Piecing Together a Family

Digging Through the Paper Trail

Do you remember the days of “paper genealogy,” when every record, note, and photocopy had to be filed somewhere?

That is how my genealogy journey began. Like many researchers, I accumulated file drawers full of paper.

At some point, I learned about the Dollarhide Method for organizing genealogical research. William Dollarhide is probably better known today for his maps, but he also proposed a system for numbering and filing research materials.

My version followed this pattern:

Surname.State Abbreviation.###

By adding that number to a citation, I could trace the source back to the appropriate paper note, photocopy, or document in my files.

Then scanners changed everything.

Instead of relying on paper files, I could scan documents and attach the resulting image directly to the citation in my genealogy software. In theory, that eliminated the need for all of those old filing numbers.

There was just one problem.

I had to actually scan everything, identify it, and attach it to the correct person and citation.

That is the part I never completely finished.

Many of those older documents were digitized, but they still sit in folders labeled with their old Dollarhide numbers, waiting to be revisited.

Recently, a professional genealogist suggested that the answer to one of my long-standing Crawford questions—Who were the parents or siblings of James Crawford (1772–1854)?—may already be buried somewhere in my own files.

That was enough encouragement to start digging.

Starting with Kansas

I decided to begin with my Crawford files from Kansas.

The first document I opened contained cemetery information for several Crawfords buried in the West GAR section of Maple Grove Cemetery in Dodge City.

The record raised an immediate question:

How were these Crawfords related to one another?

The names included:

• Anna Crawford

• Nellie Crawford

• S. M. Crawford

• Henry H. Crawford

With the help of Dodge City newspapers, I was able to locate death notices and other information for Nellie and Henry.

Miss Nellie Crawford is lying dangerously sick with spinal meningitis, at the home of E. B. Goodrich. Sam Crawford, the girl's father, is at Winslow, Arizona, and he has been notified of his daughter's illness. Miss Crawford is about 19 years of age.

Miss Crawford died Wednesday morning after a severe illness of two weeks.

 "Local News," The Globe-Republican (Dodge City, Kansas), 7 Mary 1901, page 8; digital image, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : viewed online 14 September 2026). 

9**Died—**On Wednesday morning March 6th, 1901, at the residence of E. B. Goodrich, Miss Nellie Crawford aged 18 years. The deceased was the daughter of Mr. Sam’l Crawford who is an engineer at Winslow, Arizona. He was notified of the dangerous illness of his daughter but could not arrive here in time to see her before she died. He arrived here on No. 8 Wednesday evening. The funeral took place on Thursday afternoon, Rev. D. M. McCormack of the M. E. Church officiating. The remains were laid to rest in Maple Grove cemetery.

 "News of the City," Dodge City Democrat (Dodge City, Kansas), 8 Mary 1901, page 4; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : viewed online 14 September 2026).

The four weeks-old baby of Mr. and Mrs. Morris Crawford died on Wednesday, February 27, and was buried this afternoon. 

"Local News Notes," The Dodge City Globe (Dodge City, Kansas), 28 February 1907, page 10; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : viewed online 14 September 2026).

 

 Those newspaper records began to suggest a possible family structure.

Samuel M. Crawford and Carrie Tuttle

Also buried in my files was a marriage record for Samuel M. Crawford and Carrie A. Tuttle.

At first, I assumed Carrie might have been the mother of Samuel's children. However, Nellie Crawford was about 18 years old when she died in 1901.

That creates a problem.

If Samuel and Carrie married in 1890, Nellie would have been born several years before their marriage. That strongly suggests that Samuel had been married previously.

The cemetery record includes an Anna Crawford, who died in 1886.

Could Anna have been Samuel's first wife?

At this point, that is only a theory, but the dates make it a possibility worth investigating.

Another Morris Crawford

The newspaper record for Henry H. Crawford introduced another complication.

Samuel M. Crawford died in 1902. Therefore, any later reference to a living Morris Crawford cannot refer to Samuel himself.

That means there was another Morris Crawford in the Dodge City area.

An earlier newspaper item from 1898 identified a Morris Crawford, age 13, who was employed by W. H. Pogue on Sawlog and had killed a wildcat.

If that age is correct, Morris would have been born about 1884 or 1885.

That timing would make him a possible son of Samuel M. Crawford and Samuel's first wife.

A Working Crawford Family Theory

For now, my working theory looks something like this:

• Anna Crawford, who died in 1886, may have been the first wife of Samuel M. Crawford.

• Nellie Crawford may have been a daughter of Samuel and Anna Crawford.

• Morris Crawford, the teenager living or working in the Pogue household in 1898, may also have been a son of Samuel and his first wife.

• Henry H. Crawford may have been a son of Morris Crawford and therefore a grandson of Samuel M. Crawford.

At this point, none of these relationships should be considered proven.

They are simply a hypothesis built from the cemetery record, newspaper accounts, and the marriage record for Samuel and Carrie Tuttle.

But this is exactly why I am going back through those old files.

A cemetery record that once seemed like just another photocopy now raises questions about a Crawford family I had not fully investigated. And somewhere among those numbered folders may be another clue.

Perhaps the professional genealogist was right.

Maybe the answer really is buried in my files.