Along with Mark Grove (his brother or cousin), he was a member of Captian Michael Reader's Company in the Continental militia during the American Revolution.

From Forerunners: A History or Genealogy of the Strickler Families Their Kith and Kin, by Harry M. Strickler (Harrisonburg, Virginia: 1925), pp. 116-117:

The Grove (Groff) Family
Heads of families -- Shenandoah Co., Va.

"Christian Grove had a family of 11 in 1783 and 12 in 1785. Mark had a family of 10 on each date."

There were only two Grove families in the neighborhood when the first census was taken, Christian and Mark Grove. Their enumerations were taken in 1783 and 1785. Early deeds are as follows:

1756, D. B. 7- p. 17--Winchester, John Lewenberger to Christian Grove 225 acres on the Hawkbill.

1765, D. B. 10- p. 529 --Joseph Rodes (Rhodes) to Christian Groves 116 acres on the North Branch of the Shenandoah River.

1765, D. B. 10- p. 535 -Joseph Rhodes to Mark Groves 120 acres on the north fork of the Shenandoah River at the mouth of Elk Lick Run.

Mr. P. S. Rhodes tells me that Susan Rhodes daughter of John killed by the Indians, married Mark Groves, and that her sister Anna Rhodes married Christian Grove, brother of Mark. It seems that they both married twice. Mr. Rhodes states that Anna Rhodes was the mother of Elizabeth and Barbara Grove, sisters who married David and Joseph Strickler. He says that this can be verified by the will. The Miley notes give the same information.

Some one told me that Mark Grove married for his second wife Mary Strickler, but the Brumback Families state that he married Mary Grove...

In will book B. p. 257, Woodstock, is recorded the will of Christain Grove, made June, 1786, probated July, 1786. The will begins "I Christin Gros etc." He mentions 13 children, land in Penn. and on the Hawksbill in Va. wife Esther and a former wife.

In D. B. 7, p. 373, Woodstock, about 1810, all his children join in a deed...

The name was originally spelled Groff, Graff, Grof, Graf, Graaf, Gros and probably means Count in German, the proper spelling probably being Graff, the German "f" being pronounced like the "v" in English, hence we have Grove. Hans Groff located in Lancaster County, Pa. in 1717, having come from Switzerland, and secured a large tract of land. This was probably the ancestor of the Virginia Groves.

Further information about this family can be found in an unpublished history, written by Thomas Grove Frazier.