Heartland Genealogy

One of the features I appreciate on FamilySearch is the ability to add a  Brief Life History  to an ancestor's profile. Instead of presenting visitors with only dates, places, and relationships, a well-written life story helps explain who that person was and why their life mattered. For years, my "life stories" often consisted of the narrative report generated by RootsMagic. Those reports are wonderful research tools because they organize the facts in chronological order and document each event. However, they are written in a very factual style: Leon Crawford was listed as a one-year-old male on the 1895 Kansas census... Leon Crawford was listed as the son of J. F. Crawford on the 1910 census... Leon Crawford was listed as the head of the household on the 1920 census... While that format is perfect for researchers, it isn't always engaging for cousins or other FamilySearch users who simply want to learn about an ancestor's life. Sinc...

Telling a Railroad Story Through Song One of the most rewarding parts of genealogy is finding new ways to share our ancestors' stories. Census records, city directories, and newspaper articles tell us the facts of their lives, but music has a unique ability to capture the emotions behind those facts. Recently, I wrote a biography and a "Day in the Life" narrative about my great-grandfather, Judson Foster Crawford , who spent decades working for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway in Dodge City, Kansas. As I researched his career, I found myself imagining the dedication, hard work, and perseverance required of a railroad switchman during the early twentieth century. That inspired me to try something different. Using ChatGPT, I created original lyrics celebrating Judson's life and long railroad career. I then used Suno to transform those lyrics into a folk-inspired song titled "The Strength of Judson Crawford." To accompany the mus...

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 f...

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 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 Crafton 4 were married on 1 Apr 1823 in Jefferson, Indiana, United States. 2 , 5 – 11 John Crafton 2 was buried in 1836 at Nauvoo Cemetery in Milford, Decatur, Indiana, United States. 12 He died on 12 Dec 1836. 12

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 t...

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. Leavergo...

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).

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...

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 co...

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. ...

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 righ...

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 Hall 1 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 Distric...

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 app...

Bartholomew County Indiana Land and Property Deeds, vols. D-E (to p.515), 1833-1837 FamilySearch Film 1301777 DGS 8059757 Bartholomew County Indiana Deeds, 1822-1887 Deeds, vols. D-E (to p.515), 1833-1837 FamilySearch Film 1301777 DGS 8059757 Deed Book D page 205

  Beverly Vawter 1 was born on 28 Sep 1789 in Culpeper, Culpeper County, Virginia. 1 – 7      He lived in Jefferson, Indiana Territory, United States in 1811. 6 He served in the military as a Sargent in Capt. Elisha Golay's Company during War of 1812. 8 – 9       Beverly was the parent of Pascal Vawter. 6 , 10 He of Jefferson county has made full payment for the Southeast quarter of section 29, Township 4, range 10 East on 9 Oct 1813 in Jeffersonville, Clark, Indiana, United States. 11 In 1818, he advertised 175 acres of land on the Clifty within 2 1/2 miles of in Madison, Jefferson, Indiana, United States. 12 Beverly was the parent of Rebecca Vawter. 6

Do you ever feel like you've figured out a new way to cluster matches and then realize that those clusters you thought you had found included matches from distinctly separate areas of your tree? Well, that was my experience when I expanded my mountain/valley analysis of my Crawford line. As explained in my DNA Clusters: Mountains and Valleys post, I had a 'missing mountain' for the parents of Nelson G. Crawford in my original diagram.

Do you use timelines in your genealogy research? I'm guessing that most people who have been searching their family history for some time have used some sort of timeline. When I retired and starting spending more time researching my family tree, I created a spreadsheet for my Crawford family research. In the spreadsheet, I was able to color code the people, locations and time periods. All of this information was copied from my RootsMagic data into the spreadsheet. It wasn't until I read Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Make a Timeline Report blog that I seriously looked at the Timeline Report in RootsMagic. Thanks to his post, I started looking at the built-in timelines on Ancestry and within RootsMagic.

While trying to verify a death date, I cam across a wonderful article on the VAWTER family that actually provides clues about the Crawford family. These clues are surnames of a potential FAN club for my Crawford research. Newspapers.com The Star Press (Muncie, Indiana) 14 Nov 1909, Sun page 14 “About Our Ancestors” by Eleanor Lexington The Vawter Family

Do you use Ancestry's 'leaf' hints? If so, do you occasionally find a hint or two that have information that doesn't fit with what you already know about the person or family? I usually find such hints among the multitude of hints for the people in my trees. Usually, those 'incorrect' hints are 'way off'. These 'way off' hints are for events in England when the person/family is living in the United States. Today, however, I came across a hint for a death date that was a few months off of the date shown on Find a Grave. The hint was and index record with reference to a film number on Family Search for District of Columbia Deaths and Burials, 1840-1964. Even though the death date was different, the family names matched.