Heartland Genealogy

Do you ever feel like you are going in circles when it comes to records? That's how I'm feeling with my research of Isaac Crawford whom I believe to be the son of James and Rebecca (Anderson) Crawford. I recently found an obituary for George Whitley Crawford who died in 1889 in Gentry County, Missouri. According to the obituary in the 20 Sept 1889 issue of the Albany Ledger of Albany Missouri, George was born in Bartholomew County, Indiana. The biography of George W. Crawford, found on page 421 of The History of Gentry and Worth Counties, Missouri (St. Joseph, Missouri: National Historical Co., 1882), provides some more information about George's early life. Mr. Crawford  the son of Isaac and Nancy (Miller) Crawford, both Kentuckians by birth. During his infancy his parents died, and he was reared by his grand parents. At the age of two years he was taken to Garrard County, Ken- tucky, where he remained until ten years of age. In 1833, he moved to Clay County, M...

James A. Crawford, who is right close to the oldest settler of Gentry county, is preparing to remove from the county and take up his residence with his son in Texas.

As discussed in my recent post, Duplicate or Different , I followed up on a 'notice of change' message to discover two Eliza Van Valkenbergs on Family Search. By looking at the differences between the two women, I discovered some clues that led to more information in Eliza. One of those clues was the differing death dates for Eliza. In one case, the death date was given as between 1920 and 1930. I'm sure this was due to not finding Eliza in records. The other Eliza had a death date of 1943 listed. Knowing that Eliza had been married several times, I suspected that a different surname was contributing to the difficulty in finding records. When I searched Newspapers.com for the term Eliza in 1943 in St. Joseph, Missouri, I found a notice of her death.

1.      William Crawford was born on 28 Apr 1784 in Kentucky, United States. 1 – 2 He was the child of James and Rebecca (Anderson) Crawford . 3 On 14 Oct 1811 in Jefferson, Indiana, United States. 4 William and Isaac Crawford, assignee of James Crawford, made full payment for the North East quarter of section twenty of Township four in Range 10 East as tenants in common on 15 Apr 1815 in Jeffersonville, Clark, Indiana, United States. 5 He lived in Jefferson, Indiana, United States in 1820. 6 In 1843–1850 he was a Justice of the Peace in St. Francois, Missouri, United States. 7 – 9 William lived at District 80 in St. Francois, Missouri Territory on 7 Oct 1850. 10 He died on 3 Apr 1864 at the age of 79. 1 William was buried in Andersonville National Cemetery, Macon County, Georgia. 1 William Crawford and Elizabeth Davis were married on 28 Apr 1804 in Garrard, Kentucky, United States. 11 – 13 Elizabeth Davis 14 was born about 1785 in Virgi...

Have you ever just stumbled across something that others may seem minor when it provides major clues. That's what happened yesterday when I did a simple Google search for 'Isaac Crawford Nancy Miller'. That search led to a biography of George W. Crawford of Gentry County, Missouri in the book, The History of Gentry and Worth Counties, Missouri on page 421. George W. Crawford

As part of my CRAWFORD research, I'm trying to determine whether the Isaac Crawford of Jefferson County, Indiana is the same Isaac Crawford who married Nancy Miller in Garrard County, Kentucky. Thus, I'm trying to locate information on potential children. One of those potential children is Elizabeth Crawford who married Aristippus Brown in Clinton County, Missouri. Unfortunately, I'm having trouble locating much information on Aristippus Brown. What I've been able to locate is a marriage record, land records and mentions in county histories. Aristippus Brown was married to Elizabeth Crawford in Clinton County, Missouri on 3 August 1836. According to the History of Davies and Gentry Counties, MIssouri, Aristippus Brown was from Kentucky and lived near Genntryville in 1839. The history indicates that Aristippus Brown moved to California. In May of 1840, Aristippus Brown and Elizabeth Brown his wife, sold land in Garrard County, Kentucky. This deed identifies Eliza...