Venture into Court Records

Do you try and find every record you could on an ancestor? I used to think that I did. However, I have to admit that I haven't always researched all available records for a community. I often stop with the indexed records and often avoid those non-indexed records.

It turns out I likely need to be  using those records. A local historian from the Garrard County, Kentucky area contacted me last week. She had seen my blog post about not finding land records for the SELLERS families in the area. She provided lots of hints. One was a rumor that the Sellers acquired their land in Garrard County by trading a horse for it. She said that if the rumor was true, I might not find a deed. Another hint was to dig thru the court records -- especially since there were a lot of legal battles over Kentucky land.

So, I've started my journey into court records.

I've started with the Madison County, Kentucky Court of Quarter Sessions. These court documents have been filmed and are available on the Family Search site -- and there is even an index to them!

Madison County Kentucky
Court of Quarter Sessions case files 1789-1802, indexes, 1789-1802

Case Files, 1-778, mixed dates ranging 1789-1802
FS Film 2115181 item 3 DGS 7838115

Image 45

Crawford, Mary - Poe, William 587

Barren

Have you ever re-looked at some tax records and discovered that you can now figure out who these people might be when before they were just a list of names found in that county?

Well, that has been my experience as I'm going back thru some of my Crawford Kentucky research in hopes that it leads me back another generation.

I've recently re-looked at Madison, Lincoln and Garrard county tax lists and combined with land records, I have a much better understanding of who the various Crawfords listed in these tax roles are. Since I have deeds indicating James Crawford (husband of Martha Knight) lived in Barren County, Kentucky, I decided to re-look at those tax records.

I first searched the Barren County KY tax lists some time ago. Based on the "V20-0014" notation on my notes, I'm guessing I used the American Genealogical Lending Library to research these records at home.

Barren County Connection

Have you ever questioned whether an ancestor lived in a certain place because the migration path was illogical?

Well, that is the case with our Crawford research. James Crawford and Martha Knight were married in Lincoln County, KY in 1793. James Crawford and Sally Duggins were married in Garrard County, KY in 1799. Both families migrated to Preble County, Ohio.

So when clues pointed to at least one of them being in Barren County, KY (South of Lincoln and Garrard), those clues were questioned because it seemed illogical for these couples to migrate South before migrating North to Ohio.

That gut feeling was proven incorrect when a Barren County deed was discovered. This 1821 deed was for the sale of land by a James Crawford of Preble County, Ohio. Records place both James Crawfords in Preble County, Ohio at the time. So far, no record has been found for a third James Crawford in Preble County, Ohio in 1821.

Since the deed identifies the wife of James Crawford as Martha, this deed places James and Martha owning land in Barren County, KY. Another set of deeds for the sale of land in Garrard County, KY by Rebecca Crawford and James Crawford, both of Barren County, provide additional evidence that James Crawford was in Barren County, KY (See Rebekah's Land)

Lincoln County Mystery

Do you have same name issues in your genealogy research? Or, do you have 'mystery men' of the same surname in the same location as your ancestor?

That's what happened when I looked at the Lincoln County, Kentucky tax lists for 1787-1805.

I had found Lincoln County KY marriage bonds where Rebekah Crawford gave permission for Mary Crawford to marry James Sellers and Sarah Crawford to marry William David Sellers. Another marriage bond secured by Nathan Douglas and James Crawford for the marriage of James Crawford and Martha Knight was found in Lincoln County, KY records.

Thus, I was expecting to find the following:

• Sellers family
• Rebekah Crawford
• George Douglass -- who sold land to Rebekah Crawford and may be her brother
• Nathan Douglass -- who signed the bond for James Crawford
• James Crawford -- who is believed to have turned 21 in 1792

I was not expecting to find:

• John Crofford
• Alexander Crofford
• William Crafort on Richland Creek
• James Crawford on Rolling Forks
• Robert Crawford on Hanging Fork 
• Ellis Richard (and other Ellis families) on Noland Fork

Reading History

In your genealogy research, have you read the historical accounts?

Even though the experts recommend 'knowing' the history of a location, I have only skimmed county histories looking for my family name. I've never seriously read the history - until last night.

Last night, I read the book, The Travelling Church: An Account of the Baptist Exodus from Virginia to Kentucky in 1781 under the Leadership of Rev.Lewis Craig and Capt. William Ellis on Internet Archive. This book is about an ENTIRE church community packing up and leaving Spottsylvania County, Virginia for Logan's Fort in Kentucky.

I didn't find mention of the Crawford family in this book. I have clues suggesting my Crawford line came from Montgomery or Augusta Counties, Virginia - not Spottsylvania County. I have clues suggesting the Crawfords were Presbyterian - not Baptist.

