Christopher Bair, photo sourced from Ancestry online.

Inscription:

CHRISTOPHER BAIR
1769 - 1833

Christopher was the brother to Rudolph "Rudy" Bair the Ohio Constitution Convention Representative.

Bair Family Plot

Susan Baum Bair on the left and Christopher Bair on the right.

Miller, Lynn T.. Soldiers of War of 1812 : roster of soldiers of the War of 1812 who are buried in Michigan. Ithaca, Mich.: Michigan Society, U.S. Daughters of 1812, 1940.

One of the land patents obtained by Christopher Bair when he made his permanent residence in Michigan. He was born in Westmoreland, Pennyslvania. He and his brother Rudolph "Rudy" explored Ohio and moved there. Rudolph stayed in Ohio, but Christopher moved to Michigan.

Christopher Bair came to the prairie and settled near the Harrisons in 1829.
Resident of what was then Brady - Bair, Christopher, Dec. 16, 1830
BRADY TOWNSHIP, Dec. 6, 1830, Township Clerk, Christopher Bair
Prairie Ronde township - C. Bair. Section 26. - 1830
Township 4 south, range 11 west, now comprising Schoolcraft Section 19 Christopher Bair; 1832

"Christopher Bair, a native of Westmoreland Co., Pa., and for some time a resident of Crawford Co., Ohio, made a trip to Michigan in the spring of 1828, and stayed through the summer with a man named Cutler on White Pigeon Prairie. He made a claim next west of Cutler's, where the village of White Pigeon is now located. He planted some corn, which he picked in the winter following, cut hay in the summer, and hired a man to sow wheat for him that fall. As cold weather approached he went to Ohio after his family, returning with his wife, four daughters, and one son,-William,-the latter now living near Vicksburg, in the township of Schoolcraft. Upon his return Mr. Bair found that a man named Savery had "jumped his claim" at White Pigeon, and rather than have any altercation with the man he located temporarily upon another place on Crooked Creek. Some time during the winter he made a claim in Prairie Ronde township, and moved his family upon it early in March, 1829. His son, John Bair, had located upon a claim a little farther west, and another son, Joseph, settled north of the latter soon after. About 1831, Joseph Bair sold out and removed to Gourd-Neck Prairie, in Schoolcraft. The elder Bair is said to have made the third claim of land in Kalamazoo County. He was accompanied when looking for his land by Erastus Guilford and several others, and, as he was the oldest man in the party, he was allowed the privilege of making the first selection, the others all choosing afterwards. Joseph Bair, Mishael Beadle, and - Garver visited Michigan in the spring of 1827, each with his gun on his shoulder and pack on his back, and the party was also accompanied by a dog. They went as far west as Elkhart, Ind., where was then an Indian mission, and, returning by a trail to Detroit, they finally reached home and gave a glowing description of the country along the St. Joseph. Information by George Nesbitt. John Bair,-a genuine pioneer, hunter, and explorer,-who had a claim at what is now Mottville, St. Joseph County, traveled north from that place on an Indian trail, and in due time arrived at the Indian village on the northwest corner of Prairie Ronde where the Nesbitts now live. Pushing thence eastward, he was greatly impressed with the beauty of the country, and, arriving at the shore of Harrison Lake, he took his tomahawk from his belt, cut some bark from a small burr-oak tree, and with a piece of red chalk wrote his name on the " blaze," saying that if he ever returned he should take up a claim at that spot. That was in 1828. In the fall of the same year, however, Bazel Harrison located at the same spot. When John Bair passed through not a single white family was located on the prairie, and he is thought to have been the first of the actual settlers of the county who became acquainted with Prairie Ronde. Christopher Bair died in 1834, and his sons are all deceased except William, the youngest, who has resided on the farm he now occupies in Schoolcraft township (section 12) since April 16, 1844." page 444-445 HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN

Christopher Bair was a son of Rudolph Bair and Catharine Wingert. He was a brother to Rudolph "Rudy" Bair.

"In the summer of 1806 Rudolph Bair and his
brother Christopher made a trip on horseback
through the eastern portion of Stark
county, with the view of selecting land to en-
ter. They continued their explorations along
each side of what was later known as the State
road, at that time a mere bridle path. They
selected a number of quarter sections in Paris
and Osnaburg townships, which they entered
in the land office at Steubenville. Among the
number was the south half of section 5..."
Old landmarks of Canton and Stark County, Ohio (1904) page 65-66