Heartland Genealogy

Serendipity! It’s Saturday Night — time for some Genealogy Fun! This week’s Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge asks: Serendipity! What happened when you went looking for an ancestor or a genealogical record and were pleasantly surprised to find someone else or something else you didn't expect while you were doing that search? At first, I wasn't sure how I was going to answer this week's question. Then I realized that one of my recent research adventures was a perfect example of genealogical serendipity. Looking for Richard Foster's Land My search began with Richard Foster . I wasn't looking for a new family connection or trying to solve a DNA mystery. I was simply trying to figure out where Richard owned land in Warren County. Using information from a land abstract along with a map showing the area's early landowners, I was studying Richard's property and the people who owned land nearby. That's when one name caught my attention: John E. Stufflebeam...

A Timeline of Richard Foster’s Warren County Property Have you ever looked at an abstract of title and wondered how you were ever going to make sense of it? The abstract I've been working with traces land in Warren County, Indiana, back to my ancestor Richard Foster , who purchased it from the federal government in 1828. But the abstract is much more than a record of that original purchase. It follows the property through more than a century of wills, heirs, deeds, mortgages, court proceedings, and other transactions. And I probably wouldn't have this record at all if someone hadn't found me through my online genealogy research. A Genealogy Gift from a Stranger Some time ago, I was contacted by a woman who had discovered either my online family tree or my Heartland Genealogy blog and recognized my connection to the Foster family. She had an abstract of title for land that had once belonged to Richard Foster . As I recall, she wasn't researching the Foster family as her ...

Have you ever read another genealogist's blog and wondered whether your families might somehow be connected? I've followed fellow geneablogger Linda Stufflebeam  and her blog, Empty Branches on the Family Tre e, for quite some time. Since several of Linda's posts about her Stufflebeam research have mentioned Warren County, Indiana , I've occasionally wondered whether our families might cross paths somewhere in that county. It wasn't until I received an abstract of title for land originally purchased by my ancestor Richard Foster that I had a reason to look more closely. A Familiar Name on the Map Richard Foster purchased land in Section 10, Township 21 North, Range 9 West in Warren County, Indiana, in 1828. While looking at a map of the first landowners in the area, I noticed something interesting. John E. Stufflebeam owned land nearby. Stufflebeam! