Friday Find

 A Dower for Jane Crawford

Have you ever discovered that a record you copied years ago has become much easier to access?

That's the case with this week's Friday Find.

Among my files is a photocopy of a Jefferson County, Indiana, probate record concerning the estate of Thomas D. Crawford. I don't have a notation telling me where I obtained the copy, but I suspect it came from one of my research trips to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.

Today, I don't have to travel to Salt Lake City to look at the record. I recently located the original probate volume in the digitized images on FamilySearch and was able to obtain a much better copy.

More importantly, this record provides an interesting look at what happened to Thomas Crawford's land after his death.

Thomas and Jane Crawford

I believe the Thomas D. Crawford named in this probate proceeding is the Thomas Crawford found on FamilySearch as GVRH-QF4, husband of Jane Todd.

Other sources support the identification of a Thomas Crawford and Jane Todd who eventually settled near Madison in Jefferson County, Indiana. The McDowell House Museum's history of Jane Todd Crawford states that Jane married Thomas Crawford in 1794. After living in Virginia and Kentucky, the family moved to Madison, Indiana, in 1817. Thomas became a substantial landowner and represented Jefferson County in the Indiana legislature in 1820–1821. He died in 1821 after an accidental fall. (McDowell House)

Jane, of course, is much better known than her husband. In 1809, while the family was living in Kentucky, she underwent the first successful removal of an ovarian tumor performed by Dr. Ephraim McDowell. She survived the operation by more than three decades. (Indiana Government)

However, it is Jane Crawford the widow—and not Jane Crawford the famous surgical patient—who appears in this particular record.

A Petition for Dower

The record appears in the February 1836 term of the Jefferson County Probate Court under the heading:

Jane Crawford vs. The Heirs of Thomas D. Crawford Decd — On Petition for Dower

At the November 1835 term, the court had appointed William G. Wharton and Shadrach Wilber as commissioners to set apart Jane's dower from land belonging to Thomas Crawford's estate.

The land was described as:

The Southwest Quarter of Section 26, Township 4 North, Range 10 East, containing 113 acres, more or less.

Thus, Thomas Crawford's property can be identified in standard land-description format as:

SW ¼, Section 26, Township 4 North, Range 10 East, Jefferson County, Indiana — 113 acres, more or less.

Dividing the Land

On February 9, 1836, the commissioners personally examined the property. Rather than simply dividing the acreage mathematically, they stated that they considered "the value at present, of each part of it" when determining Jane's share.

They then set apart approximately 43¾ acres for Jane's dower.

The description began at the northwest corner of the Southwest Quarter of Section 26 on the Michigan Road.

From there, the commissioners described Jane's parcel using a series of courses and distances:

• South 5° East — 32 poles

• North 85° East — 56 poles

• South 5° East — 60 poles

• North 85° East — 16 poles

• South 73° East — 34 poles

• North 85° East — 46 poles, to John Brisben's line

• North 33° West — an unclear number of poles

• North 37° West — 16 poles

• North 33° West — 28 poles

• North 54° West — 16 poles

• North 84° West — 16 poles

• North 5° West — 24 poles

• South 85° West — 64 poles, returning to the place of beginning

The resulting parcel contained "about forty three acres and three fourths of an acre," more or less.

More Than Just an Acreage

I find this description particularly interesting because it does more than tell me that Thomas Crawford owned land in Jefferson County.

It places the property in a specific section and township and tells me that the northwest corner of the quarter section was on the Michigan Road. It also identifies John Brisben as an adjoining landowner.

Those are clues that can potentially be combined with federal land records, early maps and the land records of neighboring property owners to locate the Crawford farm more precisely.

The description of Jane's 43¾ acres also provides an opportunity to try plotting the boundaries. One of the distances in my transcription is unclear, and plotting the remaining calls may help determine what that missing distance should be.

Why 43¾ Acres?

At first glance, I wondered why Jane received about 43¾ acres from a 113-acre tract. One-third of 113 acres would be only about 37⅔ acres.

But dower wasn't necessarily a simple division of the acreage into three equal pieces. The commissioners specifically stated that they considered the value of each part of the property when making the division.

Thus, Jane's larger acreage may represent a parcel that the commissioners believed amounted to an appropriate dower share based upon its value rather than simply its size.

That makes the metes-and-bounds description particularly important. The commissioners weren't merely saying, "Jane gets one-third." They were physically identifying the portion of Thomas Crawford's property that was to be set aside for her use.

An Old Photocopy Becomes a New Find

I've probably had a photocopy of this record in my files for years. At the time I obtained it, acquiring that copy may have required a trip to Salt Lake City, locating the appropriate microfilm, scrolling through the film and making a photocopy.

Now I can return to the same record through FamilySearch's digitized images, enlarge the handwriting and obtain a much clearer copy.

That's one of the reasons I continue revisiting records already in my files. A document I found decades ago isn't necessarily "finished." Improved access and better images can allow me to read details I missed the first time and, sometimes, ask entirely new questions.

In this case, an old photocopy has become a new Friday Find—one that may help me put Thomas and Jane Crawford on the map.