Robert N. CHRISTIAN was born in Mississippi August 31, 1842, and is the son of Robert N. and Caroline (Suther) CHRISTIAN, natives of North Carolina.  Our subject received a fair education and was engaged in steamboating until the breaking out of the war.  At that time he entered the Confederate service as a private in the One Hundred and Fifty-fourth Tennessee Regiment and was afterward transferred to the Thirty-fourth Mississippi Regiment, where he remained till the close of the war.  He participated in all of the principal battles and was wounded five different times.  At the close of the war he came to Somerville and devoted his time and attention to mercantile pursuits, being engaged in that capacity ever since. 

He started in life with a fair education, a pair of stout arms and a willing heart.  He is now considered one of the substantial men of Somerville.  August 1, 1866, he married Valeria F. SHAW, daughter of A.M. and Ann L. SHAW of Somerville.  To this union were born nine children – five sons and four daughters: Annie L., Alsey B., Eddie L., Louis, Robert W., Mary E., Carrie V., Mary W. and Joe D.  Mr. CHRISTIAN is a Democrat in politics. 

Source:  Goodspeed’s History of Tennessee, 1887.