Heartland Genealogy

Thanks to some updates to the yDNA test I manage, my Crawford line (James Crawford - born 1772, died 1854) has been assigned a new Haplogroup: R-A13336. Previously, we had been grouped in the larger R-M269 Haplogroup. According to a Crawford project administrator, I also share the Y30725 terminal SNP with another match. It is my understanding that work is still being done to determine which is older: the A13336 or the Y30725.

Do you think of your genealogy research as a tree or a database? I realize many people fall into the 'tree' group, but I am in the 'database' group. Because I think of my data as a database, I want computer software to manage that data versus only using an online tree. I use RootsMagic to manage my database. You might say, 'but that's family tree software' and I would say you are correct. RootsMagic is great software to manage family tree based research. However, I don't just research my tree, I research their FAN club (Friends Associates and Neighbors) as well as potential lines. And all of this research ultimately ends up in my RootsMagic file. Since this is one fairly large database, I have to have a way to visually keep track of the various lines in my research. That's where the color coding feature in RootsMagic comes in handy. I started by assigning different colors to various lines of my research. Besides assigning a color to anc...

While using The Master Genealogist software, I developed an 'identity' fact. By sharing this fact, I was able to connect two individuals whom I thought might be the same person. I used the notes field to add information about the possibility that these were the same person. The fact type transferred to RootsMagic , but the sentence structure still needed work. As I'm encountering a lot of 'same name' issues in my current research, I want to use this fact type. Thus, I needed the sentences to work. After some trial and error, I got the sentence structure to work for the Principal and Principal2. I have two Hampton Crandalls in my database that I believe are the same person. Thus, I had added the Identity tag to one and shared it with the other. In the past, this type of tag helped keep me from combining individuals before having sufficient proof that they are indeed the same person. Thus, I am going to start using it again!

In your genealogical research, have you researched people of the same name? Have you found it challenging to separate those individuals of the same name? I know that in my research, I have encountered a lot of 'same names'. This experience has helped me look at my current research and question whether I'm working with records for the same person. Yesterday while working Ancestry hints for William Crawford , son of the William Crawford who was in Madison County Kentucky prior to 1800, Since I didn't have much information on the son, William, I wasn't sure the will was for the correct William. Thus, I wanted to see whether the family in the will matched what other researchers had for William Crawford. So, I turned to the tree on FamilySearch.

Arkansas Wills and Probate Records, 1818-1998 Ancestry.com Image 124 Page 103 William Crawford's Will Pope County State of Arkansas Feb 8th 1855

Is Edward Crawford of Overton, Tennessee a brother to James Crawford of Preble County, Ohio? Is he the same Edward Crawford shown in the 1896 tax list for Garrard County, KY. To answer either of these questions, I need to learn more about Edward Crawford of Overton County, Tennessee. Since I'm looking for a source tying two locations together, I'm starting with deeds. Edward Crawford of Overton County, Tennessee purchased land in 1807 from Thomas Dillen. Overton County, Tennessee Deeds Deeds, V. A-C 1801-1813 FamilySearch Film 981131 DGS 7903546 Crawford Edward (grantee) from Thomas Dillon Book B page 13 In Column: Original Book B page 14 &c Thomas Dillen To Deed 300 acres on waters of Obed’s river Edward Crawford

Do you ever find yourself retracing your research steps because you learn about a new family connection? Yep, that's me. I'm going back thru the early tax lists for Madison County, KY. I wrote about my journey with suspected CRAWFORD family members in my January 2019 post, Tax Man Cometh . At the time, I mentioned finding Edward Crawford in a different taxing district from the other Crawfords. I didn't pursue Edward for several reasons. Since he wasn't shown as a land owner, I wouldn't find any deeds for him. I also didn't have any information tying Edward to any of the other Crawfords in those early tax records. Now, I have yDNA evidence showing a relationship to Edward Crawford of Overton, Tennessee. From what I've been able to learn about this Edward Crawford, his birthplace is thought to be Pennsylvania or Virginia. I have NO evidence that the Edward Crawford in the Madison County tax lists is the same Edward Crawford who died in Overton County, Te...

Have you ever come across a new piece of information that sends your genealogy research in a totally different direction? I'm sure you have as most of us encounter this from time to time. Yesterday, I received such a piece of information. This wasn't a document but a DNA result - a yDNA result. Apparently, my Crawford line is its own branch with my closest Crawford match being a descendant of Edward Crawford of Overton, Tennessee. So, one of my new goals is to try and determine how this Edward Crawford might fit in with all of my James Crawford research. With only five Edwards in my database it is a relatively unusual name. Unfortunately, Alexander and Mary (McPheeters) Crawford had a son named Edward. Thus, there will be confusion in online trees as to the parents of Edward. In looking back thru my Kentucky research notes, I do have some data placing an Edward Crawford in Madison County, Kentucky during the time period of my James Crawford research. In 1795, Edw...

