CHRISTIANCY, Isaac Peckham, senator, born in Johnstown (now Bleecker), New York, 12 March, 1812. He was educated at the academies of Kings-borough and Ovid, New York, and when thirteen years old became the main support of his father's family. After teaching school he studied law with John Maynard till 1836, when he removed to Monroe, Michigan, and, on the completion of his law studies, was admitted to the bar. He was prosecuting attorney for Monroe county from 1841 till 1846, and in 1848 was a delegate to the Buffalo free-soil convention, having left the Democratic Party on the question of slavery. He was a member of the state senate from 1850 till 1852, and in the latter year was the free-soil candidate for governor. He was one of the founders of the Republican Party in Michigan, and was a delegate to its first national convention in Philadelphia in 1856. He purchased the Monroe "Commercial" in 1857, and became its editor, and in the same year was an unsuccessful candidate for United States senator. He was elected a judge of the State Supreme Court in 1857, reelected in 1865 and 1878, both times without opposition, and became chief justice in January, 1872. He was elected United States senator in 1875, and, resigning in February, 1879, on account of ill health, was sent as minister to Peru, where he remained for two years. During the civil war Judge Christiancy was for a time on the staff of General Custer and that of General A. A. Humphreys. His judicial opinions, which are to be found in the "Michigan Reports" from volumes 5 to 31, inclusive, contain the best work of his life.