Dr. Samuel Kennedy Christy, the leading physician and surgeon of Willshire, Van Wert county, Ohio, is of sterling Scotch-Irish descent, and is of the fourth generation of the family to make a home in America. His great-grandfather, John Christy, the founder of the family in the United States, passed his days in eastern Pennsylvania, where John Christy, grandfather of the doctor, was born and reared, but later became identified with the early settlement of Butler county, Pa., where he was for many years engaged in farming. He also performed gallant service on Lake Erie during the war of 1812. He married a Miss Moore, and both he and she passed away their lives in Butler county, dying devoted members of the Presbyterian church.

William M. Christy, son of John and father of Dr. Samuel K., was born in Butler county, Pa., in March, 1812, was reared to farming, and on reaching manhood married Margaret Kennedy, daughter of Samuel and Margaret (Gillespie) Kennedy. The father of Samuel Kennedy came from Ireland, settled in Pittsburg, Pa., and in a small way was engaged in the manufacture of linens, a business he had carried on in the old country. The marriage of William M. Christy was blessed with the following children: Mrs. Ellen Peoples, Mrs. Elizabeth Sullivan (deceased); Mary A.; Achsa M., deceased, Samuel K., our subject; Mrs. Isabella M. Myers, and John C. The parents of this family were married in Allegheny county, Pa., where they were engaged in farming a number of years, but in 1853 moved to Adams county, Ind., where they purchased a fertile farm of eighty acres, and there the father died in 1873 and the mother in 1884 - both devout adherents of the Presbyterian church.
Dr. Samuel K. Christy was born in Allegheny county, Pa., June 8, 1852, and was reared to health-giving toil on the home farm. He was educated in his literary course at the Normal university of Lebanon, Ohio, which he attended several terms, and after finishing his studies in that institution employed himself in teaching school four years, making a fine reputation in this profession; he then, in 1877, entered the Medical collage of Ohio, at Cincinnati, from which he graduated, in 1880, with the largest class that was ever granted diplomas by that famous institution. The doctor immediately located for practice in Willshire, Ohio, his present abode, where his abilities were at once recognized, and here he has had a remunerative practice ever since, with the exception of two years that were passed in Howard, Miner county, S. Dak., and two years in Decatur, Ind.

The marriage of Dr. Christy took place April 2, 1884, to Mrs. Calinda J. Johnson, widow of Wilson Johnson and daughter of Halsted and Mary B. (Pierson) Mills, of Willshire township. The doctor and his wife are consistent members of the Methodist church, which they liberally aid, and in politics the doctor is a republican. Fraternally he is a member of the K. of P. lodge, No. 49, of Howard, S. Dak.; and is also a member of the Northwestern Ohio State Medical association. He owns an attractive new two-story frame dwelling in the village of Willshire, eighty acres of farm land in Adams county, Ind., and also some valuable property in South Dakota. Socially, the doctor and his wife stand high in the esteem of their fellow-townsmen, and the professional reputation of the doctor extends all through Willshire and the adjoining townships.

Source: A Portrait and Biographical Record of Mercer and Van Wert Counties, Ohio, Volume ll, pages 93 & 94, published 1896 by A.W. Bowen & Co.