Migration Clues

Have you used city directories to help locate a person between census years? Although I'm not finding as much detail in tax lists, I am finding that they help track migration in the early 1800s.

I've been doing FAN club research in early Kentucky. So far, I've been concentrating on the area that became Garrard County. Because of changing county boundaries, I've searched tax lists for Madison, Garrard and Lincoln counties.

• Tax Man Cometh - Madison County, KY 1787-1796
• Garrard County Tax - 1797-1806
• Lincoln County Taxes  

Since I've identified the Crawford land holdings during this time period. I'm now searching the Garrard County tax lists from 1807 to 1824 to identify the time period when the various families moved away.

Families that could potentially be in Garrard County between 1807 and 1824

• Rebekah Crawford - owned land between Sugar Creek and Boone's Mill Creek
• James Crawford, husband of Martha Knight and likely son of Rebekah Crawford
• James Sellers, husband of Mary Crawford (likely daughter of Rebekah Crawford)
• William Sellers, husband of Sarah Crawford (likely daughter of Rebekah Crawford)
• Alexander Moore, husband of Mary Crawford - owned land on Sugar Creek and on Paint Lick Creek
• James Crawford, husband of Sally Duggins
• James Crawford, husband of Rebecca Anderson -- owned land on Paint Lick Creek
• William Crawford - owned land on Paint Lick Creek

Which Alexander Moore

Do you ever check other people's trees to see what they have on someone you are researching? I know I do. I check them for hints. I also check them to see if my work supports their conclusions.

I'm in the position of needing hints from others in my research of Mary Crawford, wife of Alexander Moore.

1811 Garrard County Kentucky Land records indicate that Alexander Moore moved from the Garrard County area of Kentucky to Fleming County. (Garrard County, Kentucky, Deed Book E, page 306). Since Mary doesn't sign the deed and isn't mentioned in the body of the deed, there isn't evidence that Mary was in Fleming County, Kentucky

Crawford Brick Wall Research

I've recently been going back thru my CRAWFORD research in Kentucky in hopes of finding a clue about the parents of James Crawford. This research involves at least four counties and several different families.

As I've been doing this research, I've been writing blog posts. Below is a chronological listing of those posts.

Where Is the Sellers' Land?

Have you ever tried to document a piece of information and get frustrated because everywhere you look turns up nothing?

Well, that's how I feel right now regarding land owned by various members of the SELLERS family in early Kentucky.

My clue that they owned land comes from various tax lists. The Sellers family appears on the Lincoln County, Kentucky tax list in 1792 on images 234 and 235.

Image 234

• Sellers James - 1 male > 21; 6 horses, 10 cattle
• Sellers Samuel - 1 male > 21; 1 horse
• Sellers William - 1 male 16-21

Image 235

• Sellers Nathaniel - 1 male > 21, 1 horse, 4 cattle 100 acres
• Sellers, John 1 male over 21, 5 horses, 24 cattle, 100 acres

Proof Argument

Have you ever written a proof argument for your genealogical research?

I know the Genealogical Proof Standard incorporates writing a proof argument - a soundly based conclusion that others can follow.

I try to do exhaustive research, citing the sources behind the facts attached to individuals in my tree. However, I've never written a detailed proof argument.

I'm in the middle of a lot of 'same name' research in Kentucky around 1800. To help me think through the evaluation of the records, I've been writing blog posts about this research.

One of the goals of this research is to identify parents or siblings of my ancestor, James Crawford (1772-1854) who married Sally Duggins in Garrard County, Kentucky in 1799.

John Crawford of LIncoln County Kentucky

Do you ever go back thru your research (think Thomas MacEntee's Genealogy Do-Over) and find a potential family member living nearby whom you have never researched?

Well, that happened to me when I was researching Rebekah Crawford in the tax records for Lincoln County. That's where I found John Crawford.

• 1787 Crofford John - 4 horses, 4 cattle
• 1789 Crawford John - 5 horses
• 1790 Crawford John - 4 horses
• 1791 Crawford John - 4 horses
• 1792 Crawford John - 5 horses, 17 cattle and 913 acres

Where's Rebekah?

Have you ever tried to track someone thru the census and just have them disappear? I have and it is frustrating!

I'm trying to figure out my Crawford family in Kentucky on the tax lists. Once I sat down to analyze the data, it was fairly easy to use land records to figure out the Madison County, Kentucky records prior to 1800. (See Tax Man Cometh)

However, the Lincoln County, Kentucky tax lists are proving to be a bit more difficult. There is a Rebekah Crawford who receives land from George Douglas in 1786. (See Rebekah's Land)

Rebekah appears on the Lincoln County tax list in 1787.

