Crawford yDNA

My brother's BigY test recently verified what I and others have believed for a long time: that my James Crawford is somehow related to the James Crawford (1758-1836) of Garrard County, KY that was married to Rebecca Anderson. These results also indicates a relationship to Edward Crawford (1762-1826) of Overton, TN.

One of my yDNA 67 matches is a descendant of William Nelson Crawford (1829-1907). I am also an autosomal DNA match with descendants of William Nelson Crawford. This descendant also shares autosomal DNA with a descendant of James Crawford (1770-1833) who married Martha Knight and with a descendant of William Crawford (1748-1809). James Crawford (1770-1833) and William Crawford (1748-1809) were both in the Garrard County, KY area at the same time as my ancestor.

A descendant of Alexander Crawford (1715-1764) is grouped in the R1b group on the Crawford project.

The researcher who is a descendant of William Crawford (1748-1809) believes that his William Crawford is a 1st cousin once removed from Alexander Crawford.

The above photo is an attempt to show how this researcher believes these various lines might be related. Note that my James Crawford line is not connected. Nor is the Edward Crawford line.

Source Mystery

Do you like to dig into old deeds and court records to figure out family ties? If so, has the closure of libraries and Family History Centers impacted your ability to access those records? My answer to both questions is YES. Of course, I could be using Ancestry databases to research other branches of my tree, but the pull to research my Crawford line is very strong -- and that means accessing Virginia records.

Even if the Family History Centers were open, I'm under a county 'Stay at Home' order. Thus, I'm digging thru my files from previous Virginia research to see if I can make pull any new information from that research.

Out of curiosity, I searched my Crawford files to see if I had any records mentioning Overton, Tennessee. (One of my brother's BigY matches is to a Crawford family from Overton County, Tennessee.) Since I've never done any Tennessee research, I didn't expect to find much. Thus, I was surprised when I found a document titled: Crawford Families of Virginia and Overton County Tennessee.

What I have is a scanned image of a photocopy.

Crawford Marriages

Have you ever felt the need to go back thru your genealogy research hoping that some new insight can be obtained from those notes and records located years ago? That's where I'm at with my Crawford research. I started with some marriage records from Augusta County, Virginia.

Vogt John & T. William Kethley, Augusta County Marriages, 1748-1850 (N.p.: Iberian Publishing Company, 1986).

While reviewing these records, I found that I already had most of these Crawfords in my database. However, I often was missing their spouse and/or documentation of their marriage.

In the process of re-looking at these records, I also took the time to find them on FamilySearch so I could see what other researchers might have on these families.

Below are my notes for Crawford males and females married in Augusta County prior to 1801.

Augusta County Marriages 1748-1850

Crawford.VA.030

by John Vogt & T. William Kethley
Iberian Publishing Company, np, 1986

Only transcribing marriages prior to 1801

page 66 - Men’s Names

Alexander Crawford [FS LZN5-951 - grandson of Alexander & Mary (McPHeeters) Crawford] & Rachel Lessley [Leslie FS 2W3B-9BV] - 20 Feb 1793 consent William Bell

yDNA - BIG News!

In your genealogy research, have you ever suspected a relationship but never could find evidence to support your suspicions?

Well that's been the case with my James Crawford research and I now have yDNA evidence to support that suspicion!

My brothers yDNA has been placed in the R-Y88686 haplogroup. My first match was to descendants of Edward Crawford of Tennessee. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to verify that our two lines resided in the same area at the same time let alone discover a family connection.

With today's notice of a new Big Y match, I now have a match with a familiar line. The new match is a descendant of James and Rebecca (Anderson) Crawford.

Hey Crawford Researchers - Let's Get This Right!

Anyone who has been doing genealogical research will eventually run into 'same name' issues, where two people of the same name are found in the same vicinity or same records. With my Crawford research, my same name struggle has been with my ancestor, James Crawford (1772-1854).

James is a common given name in Crawford research and my James seems to be surrounded by other James Crawfords during his adult life. Even though most of the time, I've been able to separate out the various families, I haven't been able to find siblings or parents for my James Crawford.

However, I have encountered a lot of what I'm going to call 'latchkey' trees. With pre-1800 Crawford research in Virginia and surrounding areas, it is fairly easy to find published family histories for various Crawford lines. This would include David Crawford, Col. William Crawford and brothers, Alexander and Patrick Crawford. Since given names like James, John and Mary are found in many Crawford families, it is tempting to take a proven ancestor named James, John or Mary Crawford and 'latch' onto one of these families to identify parents of our ancestor.

