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.

Moore Deeds

What's your 'go-to' record type to try and identify people? For me, that resource is land records.

I've recently been using land records to figure out the various Crawford families in the Garrard County, Kentucky area prior to 1820. One of those families is the widow, Mary Crawford who appears on the tax records for Madison County, Kentucky as early as 1787.

In 1793, a Mary Crawford married an Alexander Moore in Garrard County, Kentucky. I was able to use land records to show that the Mary Crawford who married Alexander Moore is the same Mary Crawford who purchased land from Richard Cave.

Now, I'm trying to track Alexander Moore in hopes of learning more about Mary Crawford. There are two deeds for the sale of land in 1811 that indicate that Alexander Moore was from Fleming County, Kentucky.

Engaged

Forty-six years

At the age of twenty, I was not looking forty-six years into my future. But it was forty-six years ago this Valentine's Day that I said yes - to Michael Philbrick.

Our engagement was announced a year later - forty-five years ago.

Miss Marcia Crawford
whose engagement to Mr. Mi-
chael Dean Philbrick has been
announced by her parents, Mr.
and Mrs. Eugene Crawford,
2314 West Twenty-first Ave.
Miss Crawford is a snior stu-
dent at Kansas Stte Teachers
College, where she is major-
ing in chemistry and is a mem-
ber of Delta Zeta social sorori-
ety. She is the granddaughter
of Mrs. E. O. Briles, 609 West
Fifth Ave. Mr. Philbrick, the
son of Mr. and Mrs. Donald
Philbrick of Phillipsburg, also
is a senior student at KSTC.
He is majoring in physical sci-
ence.