She alos appears in  1789 and 1791. I have not found her after 1791.

Rebekah's Land

In 1786, Rebekah Crawford purchased 100 acres on the headwaters of Sugar and Boons Mill Creek in Lincoln County, Kentucky.

Revelation

Have you ever tripped over a county line? I mean, have you ever not considered a family in the neighboring county just because they are in the neighboring county?

Well, I have -- for over thirty years.

As I've written about before, I have two James Crawford families living in Preble County, Ohio. One is my ancestor and one is his neighbor.

• James Crawford of Preble County, Ohio

My ancestor was married in Garrard County, Kentucky in 1799, while the other James was married in Lincoln County, Kentucky in 1793. For all these years, I've thought that the records for Lincoln County, Kentucky were in relation to the 'other' James while the records in Garrard and Madison counties were for my James.

Marriage Bond Mystery

Do you have documents in your genealogy files with incomplete citations. Congratulations if your answer was no!

Unfortunately, I have documents with partial citations. One set of those documents is four marriage bonds involving Crawford family members from Kentucky in the 1790s.

• Mary Crawford consent to marry James Sellers given by Rebekah Crawford on 19 Dec 1791 in Lincoln County, Kentucky witnessed by James Crawford and Wm Sellers
• Bond of James Crawford and Nathan Douglas for the marriage of James Crawford to Martha Night on 12 Mar 1793 in Lincoln County, Kentucky. Consent for the marriage was given by John Goodpastor and witnessed by James Sellers and Samuel Sellers
• Consent of Rebekah Crawford for Sarah Crawford to marry William Sellers on 2 Feb 1796 in Lincoln County, KY witnessed by James Crawford and James Sellers
• Bond by James Crawford and James Sellers for the marriage of James Crawford and Sally Duggins on 12 Sept 1799 in Garrard County, Kentucky

Perspective

Does your genealogy have a brick wall FAN club that involves several branches of the surname along with lots of same name issues? Well, the parents of my ancestor, James Crawford (1772-1854) has such a FAN club.

While working with some other researchers from the FAN club, but unfortunately not my line, I created a 'traditional' time line outlining the information I had on the individuals in the FAN club.

Little Clues

Do you ever go back to a source you've likely used before and discover a very tiny tidbit of information that changes one of your assumptions about an ancestor. Well, I did last night. I was browsing the Internet for Madison County, Kentucky resources while watching the webinar, Trails of Daniel Boone and Other Western Travelers by J. Mark Lowe.

I came across the book, Glimpses of Historic Madison County, Kentucky on Internet Archive. When I searched the contents of the book for Crawford, I found a paragraph about Rev. James Crawford.

Time for Saturday Night Genealogy Fun

Saturday Night 

Time for more Genealogy Fun! 

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission Impossible! music) is to:

1)  What was your best research achievement in 2018?  Tell us - show us a document, or tell us a story, or display a photograph.  Brag a bit!  You've earned it!

2)  We all have elusive ancestors.  What research problem do you want to work on in 2019?  Tell us where you want to research and what you hope to find.


Well, it is actually Sunday afternoon, but I thought I'd accept the challenge.

I think my best research achievement for 2018 would be finding evidence to support a story my grandmother Briles told me about her grandfather. According to my grandmother, her grandfather got involved in a creamery and 'lost his shirt'.  I wrote about finding newspaper articles about a court case referred to as the creamery mess  involving George Mentzer in my previous blog, Creamery Mess.

Upon further research, I found quite a few newspaper articles about the Yates Center Creamery. I also found two court transcripts related to the case. Those newspapers articles and the court transcripts were transcribed in my blog post, Creamery Mess Part 2.

Thompson Will

Last week, I stumbled upon a hint that the father of my ancestor, John B Thompson, was David Thompson of Barren County, KY. Following that hint, I found the will of a David Thompson in Barren county, KY. Among his children was a John B. Thompson.

Down a 'Rabbit Hole' with Deeds

Thanks to a marriage record for Mary Crawford and Alexander Moore in 1793 in Madison County, I've been able to learn more about Mary Crawford.

Mary Crawford is shown on the tax lists for Madison County, Kentucky in 1787, 1789 and 1791. According to the document, "Tax Lists (1792-1840): An Overlooked Resource for Kentucky History and Land Title" by Kandie Adkinson, Land Office, Ky. Secretary of State, "women are included on the tax lists if they are the head of household." Thus, I've long assumed that Mary was a widow living in early Kentucky.