Heartland Genealogy

 Weathering the Storms Calling all Genea-Musings Fans! It’s Saturday Night again — time for some more Genealogy Fun! Here is your assignment if you choose to play along (cue the Mission Impossible music, please!): 1. Did extreme weather or a natural disaster ever affect you or your ancestor(s)? In what way(s)? How did you find this out? Describe one or more extreme weather experiences in your own life or in the lives of your ancestors. I’m sure extreme weather affected not only my life but also the lives of many of my ancestors. After all, my father’s family lived through the Dust Bowl years in western Kansas, and I remember my grandmother sharing stories about those difficult times. However, for this week’s Saturday Night Genealogy Fun, I’m going to concentrate on some more recent weather events — events that affected my parents and eventually became part of my own memories. A Wedding Surrounded by Water Growing up, I often heard my mother tell stories about her wedding day and ho...

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...

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).

I like Ancestry's new ThruLines feature! Unfortunately, it is pointing out one of my frustrations with my DNA results. I have several verified second and third cousin DNA matches on my Crawford line but we never got a DNA circle for my 3rd great grandfather, Nelson G. Crawford. When Ancestry released ThruLines, I was hoping to locate some fourth cousins thru one of Nelson's other children. However, the ThruLines for Nelson G Crawford only includes DNA matches going thru my 2nd great grandfather, Washington Marion Crawford. It does not include any lines going thru the siblings of Washington Marion Crawford.

I recently watched a video that included a Golden Retriever puppy going down a slide. This brought back memories of our family dog, Peppy. Peppy joined the family while we were living on P street in Lincoln, Nebraska. When Peppy was a puppy, we would take him to Woods Park for him to go down a short children's slide. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of Peppy going down the slide.

Judson Foster Crawford was born in April 1866 in Warren County, Indiana. He was the second child born to Washington Marion and Mary (Foster) Crawford. Judson's father had only been home from the war for a year when Judson was born. At the age of 14, Judson was living with his parents in Warren County, Indiana. Family tradition says that as a young adult, Judson was a cook's helper on a cattle drive worked on a ranch worked in a grocery store Even though these stories are hard to prove, they could all be true. Judson's uncle, James H. Crawford migrated from Indiana to the Dodge City area where he owned both a ranch and a grocery store. Thus, Judson could have worked for his uncle on the ranch or in town at the store. The 1885 Kansas census indicates that Judson did work in a store since his occupation is listed as clerk.

Leon Russell Crawford was born in Newton Kansas on the 6 th of Feb 1894. According to Leon’s wife, Winnie Crawford, the family lived in Oklahoma when Leon and his sister Bernice were young. Winnie stated: Judson Crawford worked on a ranch in Oklahoma because Josie’s sister and husband were there. The family all almost died. Judson was extremely ill. The children, Bernice (over 2) and Leon (1) almost died because of poor diet. Documentation for this story has not been found. However, Josie’s sister and husband did live in Oklahoma. The family was living in Dodge City by his 6 th birthday. As a child, Leon attended the Third Ward School that was located on Boot Hill.