Heartland Genealogy

When researching a difficult ancestor, sometimes the people surrounding that ancestor become almost as important as the ancestor himself. That's certainly true in my continuing effort to untangle the various Crawford families of early Kentucky. One of those people is Moses Dooley . Moses isn't a Crawford, and I currently have no evidence that he was related to my Crawford family by blood or marriage. Yet the more I learn about him, the more convinced I am that he belongs in my Crawford FAN club. Why? Because Moses Dooley keeps showing up in the same places as the Crawfords I'm trying to understand. From Virginia to Sugar Creek Moses Dooley was born about 1748 in Virginia. By 1780, he was involved in Kentucky land acquisition. A survey for 500 acres on Sugar Creek was completed for him on May 26, 1780. He later filed land entry papers and received a grant for those 500 acres. Moses was also an early Baptist preacher associated with the Old Sugar Creek Meeting House in what...

Do you ever feel as if DNA results are breaking family connections instead of verifying them? That has certainly been my experience with my Kentucky CRAWFORD research. For years, many researchers have identified William, James, and John Crawford , who lived in the early Garrard County, Kentucky, area, as brothers. That relationship appears in online family trees and has become part of the commonly accepted reconstruction of this Crawford family. But what happens when Y-DNA says otherwise? Testing a Descendant of William Crawford Some time ago, I asked a descendant of William Crawford of Madison County, Kentucky , whom I will identify as RC , to take a Y-DNA test. Since Y-DNA is passed from father to son along the direct paternal line, I hoped RC's results might help confirm William's connection to the other Crawford men living in the area. Instead, the results created another Crawford puzzle. RC's Y-DNA placed him in the R1b-05 group of the Crawford Y-DNA Project. More rec...

Do you struggle with figuring out who’s who in records created before the 1850 census began naming everyone in a household? I certainly do—especially when researching the CRAWFORD surname in Kentucky. While using FamilySearch Full Text Search for records involving William Crawford in Madison County, Kentucky , I uncovered a 1792 court document that caught my attention. Among several men summoned to testify was: William Crawford, Junr. That little word “Junr” immediately raised a much bigger question. Which William Crawford Was He? Was this William Crawford Jr. the son of the William Crawford who later migrated to Ste. Genevieve, Missouri ? Or was he simply a younger William Crawford living in the same area who was unrelated—or perhaps only distantly related—to the older William? The designation Junior is an important clue, but it does not by itself establish a father-son relationship. Historically, Senior and Junior could be used simply to distinguish two men of the same name livi...

  When AI Connected a Dower Record to a Piece of Medical History Have you ever been working with a record for one reason only to discover that one of the people named in it had a much bigger story? That's what happened while I was working on a recent Friday Find involving Thomas D. Crawford and his widow, Jane. I started with a record, not with a famous person. The Original Record I have had a photocopy of a Jefferson County, Indiana, probate record in my files for years. I probably obtained the copy during a research trip to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. More recently, I found the record again in the digitized images on FamilySearch and obtained a much better copy. The record comes from the February 1836 term of the Jefferson County Probate Court and is headed: Jane Crawford vs. The Heirs of Thomas D. Crawford Decd — On Petition for Dower The proceeding involved the partition of land belonging to Thomas D. Crawford. His property was described as the Southwest Quart...

 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 identifica...

Thanks to some updates to the yDNA test I manage, my Crawford line (James Crawford - born 1772, died 1854) has been assigned a new Haplogroup: R-A13336. Previously, we had been grouped in the larger R-M269 Haplogroup. According to a Crawford project administrator, I also share the Y30725 terminal SNP with another match. It is my understanding that work is still being done to determine which is older: the A13336 or the Y30725.

Do you ever find yourself retracing your research steps because you learn about a new family connection? Yep, that's me. I'm going back thru the early tax lists for Madison County, KY. I wrote about my journey with suspected CRAWFORD family members in my January 2019 post, Tax Man Cometh . At the time, I mentioned finding Edward Crawford in a different taxing district from the other Crawfords. I didn't pursue Edward for several reasons. Since he wasn't shown as a land owner, I wouldn't find any deeds for him. I also didn't have any information tying Edward to any of the other Crawfords in those early tax records. Now, I have yDNA evidence showing a relationship to Edward Crawford of Overton, Tennessee. From what I've been able to learn about this Edward Crawford, his birthplace is thought to be Pennsylvania or Virginia. I have NO evidence that the Edward Crawford in the Madison County tax lists is the same Edward Crawford who died in Overton County, Te...

Do you have ancestors living in the colonies prior to the revolutionary war? Have you applied to the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) or Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) for those ancestors? If so, have you ever encountered a warning that 'future applicants must prove correct service'? This happened to me when I applied for the DAR. I was trying to use my great-grandmother's application (Josie Winifred Hammond Crawford -  #319934 ) to apply.  She applied thru her great-grandfather, Jason Hammond (1762-1830). Unfortunately, I was told they wouldn't accept Jason Hammond as a revolutionary war ancestor. Since there were other Jason Hammonds living in Connecticut at the time, I'm assuming that the other Jason Hammond was the one who served. Fortunately, I was able to apply thru Jason's father, Nathaniel Hammond, who provided support for the revolutionary troops. As I'm researching various James Crawford families in early Kentucky, I've fou...