With my Crawford research centered in Kentucky and Virginia, I encounter a lot of trees for these early Kentucky Crawford families connecting to Alexander Crawford and his wife Mary McPheeters or to Alexander's brother Patrick. Some of these trees match the information in the well documented book, Descendants of Alexander and Mary McPheeters Crawford by Amanda Forbes. Unfortunately, many trees lead back to Alexander and Mary McPheeters Crawford when the documents for the child in the tree contradicts known documentation for the family of Alexander Crawford.

Chasing Edward

When doing your genealogy research do you sometimes feel like you are going down a rabbit hole or chasing your tail? That's what I sometimes feel like when I research descendants of a Crawford who is not my ancestor.

So yesterday, I was chasing my tail by researching the children of Edward Crawford (1762-1826) of Overton, Tennessee. Even though I don't have any paper research connecting my Crawford line to Edward or even to Overton County, Tennessee, there is a DNA connection. Descendants of Edward Crawford have also done a Big Y DNA test and we have been assigned the same branch of the Big Y Haplotree: R-Y88686.

When I first received these DNA results, I couldn't find a connection between my Crawford family in Garrard County, Kentucky and Edward Crawford of Overton County, Tennessee. However, I remembered that I had found an Edward Crawford in the 1795 and 1796 tax lists for Madison County, Kentucky. Wondering whether the Edward Crawford in the tax lists of Madison County, KY is the same Edward Crawford who died in Overton County, TN.

Thus, I've been researching the children and grandchildren of Edward Crawford of Overton County, Tennessee -- hoping to find some clue that would lead back to Kentucky. As I was finding records for Edward's children and their family, I was comparing my findings to the Edward Crawford [LD9R-8KW] family on the FamilySearch tree. During this comparison, I discovered that other researchers believe that David Crawford [9KMN-WNK], son of Edward and Abigail (Trowbridge) Crawford was born in Clark County, Kentucky.

Crawford yDNA

Did you know you can get a yDNA haplogroup from your Ancestry DNA? Until an administrator of the Crawford yDNA project posted directions on the Clan Crawford Association Ancestry and DNA Research Forum Facebook group, I didn't know anything about this.

To do this, one needs to download Ancestry DNA and save the ZIP file in a known location. The file needs to remain 'zipped'.

The blog post, Updated Method to Get yDNA Haplogroup from AncestryDNA Results explains the process.

The second step is to use the MorleyDNA.com Y-SNP Subclade Preditor. After giving consent for the use of the data, a screen will open to upload the zipped file containing AncestryDNA results

Once the data is uploaded, a screen will appear prompting you to prove you are not a robot and again asking for consent to use the data.

The processing is quick and opens a screen showing the results. Look for the box highlighted in green on the left side of the screen. That is the predicted haplogroup.

If you wish to share the findings with other CRAWFORD researches, you may either post your results as a comment to the Facebook post or as a comment to this blog. Please include the following information in your comment.Earliest known ancestor

• Birthdate and place if known
• Deathdate and place if known
• Spouse's name
• Copy of information in the green box on the left (your haplogroup)

If your yDNA comes back any variety of R1b, I would be very interested in seeing if our research connects.

Garrard County Names

Do you use a list of FAN (Friends, Acquaintances, Neighbors) club names when researching county records for your family? If so, do you ever struggle with remembering how the members of your FAN club fit together? If so, you are not alone.

As I'm getting back into my CRAWFORD research and Garrard County, Kentucky records by reading an order book, I've found that I not only need a list of names, but a diagram of how they might fit together. Since I don't own any software to easily create such a diagram, I used Microsoft Publisher and multiple text boxes to create my diagram of the CRAWFORD families in early Garrard County, Kentucky along with some associated families.

James Crawford Land in Warren County Indiana

One of the challenges with my CRAWFORD research is separating my CRAWFORD family from the family of James and Martha Crawford. My ancestor, Nelson G. Crawford is the son of James and Sally (Smith Duggins) Crawford.

Both James Crawford families lived in Preble County, Ohio before James and Martha and their children along with my ancestor, Nelson G. Crawford, moved to Warren County, Indiana. So, when I saw that Nelson Crawford was a first land owner in section 8 with James Crawford listed as a first landowner in both section 5 and section 8, I had to wonder if this could be MY James Crawford.

