1823 Deed Luke Bonesteel and William Crawford

Bartholomew County IN
Land records

Deed Book A
page 212

This Indenture made this eleventh day of March one thousand
eight hundred and twenty three between Luke Boneste[el] and
Julia Bonste[el]his wife of the county of Bartholomew and
State of Indiana of the one part and William D Crawford

1834 Deed John Crawford to Eli Guthrey

Bartholomew County, Indiana
Deeds, 1822-1887

Deeds, vols. D-E (to p.515), 1833-1837
FamilySearch Film 1301777 DGS 8059757

Book D page 406

Crawford to Guthrey

1833 John Crawford Deed

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

 Beverly Vawter¹ 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

Cluster Overlap

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.

Timelines - Cluster Research

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.

Fan Club Find

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

Conflicting Information

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.

Crawford Genealogy Collaboration

My Crawford line is a brick wall! I'm fairly certain my line goes back to Virginia from Kentucky -- but I can't find any land records, court records or even family members to help me go back a generation. Many other Crawford researchers also have brick walls -- maybe not in Kentucky, but somewhere in colonial America.

Not only are we struggling with our paper research, but it is difficult to break thru these brick walls by finding common ancestors from our DNA results. Since we are trying to go back 200 or more years, our autosomal DNA isn't of much help. And, our yDNA matches are for names and places that aren't familiar to us.

Crawford Clan DNA Challenge

Have you had your DNA tested? If so, did DNA help you answer a question? Based on Facebook posts I've seen, it appears that DNA is helping adoptees to connect with their birth family.

In my case, I wasn't hoping to identify a close relative. Instead, I was hoping (and still am hoping) to identify my 5th great grandparents -- particularly on my dad's CRAWFORD line. It's been 3 years since I first spit in a test tube (autosomal DNA) and since my brother swabbed his cheek (yDNA). That's 3 years of working with various DNA results and few clues about this mysterious CRAWFORD grandfather.

As I'm trying to learn more about our yDNA results, so I can make sense of how we might fit in the Crawford Clan, I've come to a couple of conclusions:

• There's too little data - I need more 5th, 6th and 7th cousins to do a yDNA test
• Determining relationships is VERY dependent on the accuracy of BOTH of our family trees

Will of Beverly Vawter

Jefferson County
Will Record B
Mar 1872-Jul 1884
Page 15 (Image 37)

Will of Beverly Vawter

James Maxwell Crawford

James Maxwell Crawford¹ was born on 3 Mar 1790 in Garrard, Kentucky, United States.^1–4 He was the child of .⁵

     He signed a petition asking for a division of roads on 14 Oct 1811 in Jefferson, Indiana Territory, United States.⁶

     James purchased land being of the NE qr of section 29 in township no 4 north of range no ten east on 7 Apr 1826 in Jefferson, Indiana, United States.⁷ He lived in Jefferson, Indiana, United States on 1 Jul 1830.⁸

     He sold land being 136 acres to the county for the purpose of creating an asylum for the poor on 25 Feb 1833 in Jefferson, Indiana, United States.⁹

     James  purchased land being O T Madison Lot 51 for $1800 from Chas W. Basnett on 30 Oct 1846 in Jefferson, Indiana, United States.¹⁰

     He lived as a 60 year old male born in Kentucky who was listed as James M Crawford in Clay Township, Decatur, Indiana, United States on 11 Sep 1850.¹¹

     He died on 13 Oct 1856 at the age of 66.⁴  James was an Elder and Lay Preacher for the Indiana Conference of the Methodist Church in Indiana, United States.⁴

Light Bulb Find

Do you get 'light bulb' hints? Since I have my RootsMagic software connected to my Ancestry tree, I get a yellow 'light bulb' next to someone's name whenever there is a new Ancestry hint.

When I opened the software today, I had several of those hints sprinkled thru the first 5 generations of my tree. One of those light bulbs was for my great-great grandmother, Mary Foster Crawford.

That 'hint' was a link to a 'story' posted by another researcher. That story appears to be an obituary clipping from an unknown source.

DNA Haplogroup

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.

Hijacked - Same Name Issues

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.

William Crawford Will

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

Edward Crawford Deed

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

Revisiting Tax Lists

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, Tennessee. I also currently have NO evidence that they are not the same person.

Thus, I'm going to revisit the tax lists to see if I can learn anything more about the Edward Crawford of Madison County, Kentucky.

As mentioned in my previous post, I found several Crawfords listed in these Madison County, KY tax lists.

• Mary Crawford (found 1787-1792)
• James Crawford (found 1787-1796)
• William Crawford (found (1787-1796)
• James Crawford - appears in 1792
• Alexander Crawford - appears in 1792
• John Crawford - appears in 1795
• William Crawford Jr - appears in 1795
• Edward Crawford -- appears in 1795 -  under a different commissioner's list

Edward is the only Crawford who appears on the 1797 tax list. Edward is also listed on the 1799 tax list but has not been found after that date.

Since the first wife of Edward Crawford of Overton, TN was named Mary Gentry, I also looked for any GENTRY families on these Madison County, KY tax lists. I found several GENTRY families with most owning land. 

Madison County, Kentucky 

Tax Books, 1787-1874

Tax books 1787-1797, 1799-1807

Film 8126

DGS 7834478

Image 206

Madison County 1795

Image 210 

Crawford James - 1 male >21; 5 horses; 17 cattle; 146 acres

Image 211

Crawford John - 1 male > 21, 2 horses, 6 cattle

Crawford William Jr - 1 male > 21; 2 horses; 6 cattle

Crawford William Sr - 1 male > 21; 1 male 16-21; 12 horses; 28 cattle; 180 acres

Image 212

Duggins, William - 1 male > 21; 2 horses; 8 cattle

Duggins, Daniel - 1 male >21

Image 218

Moore Alexander - 1 male >21; 3 horses; 3 cattle

Image 218, 219, 220 - No William McClure, George Miller or Nancy Miller

Image 257

Crawford Edward - 1 male >21, 2 horses; 3 cattle

Image 258 - 1795

May 13 Gentry, Richard - 1 male > 21 - 0 male > 16 - 6 total blacks - 2 blacks under 16 - 5 horses - 40 cattle

Gentry, Robert - 1 male > 21, 2 total blacks - 1 black > 16 - 3 horses - 35 cattle

Gentry, David - 1 male > 21, 4 horses - 14 cattle

Left Turn

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, Edward Crawford was listed on the tax records for Madison County, Kentucky as a male over 21 with 2 horses and 3 cattle. 

Clues from a Letter

Do you ever re-look at a document and discover a new clue? That was my experience when a 4th cousin sent me a copy of a letter - a letter that I think I've seen before.

Dodge City, Kansas, March 29, 1907

Dear nephew (William Clay Crawford)

Your ????? to hand. I am glad to hear from you. Your Grandfather
Crawford lived to be 56. Died with colic. Your Grandmother died
about the same age with typhoid. From your Great Grandfather
Crawford lived until the age of 72 and died with sunstroke. our
Great Grandmother Crawford lived 78-don't remember what caused here
death. Your Grandparents were born in Ohio and died in Warren
County, Indiana (W. Lebanon?). Your Great Grandparents moved from
Kentucky and died in southern Ohio. Your Great Great grandparents
came from Scotland and are buried in Kentucky not far from
Lexington. You are of strong hearty people and ought to live to
be an old man with proper care of your health. I am in only
tolerable health myself. I am muscular paralysis. Will stop off
and see you and family and next time I am through if possible.
Kindly regards to your family

From you affectionate uncle.
J.. H. Crawford
(James H. Crawford)