Madison County Kentucky Deed book B page 269-270 page 269 Crawford to Rice

Deed-KY-Lincoln-Crawford-Kennedy Lincoln County Kentucky Deed Book A page 219 image 120 FH Microfilm 192238 Kennedy to Crofford This Indenture maid this 19th day of April in the year of our lord one thousand seven hundred and eight six between Thos Kennedy of the county of Lincoln and State of Virginia of the one part and James Crofford of the state and county aforesaid of the other

Madison County Kentucky Deed Book D page 712 and 713 FamilySearch Film #183285 This indenture made this third day of October one thousand seven hundred and ninety eight between Samuel Campbell and Mary his wife of the County of Madison, Bez' l Maxwell and Margret his wife, James Crawford and Rebeca his wife of the County of Garrard, James Anderson and Hannah his wife of the county of Madison, John Gap and Anne his wife of the County of Bourbon and William M. Morrison

I thought I had figured out those James Crawfords who appear on multiple family trees with intermingled records and families. To my surprise, I have found another one in Fleming County, Kentucky. James, the husband of Sarah Vansandt, died in May 1836. This is the James Crawford I already knew about. When I located the will of James Crawford, I found the will of another James Crawford dated September 1836. This James Crawford was the husband of Elizabeth D. Crawford, daughter of Mrs. Stockton. Not only are there TWO James Crawfords in Fleming County, Kentucky, but they both die in 1836! Fleming County Kentucky Probate Records Vols. D-E 1829-1837 FS Film 344040 DGS 4818899 image 316 - start of book E Image 522 Page 463 James Crawford Will

James Crawford's 1835 will found on pages 435-436 of Book E in Fleming County, Kentucky Legacies daughter Mary Kennerey son Crawford late son Henry Crawford son Josiah Crawford daughter Margery Blankenship (Maargary Kenney) late daughter Sarah Conran son James Crawford Son Samuel Crawford Daughter Jane Hamlett daughter Elizabeth Crawford son Joshua Crawford daughter Ann Barton son John L Crawford James Crawford Will

Do you ever go back thru your research trying to use your older research to try and find new information? If so, that is what I'm working on with my James Crawford brick wall. As part of that process, I'm reviewing the other Crawford families I've identified and trying to prove/disprove a relationship with my ancestor, James Crawford. Thus, I was looking at the James Crawford who was a Presbyterian minister at Walnut Hill Church outside of Lexington, Kentucky. Not only am I trying to find additional information, but I'm also trying to make sure I have good source citations for the information I have already located. For Rev. James Crawford's death date, I had cited Kentucky Obituaries 1787-1854

Have you ever seen a name in a deed or court document and thought to yourself, 'Hey, I've seen that name before?' Well that was my situation when I was looking at tax records for Barren County, Kentucky. Since I found James Crawford with 200 acres of land on the Marrowbone listed on the 1800 tax list for Barren County, KY , I started looking for other people owning land on the Marrowbone. That's when I found Moses Dooly Junr also owning 200 acres of land on the Marrowbone. Not only was Moses Dooly Junr in Barren County, but so was his father and brothers.

I love it when I find a deed listing heirs! Do you? I thought I was going to learn the heirs of Alexander Crawford of Pulaski County, Kentucky when I found the following in the Pulaski County, Kentucky Grantor Index 1843 Crawford et al Alex C -- Martha Crawford -- Book 13, page 330 Unfortunately, this wasn't a deed for the Alexander Crawford I found in the Pulaski County, Kentucky tax lists. However, this deed does identify the HEIRS of John Crawford. If you have a Crawford family in Rockcastle County, Kentucky, then this deed might break down some walls. Pulaski County Kentucky Deeds, 1799-1901; index to deeds 1799-1934 Deeds, V. 13 1846-1850 FS Film 804601 DGS 8193855 Page 330, 331 Image 176

Well, I'm chasing those Crawfords thru another set of Kentucky tax lists. This time, I'm looking in Pulaski County, Kentucky. Another Crawford researcher told me that the William Crawford found in the Madison County, Kentucky tax lists moved to Pulaski County prior to moving to Missouri. On the off chance that I would find some of the other Crawford families in Pulaski County, I read the 1799-1822 tax lists. In addition to William Crawford,  I found an Alexander Crawford who may be the same Alexander Crawford on the 1792 Madison County, Kentucky tax list. The information I found regarding William Crawford shows that he paid taxes in Pulaski county for 1799-1802. William also owned 400 acres of land in Pulaski County. Since William does not appear on the Garrard County, KY tax lists after 1797, the Pulaski County information fills in the gaps between Garrard County and his arrival in Ste. Genevieve. However, I need to locate additional records to confirm this is the same Wil...

Gowns, Petticoats and Silver Spoons Have you ever seen a court case ordering the sale of the household goods -- including the gowns and petticoats -- to pay a debt? I admit I haven't looked at a lot of court records - but this one is new to me. I found the court case when looking for documents relating to CRAWFORD family members in Madison County, Kentucky. The index for the Court of Quarter Sessions case files led me to Case #588 for William Crawford vs William Cox.

Have you ever run across a little tiny clue that changes your entire thinking about family members? Well, I may have run across just such a clue for my Crawford family members in early Lincoln County, Kentucky. In the 1783-1786 Court Order book for the Lincoln County Supreme Court of Kentucky (Family Search film 551323), I found mention of a deed for John and William Crawford on image 69. Image 69 June the 18th 1785 Saturday the 18th day of June 1785 Present The Same judges as yesterday The Heirs of John McClelland plts against John and William Crawford Defts Upon a Caveat Ordered that the former order herein be set aside and that the first be discontinued

Do you find little clues in tax records? When I reviewed the Lincoln County Kentucky tax records, I made some discoveries that are helping my CRAWFORD research in the area. Discovered John Crawford -- who owned 913 acres of land Sellers families listed beginning in 1787 Rebekah Crawford (widow) listed in 1787-1791 James Crawford owning 114 acres of land  on Sugar Creek (same description as land owned by Rebekah Crawford) in 1794 Douglas families listed  beginning in 1789 1795 Mystery William Crafort - 500 acres Richland Creek 1799 Mysteries: James Crawford -- 100 acres on Rolling Forks Robert Crawford -- 200 acres