Heartland Genealogy

Saturday, June 8, 2019

Am I Making Incorrect Conclusions?

Have you ever looked at the FamilySearch tree or at personal trees on Ancestry and wondered how and why they made those family connections? I know I have. I hope that others if others have such a question about the research reflected in my Ancestry tree, that they would contact me with their concerns and questions!

This is important to me. I want my tree to accurately reflect family relationships. Since I research siblings and their descendants, some might ask why it is important that I get those relationships right. As Ancestry is providing us with more DNA tools, I'm finding that my ability to interpret my DNA matches is affected by whether I have those family connections correct. This became more apparent to me when I was studying my ThruLines and discovered that I didn't have any DNA matches thru siblings of my ancestor. (See Crawford ThruLines Question)

As I'm researching the James Crawford(1758-1836) who married Rebecca Anderson, I'm finding that what I have in my tree disagrees with what a lot of others have.

Miller Heirs - Crawford Deed

Garrard County Kentucky
Index to deeds, 1797-1935; deeds, 1797-1866; births, 1789-1801

Deeds, Vols. N-O 1838-1843
FS Film 183247 DGS 8568105

Book N page 406

No 1387 James & John Crawford to Wm W Duff

Isaac Crawford Deed

Jefferson County Indiana Deeds

Book E page 452 Image 239
Family Search Film 1310268 DGS 8059613

page 453

This Indenture, made this nineteenth day of November in the year of
our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and twenty two between
Isaac Crawford & Nancy his wife of Jefferson County [and state]
of Indiana of the first part, and Thomas Alexander of the
same County of the second part witneseth that the said
Isaac Crawford & Nancy his wife for and in consideration
of the sum of eight hundred dollars lawful money [?]
United States to them in hand well and truly paid [?]

Following Women to Find Hints

Do you research the spouses of your ancestor's siblings? If you are like me, you don't spend much time identifying let alone researching the parents of an ancestor's sister-in-law.

However, with my Crawford research, I'm finding valuable clues from published genealogies. Many of those published genealogies are for the families of women who married into the Crawford family.

There are a couple of McPheeters genealogies that include the family of Alexander and Mary (McPheeters) Crawford. These works have helped me separate my Crawford line from the descendants of Alexander Crawford.

Reporting Census Extraction Issue

Do you just rely on Ancestry's record information for census records prior to 1850? Or do you locate an extraction form for the census year to verify the interpretation of the check marks?

I have to admit that I often just use the information provided by Ancestry. I'm not sure why I decided to locate an extraction form and record the census information for myself today. However, I'm glad I did since I think the Ancestry record had one piece of information incorrect.

I was researching Isaac Crawford of Jefferson County, Indiana. I suspected he was living in Jefferson County in 1820 but hadn't obtained a census record to support that suspicion. So, I searched Ancestry and was able to locate a record for Isaac Crawford in Jefferson County, Indiana.