Cynthia Crawford Crafton

Cynthia Crawford was the child of  James Crawford and Rebecca Anderson Maxwell Crawford.

She was born about 1802.

Cynthia lived as a 50 year old female born in Kentucky who was listed as Cynthia Crafton in Clay Township, Decatur, Indiana, United States on 11 Sep 1850.³

Cynthia Crawford and John Crafton⁴ were married on 1 Apr 1823 in Jefferson, Indiana, United States.^2,5–11

John Crafton² was buried in 1836 at Nauvoo Cemetery in Milford, Decatur, Indiana, United States.¹²

He died on 12 Dec 1836.¹²

Random Newspaper Find

Do you ever go off on tangents with your genealogy research? If so, welcome to the club!

I often go off on tangents with my FAN club. For the past several months, I've been on one of those tangents -- researching the descendants of James Crawford and Rebecca Anderson Maxwell Crawford.

My most recent quest involves the descendants of Cynthia Crawford and John Crafton. This family is elusive! Born between 1824 and 1832, their children include John S., Barzilla, Patrick H, Rachel and Mary I. Even though I have approximate birth dates for all of the children, I only have a death date for John S. Crafton.

This past week, I've been investigating the family of Mary I Crafton who married Jacob Cole in Indiana in 1865. According to Find a Grave, Jacob Cole died in 1893 in Ouachita County Arkansas. In an attempt to learn more about Mary Crafton Cole, I started investigating the Arkansas branch of the family thru their son James Franklin Cole.

Since I didn't know a lot about this family, I used connections on Find a Grave to identify the family. From the Find a Grave memorial for James Franklin Cole, I learned his wife was Elizabeth Francis Holt. I also was able to identify 3 of the children: Harvey E Cole, James Dewitt Cole and Ora Mae Cole.

When working with a 'new' family, I also use the FamilySearch tree to see what other researchers have concluded. Based on the location of his birth and death and his wife's name, I matched James Franklin Cole in my RootsMagic database to James Franklin Cole (1866-1952) [L164-8WB]. Since FamilySearch had two additional children, Herbert Lee Cole and Roy J Cole, I added them to the family.

My next step was to locate information to support the family configuration obtained via Find a Grave and FamilySearch. Ancestry hints to census records provided support for the family configuration.

However, none of this provided a tie between James Franklin Cole of Arkansas and the Cole family in Clay County, Indiana. That's when I turned to newspapers to try and locate obituaries for the Cole family in Ouachita County, Arkansas.

So far, I haven't found any obituaries. However, I did find one of those 'gossipy' tidbits that provides a major clue. According to the gossip,

Mr. and Mrs. Roy Cole of Conroe, Texas visited Mr. and Ms. J. D. Cole and Mrs. J. F. Cole Friday.

Local News, The Camden News (Camden, Arkansas), 13 December 1956, page 12; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : viewed online November 2019).

That little tidbit not only provides a location for the family of Roy Cole in 1956 but also indicates that his mother, Mrs. J. F. Cole, is still living.

Crawford to Oklahoma

My recent 'adventure' in Dodge City newspapers on Newspapers.com allowed me to discover information about another Crawford family.

There are two distinct Crawford lines in Dodge City prior to 1890. My line descends from Washington Marion Crawford who followed his brother, James H. Crawford to Dodge City from Indiana around 1884. The other line, Harvey H. Crawford, descends from James Crawford (1770-1836) of Warren County, Indiana thru his son, William Alan Crawford.

Harvey H. Crawford settled in Wheatland Township northeast of Dodge City about the same time that James H. Crawford settled just south of Dodge City. According to newspaper articles, Harvey H. Crawford moved to Oklahoma for a time before settling in Dodge City before 1900.

In May 1889, H. H. Crawford journeyed to Oklahoma pursuing work as a carpenter.

Steve Leavergood and H. H. Crawford started for Oklahoma on last Sunday morning. Mr. Crawford expects to get some work at his trade, carpentering. Mr. Leavergood has taken a claim, but will follow butchering.

Western Kansas Ensign (Dodge City, Kansas), 10 May 1889, page 3; digital image, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : viewed online November 2019).

