Configuring Crawford FAN Club in My Tree

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 connection
• Jacob Miller - father of Nancy / father-in-law of Isaac Crawford

Sellers Deed

Have you ever encountered some random information in a Facebook post that led you to look for additional records? That was my experience recently when someone posted in the Families of Garrard County, Kentucky group about the Sellers-Kennedy riot.

Since my Crawford family left Garrard County before 1820, I haven't paid much attention to the history of the county after that. One of the Crawford lines I'm tracking from the Garrard County area had two daughters marry into the Sellers family. (William Sellers married Sarah Crawford and James Sellers married Mary Crawford) These particular Sellers families also moved out of the county.

At this point, I don't know how the Sellers of the 1873 riot connect to the Sellers family of the 1790s but I'm guessing they do connect.

One of the comments on the post mentioned the search for Sellers deeds. When I looked back at my research, I realized I did not have the deed for the sale of land. Since those records are easily accessible on FamilySearch, I located that deed today.

At first glance, this deed may be for land that belonged to James Sellers and Mary Crawford.

Sellers Mystery

Have you ever seen names on documents and wondered how they fit into your tree? That's my situation right now with the SELLERS family!

My ancestor, James Crawford, married Sally Duggins in Garrard County, Kentucky in 1799. James Sellers signed the bond and was one of the parties named in the bond.

Know all men by these presents that
we Jams Crawford and James Sellers are
hito and firmly bound unto James Garrard
Esqr Governor of Kentucky in the just and
full sum of fifty pounds current money
to which payment will and trust to be
made we bind ourselves our heirs [so] jointly
and surrally firmly by these presents seald and
dated this 12th day of Sept 1799
Th eCondition of the above obligation
is such that whereas there is a marriage shortly
into to be solemnized between the above bound
James Crawford and Sally Duggins for 
which a licenses has issued now if there 
be no lawful cause to obstruct the sd
marriage then the above obligation so
be void. Else to remain in full force and 
virtue
James Crawford (seal)
James Sellers (seal)

Lincoln County Taxes

Do you find little clues in tax records? When I reviewed the Lincoln County Kentucky tax records, I made some discoveries that are helping my CRAWFORD research in the area.

• Discovered John Crawford -- who owned 913 acres of land
  
• Sellers families listed beginning in 1787
• Rebekah Crawford (widow) listed in 1787-1791
• James Crawford owning 114 acres of land  on Sugar Creek (same description as land owned by Rebekah Crawford) in 1794
  
• Douglas families listed  beginning in 1789

1795 Mystery

• William Crafort - 500 acres Richland Creek

1799 Mysteries:

• James Crawford -- 100 acres on Rolling Forks
• Robert Crawford -- 200 acres

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

Garrard County Tax

Have you ever tried to figure out who is who in a community when there are multiple people of the same name?

Well, that's where I am with the Garrard County tax records from 1797-1806.

I have four Crawford families that potentially live in Garrard County during that time period.

• James Crawford husband of Rebecca Anderson who purchased land from Thomas Kennedy. James' sons were Isaac (?-?), William (1784-1864) and James (1790-1856)
• William Crawford who claimed to have purchased land from J Kennedy. His sons would not have been old enough to be listed on the tax lists while William Crawford was living in Garrard County. 
• James Crawford who married Martha Knight in 1793 in Lincoln County, Kentucky. James is thought to be the son of Rebecca Crawford. Rebecca purchased land from George Douglas.
• James Crawford who married Sally Duggins in 1799 in Garrard County, Kentucky. James is thought to be the son of Mary Crawford who married Alexander Moore.

Unexcpected DNA Finding

Last week, I watched the "Watch Geoff Live: DNA" webinar on Legacy Family TreeWebinars. While watching, I followed along by looking at my autosomal DNA results on Ancestry. I had my DNA tested last summer and had studied some of the results but hadn't found the help with 'brick walls' that I had hoped for.

One of the brick walls I've been working on is my James Crawford line. My James Crawford died in Preble County Ohio in 1854. He married Sally Duggins in Garrard County Kentucky in 1799. Sally had previously been married to Alexander Duggins by whom she had two sons: William and Henry. Henry Duggins was married to Jane Sellers, daughter of Nathan Sellers. Nathan A. Sellers was a neighbor of my James Crawford and died in Preble County Ohio in 1824. In early Preble County Ohio, there was a second James Crawford who owned land adjoining my James Crawford. This James Crawford married Martha Knight in 1793 in Lincoln County Kentucky. It is believed that two of the sisters of this James Crawford married brothers to Nathan A. Sellers. Thus, the two Crawfords, the Sellers and the Duggins were all neighbors in Preble County Ohio and loosely related by marriages. However, no proof has been found of any relationship between the two James Crawfords.

As I was watching and following along, I somehow searched my DNA results for the Sellers surname. SURPRISINGLY, I found matches on Nathan Sellers of Pennsylvania! I've found at least two others (enough for a circle of 3) but the generations don't quite match up for Ancestry to create a circle (yet). Thus, I've started trying to document a circle.

A known descendant of James and Martha has his DNA on Gedmatch (but not on Ancestry). When we have compared our two sets of DNA, it said there were 'No Shared DNA segments found'. Thus, we assumed we either weren't related or that it was far enough back that the DNA didn't help.

With my new SELLERS discovery, I decided to re-look at Gedmatch. This time, I had it show the chromosomes. We still didn't have matches on 'centromeres'. However, the chromosomes weren't all red. Thus, I had to study the GedMatch key.

According to the key, the more lime green, the more matches on base pairs (A-T and C-G). When I looked at the chromosome comparison with the descendant of the other James Crawford, I found that we had a lot of yellow and green on chromosomes 21 and 22.

 When I did the same comparison between the descendant of James and Martha Crawford and a descendant of Nathan A. Sellers, there was even more yellow and green on these two chromosomes.

Granted, all results still say 'No shared DNA segments'. However, this is comparing autosomal DNA and not yDNA. I'm also looking at possible relationships at least six generations back. This yellow and green and the fact that SELLERS turns up as a surname match on Ancestry is enough to cause me to re-look at the research I have already done and use the SELLERS research to learn more about my CRAWFORD lineage.

Getting Started (Re-Started) with Cluster / FAN Research

One of my genealogical challenges is identifying the parents and siblings of my ancestor, James Crawford. James marries Sally Duggins in Garrard County, Kentucky in 1799. By 1810, the couple is living in Preble County Ohio.

I've already done some cluster research to try and make headway on this line. In the process, I've identified quite a few potential members of a cluster.

In trying to figure out how to track my research, I created a spreadsheet to show where these people were at various times.

The above spreadsheet provides a visual of what I currently know. Now the struggle is to create a research plan and figure out how best to track this research.

Cluster Surnames

Crawford, Duggins, Smith, Knight, Neal, Finley

Time Period

1770 to 1850

 

Locations

Preble County Ohio

pre-1800 Kentucky