Left Turn

Have you ever come across a new piece of information that sends your genealogy research in a totally different direction? I'm sure you have as most of us encounter this from time to time.

Yesterday, I received such a piece of information. This wasn't a document but a DNA result - a yDNA result. Apparently, my Crawford line is its own branch with my closest Crawford match being a descendant of Edward Crawford of Overton, Tennessee.

So, one of my new goals is to try and determine how this Edward Crawford might fit in with all of my James Crawford research. With only five Edwards in my database it is a relatively unusual name. Unfortunately, Alexander and Mary (McPheeters) Crawford had a son named Edward. Thus, there will be confusion in online trees as to the parents of Edward.

In looking back thru my Kentucky research notes, I do have some data placing an Edward Crawford in Madison County, Kentucky during the time period of my James Crawford research.

In 1795, Edward Crawford was listed on the tax records for Madison County, Kentucky as a male over 21 with 2 horses and 3 cattle. 

Sub-Clustering

I just watched Blaine Bettinger's video, Sub-Clustering Shared Matches. As I was following the video, I was also trying to do this with my brother's DNA matches.

The match I started with is listed on my match page as a second cousin. In reality, she is a first cousin once removed. Our common ancestors are Judson Crawford and Josie Hammond.

Her shared match list contained 157 matches. I marked them all with a yellow dot labeled: ICW EB.

Clues from a Letter

Do you ever re-look at a document and discover a new clue? That was my experience when a 4th cousin sent me a copy of a letter - a letter that I think I've seen before.

Dodge City, Kansas, March 29, 1907

Dear nephew (William Clay Crawford)

Your ????? to hand. I am glad to hear from you. Your Grandfather
Crawford lived to be 56. Died with colic. Your Grandmother died
about the same age with typhoid. From your Great Grandfather
Crawford lived until the age of 72 and died with sunstroke. our
Great Grandmother Crawford lived 78-don't remember what caused here
death. Your Grandparents were born in Ohio and died in Warren
County, Indiana (W. Lebanon?). Your Great Grandparents moved from
Kentucky and died in southern Ohio. Your Great Great grandparents
came from Scotland and are buried in Kentucky not far from
Lexington. You are of strong hearty people and ought to live to
be an old man with proper care of your health. I am in only
tolerable health myself. I am muscular paralysis. Will stop off
and see you and family and next time I am through if possible.
Kindly regards to your family

From you affectionate uncle.
J.. H. Crawford
(James H. Crawford)

Thanks!

Do you have a private tree on the Internet? Is your tree private because you are uncertain about some of your data? My tree is not private, but public. However, I know that it likely contains errors. Thus, when I receive an email correcting one of my error, I am THANKFUL!

Today, I received such an email regarding the family of Clarence Clay Crawford. Not only did this email prompt me to make a correction, but also to do additional research. That's when I discovered that the death of Clay Crawford made the national news. A search of Newspapers.com found that several newspapers reported the crash of United Airlines Flight 585 outside of Colorado Springs, Colorado on March 3, 1991.

Don't Miss the Code - Read / Photocopy Preface

Do you ever get in such a hurry doing research that you miss something important? That is usually my issue. I am trying to make myself slow down and record all of the information needed for a citation. However, during a recent research trip, I didn't follow one of Michael John Neill's tips: Read the Preface.

Because I didn't read the preface or truly study one of the sources I used, I did not realize that the entries incorporated a code for the bibliography citations. As a result, I didn't photocopy the introductory pages that decoded the citations.

Early Settlers of Gentry County, Missouri
Biographical Data
Researched Material Relative to Early Settlers of Gentry County, Missouri
1876 to early 1888

Researched by Carmeta Pierce obertson
Ancestor Lore
Ozark MO
997

Publisher
Carmeta (Pierce) Robertson
Ozark, Mo 65721-7518

Page 50

Creath Marriages

My trip to the Midwest Genealogical Library this past week led me to several Creath marriage records.

Ripley county Indiana
Early Marriage records 1818-1839

compiled by Alice Ridlen
2160 Mann Drive
Beech Grove, Indiana
Copyright Colleen Alice Ridlen 1980

page 7
Creath, Margaret - William Phelp - February 16, 1837 - 2-104
Creth, Ann - John B Roberts - Dec 25, 1834 - 2-22
Creth, Cinthy - Reuben Hodges - Oct 30, 1825 -1-51
Creth, Polly - William Grimes - August 19, 1823 - 1-28
Creth, Rebecca - Joseph Shannon - September 5, 1822 1-23
Creth william - Levisa Martin - March 15, 1827 1-74

Since the Midwest Genealogical Library is a FamilySearch affiliate, I used the information from the book to locate and download five of the original marriage records.

Ripley County, Indiana

Marriage Records, 1818-1922

Joseph Shannon - Rebecca Creth

Record of Marriages v. 1, July 1818-Nov 1834

Family Search Film 1311944 DGS 7730338

Vol. 1 page 23

Little Clue

My husband and I recently returned from a two-day research trip to the Midwest Genealogical Library in Independence, Missouri.

This was a chance to immerse ourselves in a large collection of books related to genealogy and history. During this trip, I was hoping to find little clues buried in what are often called 'mug books'. These 'mug books' are county histories that also contain biographies. Many genealogists are cautious about the use of these biographies since the families sometimes 'glorified' the information they submitted to these histories.

Even though I'm aware of their common name, I've often found 'little clues' in these county histories. Thus, I was hoping to find such histories for several counties in Missouri and Indiana so I could gleam tidbits to help with my Crawford research.