Boarding House

I recently have been spending a lot of time with Ancestry's newly released database: Newspapers.com Obituary Index, 1800s - present. In the process, I discovered that a lot of the early newspapers from Dodge City, Kansas are now on Newspapers.com. Thus, I did a search for CRAWFORD between 1885 and 1890. Many of the results allowed me to get a digital copy of articles I had seen when I read the microfilm.

One of those articles described the building of a boarding house by my 2nd great grandfather, Washington Marion Crawford.

Marion Crawford has commenced the foundation for a boarding house, north of his present location, on 2d Avenue. The main building will be 16 x 26 feet, 18 feet high, with a wing 16 x 18 feet. The dining room and kitchen will be in the basement. A. O. Sherman hs the contract to do the work.

Dodge City Times (Dodge City, Kansas), 30 July 1885, page 4; Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : viewed online November 2019).

Honoring the Veterans in My Family

Anyone who has lived in Emporia, Kansas realizes that Veteran's Day is a MAJOR holiday. Today, we take time to honor those who have served and who are serving. Thus, I would like to take a walk thru my family tree to honor my veteran ancestors.

World War II

Eugene Crawford

Between 15 Feb 1945 and 1 Aug 1946, Eugene served at the Naval Training Center in Gulfport, Mississippi and at the Naval Training Center in Great Lakes, Illinois. He shipped out on the USS Oneida (APA-221) towards the end of the War in the Pacific as seaman 1st class in the U.S. Naval Reserves. He received the Victory Medal and the American Campaign Medal.

Crawford Pioneer Dies

Warren County Pioneer Is Dead

Mrs. Margaret Robb Passes Away at 94; Entire Life Spen in West Lebanon Vicinity

West Lebanon, Ind. April 21
(Special) -- Mrs. Margaret Robb, said to have been Warren county's oldest resident, died yesterday at her home here at the age of 94 years. She observed her birthday last Friday and on the preceding Sunday relatives and friends arranged a birthday party in her honor.
Mrs. Robb was born April 18, 1836, three miles south of West Lebanon, on the farm where her brother, George W. Crawford, 83, now resides. It was entered by her father in 1838. The brother is the sole surviving member of a family of 11 children. The parents were William and Leutitia Crawford, pioneers of the county. Mrs. Robb had been a member of the Christian Church for nearly 80 years and was the teacher of the beginners' class in the Sunday school for 40 years. She was formerly president of the Aid society.
In 1836 she married Bolivar Robb who died in 1913. Besides her brother she leaves many nieces and nephews. The funeral will be held at the Christian church Tuesday afternoon at 2 o'clock, Rev. Louis Hotelling officiating. Burial in West Lebanon cemetery.

Celinda Margaret Lydia Crawford was the daughter of William and Lutitia (Snodgrass) Crawford and granddaughter of James and Martha (Knight) Crawford.

Configuring Crawford FAN Club in My Tree

Do you have 'floating' or 'orphan' trees in your Ancestry tree? I know that I do have 'floaters' in my tree. I recently watched a Genealogy TV video by Constance Knox on how to make connections to link some of those 'floaters' to my big tree.

Today, I decided to get this set up for some of the members of my Crawford FAN Club:

• Nathan Sellers
• James Crawford (wife Elizabeth Vansant)
• Alexander Crawford (wife Mary McPheeters)
• James Crawford (wife Rebecca Anderson)
• James Crawford (wife Rebecca McPheeters)
• James Crawford (wife Martha Knight)
• Alexander Moore (wife Mary Crawford)
• Alexander Duggins (wife Sally Smith -- who married James Crawford)
• John Anderson (father of Rebecca Anderson Crawford)
• Bazeleel Maxwell (brother-in-law of James Crawford/Rebecca Anderson)
• Alexander Crawford (wife Margaret McElwee)
• Absalom Adams (grandfather of Margaret McElwee)
• James Crawford (wife Sally Duggins) -- MY ANCESTOR
• Edward Crawford - yDNA connection
• Jacob Miller - father of Nancy / father-in-law of Isaac Crawford

Possible Distant Cousins

Have you tested your DNA? If so, have you been able to break through a brick wall using your DNA results?

My main purpose for testing my DNA was to learn more about my Crawford ancestry. Since I already have identified my 4th great grandfather on my Crawford line, I was hoping to identify his siblings and parents via DNA. So far, my results have not helped me get thru that brick wall.

However, there is one DNA test that has puzzled me for quite some time. This is the sole test that shows up when I search my matches for ancestors born in Garrard County, Kentucky: i******. I share 23 cM across 2 segments with i****** and one of my brothers shares 24 cM across 2 segments with i******.