I just watched Blaine Bettinger's video, Sub-Clustering Shared Matches. As I was following the video, I was also trying to do this with my brother's DNA matches. The match I started with is listed on my match page as a second cousin. In reality, she is a first cousin once removed. Our common ancestors are Judson Crawford and Josie Hammond. Her shared match list contained 157 matches. I marked them all with a yellow dot labeled: ICW EB.

Do you have a private tree on the Internet? Is your tree private because you are uncertain about some of your data? My tree is not private, but public. However, I know that it likely contains errors. Thus, when I receive an email correcting one of my error, I am THANKFUL! Today, I received such an email regarding the family of Clarence Clay Crawford. Not only did this email prompt me to make a correction, but also to do additional research. That's when I discovered that the death of Clay Crawford made the national news. A search of Newspapers.com found that several newspapers reported the crash of United Airlines Flight 585 outside of Colorado Springs, Colorado on March 3, 1991.

My husband and I recently returned from a two-day research trip to the Midwest Genealogical Library in Independence, Missouri. This was a chance to immerse ourselves in a large collection of books related to genealogy and history. During this trip, I was hoping to find little clues buried in what are often called 'mug books'. These 'mug books' are county histories that also contain biographies. Many genealogists are cautious about the use of these biographies since the families sometimes 'glorified' the information they submitted to these histories. Even though I'm aware of their common name, I've often found 'little clues' in these county histories. Thus, I was hoping to find such histories for several counties in Missouri and Indiana so I could gleam tidbits to help with my Crawford research.

Do you sometimes hear about a new genealogical tool but just can't seem to adapt it to your workflow? For me, that tool was Trello. I first heard of Trello on a ' Wacky Wednesday ' about Adobe Spark. During that episode, they highlighted an Adobe Spark video by Becky Jamison's: Sharing My Family History on Trello . I likely also watched Cousin Russ' interview with Becky Jamison where she demonstrated her use of Trello. However, I think I missed seeing Hilary Gadsby's blog where she included two videos demonstrating her use of Trello: " Trello, Another Tool for Genealogy ". That was three years ago! I tried tried following Becky's example to create several boards. This FOSTER board indicates that I was fairly successful in creating a genealogy board. Unfortunately, I did not remember this board and obviously have never used it to assist with my research. Since I keep hearing from Dear Myrtle about using Trello for planning, I decided to ...

Bartholomew County Indiana Land and Property Beeds, Vols. M (cont.) - N, 1848-1849 FamilySearch Film 1301782 DGS 8059762 Book N Page 299

Bartholomew County, Indiana Land and Property Deeds, vols. I (cont.) - K (to p.97), 1844-1846 FamilySearch Film 1301780 DGS 8059760 Book I page 540

Section 14 Township 9 North Range 5 East Section 13 Township 9 North Range 5 East Bartholomew County, Indiana Land and Property Deeds, vols. E (cont.) - G (to p. 351) 1837-1840 Book G page 337

Section 14 Township 9 North Range 5 East Section 13 Township 9 North Range 5 East Bartholomew County Indiana Land and Property Deeds, vols, K (cont.) - M (to p.83), 1846-1848 Family Search Film 1301781 DGS 8059761 Book L Page 215

Do you ever feel like you are going in circles when it comes to records? That's how I'm feeling with my research of Isaac Crawford whom I believe to be the son of James and Rebecca (Anderson) Crawford. I recently found an obituary for George Whitley Crawford who died in 1889 in Gentry County, Missouri. According to the obituary in the 20 Sept 1889 issue of the Albany Ledger of Albany Missouri, George was born in Bartholomew County, Indiana. The biography of George W. Crawford, found on page 421 of The History of Gentry and Worth Counties, Missouri (St. Joseph, Missouri: National Historical Co., 1882), provides some more information about George's early life. Mr. Crawford  the son of Isaac and Nancy (Miller) Crawford, both Kentuckians by birth. During his infancy his parents died, and he was reared by his grand parents. At the age of two years he was taken to Garrard County, Ken- tucky, where he remained until ten years of age. In 1833, he moved to Clay County, M...

Do you ever look at someone else's tree? Do you trust other trees? Do the number of sources attached to the tree matter? Do you trust Ancestry public member trees more than the global tree on FamilySearch? For the most part, I look at trees and I use them for hints. I prefer trees with sources other than other trees but will look at any tree that seems to match what I know about a family. I also use the tree on FamilySearch for hints. Recently, I've been frustrated when looking at trees for any of the James Crawford families with roots in early Kentucky. For some reason, many of them seem to lead back to Alexander Crawford and Mary McPheeters as parents. To see if my impression was wrong, I decided to do a search of Ancestry's public member trees for a James Crawford with parents of Alexander Crawford and Mary McPheeters . My search turned up 50 trees. Assuming I counted correctly, I found the following: 12 trees showing a James Crawford who died in 1803 in Fa...

