James or George

Do you have a brick wall? Does that brick wall involve identifying the father of an ancestor? At some point, many of us face such a brick wall.

One of my brick walls involves my ancestor, James Crawford. My James Crawford married Sally Duggins in 1799 in Garrard County, Kentucky. All of my research efforts have not punched a hole in this brick wall. Thus, I'm using the FAN (friends acquaintances, and neighbors) club method to branch out and try to find a way around this brick wall. I'm currently researching all of the Crawford families in the area of Garrard County, Kentucky during its early days of settlement.

One of those families is James Crawford and his wife Rebecca Anderson. My current theory is that this James Crawford might be an uncle to my ancestor. Thus, I'm hoping that by researching James and Rebecca and their children, I might find something relating to my James Crawford. Unfortunately, identifying the children of James and Rebecca is proving to be difficult.

I found information about this family in the Florence Wilson Houston book, Maxwell History and Genealogy

Aristippus Brown

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 Elizabeth as Elizabeth Crawford, daughter of Isaac Crawford and granddaughter of Jacob Miller.

Garrard County Kentucky
Land and Property

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

Page 396

Ancestry Hints - New Beta

Have you been frustrated by Ancestry hints that seem illogical? I know I have. I seem to get hints for records from England when my ancestor was born, lived and died in the states. That's why I'm excited about the new 'beta' tool to report those bad hints to Ancestry. Not only can I report 'bad' hints, but I can report 'duplicate' photos and explain why a hint is valid.

To enable this new feature, I had to 'turn it on'. This is done by opening the EXTRAS menu

and pick ANCESTRY LAB from the bottom of the menu.

The HINTS FEEDBACK is the new feature. To make it work, click on ENABLE.

Father's Day

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun
Here is your assignment if you choose to play along (cue the Mission Impossible music, please!):

1) It's Father's Day in the USA on Sunday, so let's talk about our fathers.  

2)  Show us your favorite photograph of your father - the one that shows him in the best light possible.  Describe the occasion, the setting, and the people in the photograph.

One of my favorite pictures of my father (Eugene Crawford) is of him in his physics classroom at Dodge City Junior College.

Another favorite picture is of dad trying to read while I was sitting in his lap.

Another group of favorite pictures are of us during Christmas time in 1953. 

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.

Deeds Identifying Miller Heirs

I'm trying to figure out whether the Isaac Crawford and wife Nancy of Jefferson County, Indiana are the Isaac Crawford who married Nancy Miller in Garrard County, Kentucky. Thus, I'm tracking the transfer of land by heirs of Jacob Miller, Nancy Miller's father.

In May 1840, James and John Crawford were identified as sons of Isaac Crawford when they sold their 1/6th of 1/11th of Jacob Miller's land to William Duff. Going back through the deeds, I have identified three other deeds where protions of Jacob Miller's land was sold to William Duff. Two of those deeds also involve heirs of Isaac Crawford.

Aristippus Brown to William Duff -- 2 May 1840

Garrard County Kentucky
Land and Property

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

Book N
Page 396

No. 1381
Aristippus Brown [sc] to William W Duff