When I looked at shared matches with i******, I found two other matches that appear to have the same common ancestors: Isaac Crawford and Nancy Miller. In looking at matches shared with these two other matches, I discovered a fourth match who descends from a different Garrard County family.

Crawford Ancestor DNA Project

Have you heard about Ancestor DNA Projects on GedMatch? Don't feel bad if you haven't. I first heard about them last month when a member of the Clan Crawford group on Facebook posted about it.

Several members of the Clan Crawford Facebook group are trying to get a Crawford Ancestor Project started. However, they need FIFTY Crawford researchers to agree to participate to get the project established.

If you are a Crawford researcher who has uploaded your DNA to GedMatch, then please consider participating in the project.

To join the project, one must first be a member of the Clan Crawford Association Ancestry & DNA Research Forum on Facebook. If you are on Facebook, then you may submit a request to join the Clan Crawford Association Ancestry & DNA Research Forum. This is a great group that discusses Crawford DNA and/or Crawford Research.

Once your membership in the Clan Crawford Association Ancestry & DNA Research Forum, you can use the search box on the right side of the screen to locate posts on a particular topic.

A search for 'gedmatch' will bring up the post about the Ancestor Project.

The post contains a link to a Google file where one can enter his/her gedmatch number if willing to be part of the project.

If you are a Crawford researcher, please consider participating in both the Facebook group and the Crawford Ancestor DNA Project.

Elusive David Hall Family

Jane Crawford, daughter of James and Rebecca (Anderson) Crawford married David Hall. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find much information on David and Jane Hall.

David Hall¹ lived in Jefferson, Indiana, United States in 1820.²

He filed land entry papers for land being the East half of the Southwest quarter of section 25 Township 10 of Range 5 containing 80 acres on 24 Apr 1820 in Indiana, United States.³

He  purchased land being lot 104 in Columbus in 1823 in Bartholomew, Indiana, United States.⁴

David  purchased land being lot 63 in Columbus in 1823 in Bartholomew, Indiana, United States.⁵

He filed land entry papers for land being the West half of the Southwest quarter of Section 25 Township 10 of Range 5 containing 80 acres on 1 Jan 1823 in Indiana, United States.⁶

David Hall of Dearborn County, Indiana made full payment for the south West quarter of the North East quarter of Section seventeen in township six of Range two West in the District of lands subject to sale at Cincinnati, Ohio (lying in Indiana) containing 40 acres on 7 Nov 1837 in Cincinnati, Hamilton, Ohio, United States.⁷

David sold land being lot number 104 in Columbus on 1 Dec 1838 in Bartholomew, Indiana, United States.⁸

He sold land land being lot number 63 in Columbus on 2 Oct 1839 in Bartholomew, Indiana, United States.⁹

David Hall and Jane Crawford¹⁰ were married on 5 Jan 1814 in Jefferson, Indiana, United States.^1,11–17

Jane Crawford, daughter of James Crawford and Rebecca Anderson, was born about 1796.

She was the child of James Crawford and Rebecca Anderson.¹⁶

She was also known as Jane Hall on 5 Jan 1814.¹

Message Board Updates

Have you ever followed a hint that led you down the wrong path? That's what I feel like I'm doing with the message I found on Genealogy.com.

"I am a Whitley researcher. I was sent the following: not my research. Jacob Miller (b1762) md Elizabeth Whitley, 13 May 1794 in Lincoln Co. NC. Elizabeth was the dau of George Whitley, son of Moses, son of Jonathan. They moved to Paint Lick, or Crab Orchard, Ky. There were 11 children. George, Nancy, Henry, Matilda, Moses, Mary, Tobias, Margaret, Isaac (Md Elizabeth Cope), Whitley, Elizabeth. After the death of Jacob (1825) many of the family moved to Clay Co, Mo and other MO counties (1832). Some moved to IN. Elizabeth Whitley Miller remarried to Humphrey Best. Clell was son of Moses and is buried in Muddy Fork Cem. in Clay Co., MO. At least there is a tombstone there. As I said, this is not my research and I cannot give proofs for this but it may serve as a map for Miller researchers. If anyone can prove any of this I would appreciate hearing from you."

As stated in my previous blog post, Message Boards, I found a marriage record for Elizabeth Miller and Humphrey Best.