Have you discovered all of the resources available on the FamilySearch website? If so, then you know how they can provide that little 'nugget' of information that leads to major breakthroughs in one's genealogical research. If not, then you are missing out on some very valuable resources. My favorite group of sources is the land records. As a U.S. researcher whose various family lines moved across the country, these records help me place someone in a specific time and place and sometimes help me connect family members. When I login to FamilySearch (accounts are free), the menu gives me several options. The Wiki is a fantastic resource to learn about records available in a community. I often use the Wiki, but the Catalog is my 'go to' resource. On the CATALOG screen, I type in the name of the county and then select the one I wish to work with from the suggested list.

James A. Crawford, who is right close to the oldest settler of Gentry county, is preparing to remove from the county and take up his residence with his son in Texas.

Sudden Death of Geo. W. Crawford At his home near Gentryville, on Tuesday night, September 17th, Geo. W. Crawford died suddenly. He ate a hearty supper and went to be feel- ing as well as usual. The next morn- ing he was cold in death, and it is sup- posed he died of heart disease.

William Brown Guthrie 1 – 2 was born on 12 Nov 1786. 1 , 3 He was the child of Jane Carnes and James Guthrie. 4      He was the parent of James Walkup Guthrie. 5 William was the parent of Anderson Crawford Guthrie. 4 – 5 He lived in Rifleman, Clark, Indiana Territory, United States in 1812. 6 He served in the military about 1812. 7      William filed land entry papers for the Southwest quarter of Section 21 of township 4N of Range 10E on 13 May 1815 in Jeffersonville, Clark, Indiana Territory. 8 He   sold land being the Southwest quarter of section twenty one township four North range   ten East on 1 Jun 1822 in Jefferson, Indiana, United States. 9 He filed land entry papers for land being the West fraction of the South West quarter of section thirty one in Township nineteen, north of Range on 20 Feb 1824 in Jeffersonville, Clark, Indiana, United States. 10 William filed land entry papers for land being the East f...

IN2880.019 Guthrie, Anderson C. 4/10/1848 Doc # 20167 - Indiana Meridian - 2nd PM Twp 6 N Range 9 E W 1/2 SW 1/4 Section 35 Jennings County, IN 19 The United States of America Certificate No. 20167

Ripley County, Indiana Deed records, 1818-1889 Deed records v.N, Mar 1846-Nov 1846 FamilySearch Film #1312542 DGS 8059694 This Indenture made the 27 day of April in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty six between Anderson C Guthrie and Ann Guthrie wife of said Anderson of the first part and Patsy Miner of the second part witnesseth that the said parties of

It's time for some more Randy Seavear's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun on Sunday afternoon. This week’s challenge: 1)  Do you recall what you were doing in 1985?  Family, school, work, hobbies, technology, genealogy, vacations, etc? Can I remember what I was doing in 1985? If it had been 1984, 1986, or most any other year, I would have to say 'NO' or 'Not really' and then perhaps figure it out with a little research of my own. However, with 1985, I do remember since that was a year of major change in my life. During the winter of 1985, my husband and I were teachers at Nemaha Valley High School in Seneca, Kansas. My husband taught chemistry and physics while I (with my chemistry degree) taught biology (and algebra during the 84-85 school year). 

Ripley County Indiana Deed Records 1818-1889 Deed Records v.N, Mar. 1846-Nov 1846 FamilySearch Film 1312542 DGS 8059694 Book N page 400 This Indenture made the fourth day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty five between Anderson C Guthrie of the County of Jefferson and State of Indiana of the first part and Willis [Linger] of Trimble Count Kentucky of the se cond part Witnesseth that the said Anderson C Guthrie for and in consideration of the sum of three hundred dollars lawful money of the United States to him in hand well and truly paid by the said Willis [Linger or Singer] the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged has given bargained sold conveyed and confined and by these presents does grant bargain sell convey and confirm unto the said Willis [Singer] his heirs and assigns forever the following tract or parcel of Land known and described as follows to wit seventy five acres of the south half of the North East quarter o...

Bureau of Land Management Accession IN2740__.057 - Guthrie Anderson C dated 8/15/1838 Doc. # 13094 Indiana 2nd PM Twp 6N Range 10E NE1/4Nw1/4 Section 34 Ripley County The United States of America Certificate No. 13094

Do you ever have to do a 'clean-up' in your genealogy database? Whether you do or not, I know I do. I recently figured out that some of my citations did not 'convert' well when I moved my data from The Master Genealogist to Roots Magic. Thus, I have some 'bad' citations to clean up. Even though I knew these bad citations existed in my database, I had no clue how to go about finding all of them. Thus, I posted a query in the RootsMagic Users Group on Facebook. Although, it isn't possible to create a report listing these citations, a kind user posted some steps to try and locate those hints.

Do you ever find in your own research that leads you on a scavenger hunt? That's how I felt this morning when I was trying to figure out some of my 'bad' citations attached to James Crawford on my Ancestry tree. Fortunately, when I clicked on the top Entry citation, it opened up a window that provided enough information about this erroneous citation to help me locate my original research.