- Birth: July 28, 1883
- Marriage: Pearl Hickey, November 30, 1904
- Death: April 26, 1961
Early Life
Fred Christenot was born July 28, 1883, near Puller Springs in the Upper Ruby Valley, Madison County, Montana. He was the eighth child of Charles and Martha (Craig) Wilton Christenot, who traversed the Bozeman Trail and arrived in October 1866.
Charles worked at the Christenot Mill, at Union City, then settled his family near Puller Springs, Montana, on the Ruby River. He served as a constable and worked in construction. The heat stroke that Charles suffered during the Civil War may have left him with epileptic seizures that grew worse with age. He died on May 23, 1886, at the Insane Asylum at Warm Springs, Montana. Fred was almost 3 years old. His mother, Martha, was 40 years old and without financial support, other than some Civil War pensions.
Children of Charles and Martha Christenot, Siblings of Fred
- Hattie (Christenot) Kyle (1867-1936)
- Anna (Christenot) Swisher (1869-1950)
- Mary (Christenot) Patrick (1872-1919)
- Charles Christenot (1874-1875)
- Amelia “Mae” (Christenot) Pendarvis Jordan (1876-1959)
- George Christenot (1878-1934)
- Frank Christenot (1880-1956)
- Fred Christenot (1883-1961)
- Clemma (Christenot) Newton Briscoe (1885-1970)
Marriage to Pearl Hickey
When Fred was 18, he and two friends stole three horses. His friends were caught, but Fred escaped to Donaldson, Minnesota, which is 15 miles from North Dakota and 30 miles from Canada. He changed his name to White. Fred changed his last name to White, which was the name of one of his friends who was caught, thinking that the law would not be looking for another person with the last name of White.
Fred married Pearl Tressia Hickey (1884-1975) in Donaldson, Minnesota, on November 30, 1904. Pearl was the daughter of Thomas and Lavinia Hickey.
Children of Fred and Pearl
- Ralph Oswald White/Christenot (1905-1935)
- Lyle Laverne White/Christenot (aka Ted Johnson) (1908-2004)
- Audrey Winnifred (Christenot) Stevens (1912-2009)
- Orville “Chris” Frederick Christenot (1916-2008)
Fred and Pearl had four children. Ralph. Lyle, and Audrey were born in Donaldson, Minnesota. Orville was born in Badger, Minnesota. The birth certificates of Ralph, Lyle, and Audrey list their last name of White. Orville, born in 1916, was listed as Christenot on his birth certificate. Fred worked as a barber and had his own shop in 1910, according that census.
The family moved to Montana in 1917. According to Orville, Fred’s mother, Martha, told Fred that the Statue of Limitations had expired and that he could return to Montana.
Fred was a barber and self-taught geologist. The family moved frequently. First to Roundup, Montana, where Lyle attended high school, Audrey junior high school, and Orville grade school.
In Roundup, Fred and Pearl lived across the street from Fred’s niece, Margaret (Kyle) Counter, and her family. In this picture, Fred’s family lived in the house on the left, behind Ralph Christenot.
Fred is the uncle of the three women, who are the daughters of Hattie (Christenot) Kyle, Fred’s oldest sister.
Geology
Fred would travel to North Dakota oil fields where he made $100.00 a day during the 1920s. While he never owned a house, he invested his own money in an oil well in Northern Montana, only to strike natural gas which did not have a market in those days.
Lyle joined the Air Force and made it his career. He thought he needed to have a college degree to enter the Air Force Academy. He changed his name to Ted Johnson in hopes that it would help prove easy to show that someone with that name had a degree.
In the fall of 1927, Fred moved the family, then consisting of Pearl, Audrey and Orville, to Minneapolis while Fred remained in Montana and in the oil fields. Audrey turned 16 on January 21, 1928, and dropped out of high school for financial reasons. Ralph had married Madeline Anderson and they lived in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They drove Pearl, Orville, and Audrey back to Montana in 1928. Orville had earned money as a paper delivery boy, so he was able to pay for the gas for the ride.
The family returned to Montana in the spring of 1929 and settled in Belgrade. Audrey returned to school at the Gallatin County High School where she met her future husband. Fred published a booklet, Christenot’s Theories and Ideas of Oil Geology. Once again, Fred went prospecting and found a pinkish type of rock north of Belgrade along Dry Creek Road. The family would crush this rock into a powder, mix it with olive oil, and make poultices for wounds and injuries for both themselves and horses. Fred tried to find a market for this product to no avail. Years later, Fred’s grandson, Wayne Stevens, had the rock tested and it was found to consist of Barium. This mineral has a drying capability and likely contributed to the effectiveness of making a poultice.
Fred sought to help communities develop means of oil drilling.
Orville spent his junior high years, 1929-1931, in Belgrade and worked on the Krueger ranch near Forsyth during the summers. Being the only known swimmer of all the ranch hands he would swim across the Yellowstone River and retrieve cattle that had crossed to alfalfa fields.
In 1932, the family, minus the two older boys, moved to White Sulphur Springs because Fred was going to manage a gold mine for Dick Ringling (of Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey Circus). Dick had a heart attack and died just after the Christenots’ arrived which left Fred without a job. Being the self-taught geologist that he was, he ended up finding a manganese deposit and sold stock in his mine. His grandson, Paul, had not heard about this mine until 2014, when his neighbor asked if he knew a Fred Christenot. To his astonishment, a neighbor produced a few mine shares that the neighbor’s mother had bought from Fred on April 3, 1941.
Audrey and Orville attended the high school in White Sulphur Springs. Audrey graduated from the White Sulphur Springs High School in 1933. She was 21 years old.
Ralph Oswald Christenot died in 1935 of a ruptured appendix. He and Madeline did not have children. Ted Johnson (Lyle Christenot) made the Air Force his career. He and his first wife, Mildred, had one son, Ted Johnson, Jr. With his second wife, he had a son, Robert, and a daughter.
Later Life
Fred and Pearl moved to Bozeman after their time in White Sulphur Springs and lived in an apartment at 511 West Mendenhall Street. The 1940 Census lists Fred as a Geologist and Miner. The census also records that Pearl had received an eighth grade education and the furthest schooling that Fred had was up to the third grade.
November 30, 1954, was their 50th wedding anniversary and they were feted at their church and a family dinner.
Fred had early-on-set dementia and was moved to Warm Springs Psychological Hospital in his early 70’s.
Fred Christenot died on April 26, 1961, in Warm Springs Psychological Hospital, at the same hospital as his father, Charles Christenot. His death certificate lists the cause of death as “bronchopneumonia” and his usual occupations as Barber and Carpenter.
Like many in his time, Fred was a self-taught man. He learned a wide variety of skills and found ways to use his interest and passion in geology to support his family.
Fred had a saying, “You never get anywhere in this world keeping your nose to the grindstone.” You can tell he lived those words with the life he led.
He was laid to rest in the Sunset Hills Cemetery in Bozeman, Montana.
l to r: Paul Christenot (F), Gale Christenot (G), Wayne Stevens (F), Ken Christenot (G), Judy Christenot (F), Audrey (Christenot) Stevens (F), Harley Christenot (G), Helen (Christenot) Orr (G), Orville “Chris” Christenot (F), Pearl (Hickey) Christenot (Fred’s Widow), Fred Christenot (G), Josephine (Kyle) Patrick, Charles Christenot (G), Darell Christenot (G), Samuel Patrick. (Josephine was a cousin of Hattie (Christenot) Kyle’s husband, John. Her husband, Samuel Patrick, was a nephew of Mary (Christenot) Patrick’s husband, James.)
Home Movies
Two hour-long compilations of home movies of Warren & Audrey (Christenot) Stevens are here for viewing. Many Christenot Cousins pop-up in short clips. The first video contains short clips of family gatherings, holidays, and vacations. The second video focuses on their love of outdoor pursuits, including their lengthy packtrips for fishing and hunting, and a cattledrive as well as trips to Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks. Lists of people and places for each movie can be printed, found below.
Warren & Audrey (Christenot) Stevens Family Gatherings (1952-1971)
A list of the cousins and locations in the video can be viewed and printed from this link. More names will be added as we identify them.
Amelia “Mae” (Christenot) Pendarvis Jordan walking with her brother, Fred Christenot and his wife, Pearl Christenot
Now available!
Warren & Audrey (Christenot) Stevens Family Outdoor Activities (1952-1971)
A list of cousins and locations in the video can be viewed and printed from this link. More names will be added as we identify them.
Sources
Christenot, P., & Stevens, W. (2019). Fred Christenot. In N. Shrauger, Christenot Family History: A Compilation of Stories by Family Members (pp. 141–145).
Shrauger, N. (2019). Christenot Family History Chronology.
Shrauger, N. (2019). Christenot Family History: A Compilation of Stories by Family Members.
Research
More information, photographs, and documents about Frederick Christenot are available and will be added over time. Our research is based on the sources listed and the primary documents found on the Christenot Family Tree at Ancestry.com.
Please contact us with additions, questions or corrections. Last updated Feburary 2024.