaded them on a train for the Baltimore market. I received this information from Turner Nutter who lived with the Crislips and whose mother was Sarah Ann’s sister, Drisilla, who married Nathan Nutter. Caroline’s mother and her brother Sammy are buried on top of the mountain in Cannan near Pickens in Upshur County.”
“Caroline Crislip was the daughter of Martin and Sarah Ann. There were five boys and three girls in her family. Caroline first married John Edward Nixon. There was born to them one son, Edward Luther Nixon, March 16, 1876. He died September 29, 1955 and was interred in the Masonic Cemetery between Weston and Buchannon. One daughter, Anna Lee Nixon, died in Akron, Ohio, March 7, 1963. She and her husband, John Aloisious Kenna, were interred in Akron."
“Caroline Crislip Nixon then married George T. Faris, who died in 1883 and was interred at Copen, Braxton County, W. Va. To them was born one child, a son Charles W. Faris, Sept. 14, 1882. George T. Faris died of typhoid fever when Charlie was eight months old. George Faris is reported to be buried at a cemetery in Copen, Braxton County, West Virginia.”
Darl Mason
William Edward Nixon, son of Edward Luther Nixon, wrote:
“I thought I would tell you my recollections of the trip we made to the Cannan Valley with Uncle Darl, Aunt Cora and Jean. I think it was about 1940, sometime before Daddy retired. It is strange how you remember some parts of a trip like that. After we got over into that area, we stopped a couple of places and Daddy and Uncle Darl talked to some old men and they gave us some directions. We went off down some dirt roads that were all rutted out. Uncle Darl finally stopped the car and said he thought we had better not take the car any further, since the road was getting so bad. We thought we were getting pretty close to where we thought we were going, so we set off on foot. After we went a short distance, the road seemed to improve, so we waited while Uncle Darl went back and got the car. Daddy said he remembered walking down a road like this one with Aunt Annie on his back when they were leaving the place after his father had died. We went on a short way and apparently came to the place we were looking for. A house was on a rather high area of ground and off to one side was a small open field. The “old folks” introduced themselves and told the people what we were about. I don’t remember what any of the conversation really was, but then a 10-year-old wouldn’t be much interested. We went down across the field and found the foundation of what had been an old log house. There were only some old rotten logs that outlined the rooms, two or three rooms I think. Another thing I remember about that place were the huge fairly round boulders strewn about the field. I remember climbing on them and jumping off.”
“Daddy said he was pretty sure that the remains of the log house were what was left of the house his dad had started building after they went there. I guess they stayed with some relatives, which is probably whey they went there in the first place. Our grandfather Nixon died of the flu or pneumonia before he finished the house. It probably was the first winter they were there. I remember Daddy talking about the house they lived in while there and the big fireplace and the wide flooring boards, which were green when they were put down. They had shrunk as they dried leaving big cracks between them. He would stand on a single board in front of the fireplace to keep out of the cold air stream coming through the cracks. He remembered warming a board by the fireplace and laying it down in the snow to stand on while he chopped wood. He didn’t have any shoes.”
“Daddy had recollections of men bringing cattle across the small creek that ran through the place, so they could take care of them since it was raining and creek was beginning to flood. Daddy often said he never could understand why his grandfather [Martin Luther Crislip] sold that nice place and went off to the mountain country.” Recollections: William Edward Nixon.
“Caroline Crislip (Nixon/Faris/Gillispie) was the mother of seven children and three of the children were daughters. The oldest daughter, Annie was a child of her first marriage to John Nixon. He died when Annie was about six and her brother Edward was eight. Caroline left their home near Cannon in Barbour County and went to live with her father, Martin Luther Crislip, who was living in Copen in Gilmer County. There she met and married one of her father’s workers, George Faris. He died in a flu epidemic when their baby, Charles, was very young. Caroline continued to live with her father and moved with him when he bought timberland in Harrison County. A few years later Caroline married Isiah Gillispie, a Methodist minister. Caroline and Isiah had four children - two boys, Jacob and Samuel, and two girls, Nell and Cora. They all grew to adulthood, married and raised families.”
“Annie married John Kenna and moved to Akron, Ohio. She and John were parents of eight children. She worked many years as a cook at Akron General Hospital while raising this large family. My father, Edward, served as a father figure to the family and through the years would visit them and often helped them out in many ways. He worked for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad for 30 years becoming a bridge supervisor. My brother, William and I are his children. He was married to Margaret Henline in November 1919.”
“Cora married Darl Mason and they lived in Lewis County and later moved to Clarksburg in Harrison County. Their first child, a daughter Bell died when she was two years old. They had three more children–Ruth, Clayton, and Jean. Clayton died during a flu epidemic when he was 20 years old. Cora never stopped grieving for Clayton and Bell.”
“Nell married Charlie Thompson and lived in Harrison County, They had one son and two daughters. The son had severe respiratory problems so the family moved to Arizona and lived there until her death. The rest of the family had less and less contact with them.” June Nixon Henry, Uniontown, Ohio.
Children of Caroline Crislip and John Nixon
Edward Luther Nixon (Friedrich Carl Christlieb1, Jacob Christlieb2, John Chrislip3, Martin Luther Crislip4 & Sarah Ann Chrislip4, Caroline Crislip5) [529], no further information.
Anna Lee Nixon (Friedrich Carl Christlieb1, Jacob Christlieb2, John Chrislip3, Martin Luther Crislip4 & Sarah Ann Chrislip4, Caroline Crislip5) [529], married John Aloisious Kenna.
Child of Caroline Crislip/Nixon and George Faris
Charles Wesley Faris (Friedrich Carl Christlieb1, Jacob Christlieb2, John Chrislip3, Martin Luther Crislip4 & Sarah Ann Chrislip4, Caroline Crislip5) [529], born 14 September 1882; died 27 June1966; married, 3 November 1907, Ortha Gertrude Carpenter, daughter of Lewis Carpenter and Phoebe Jane Knight, born 20 March 1890; died 23 December 1966.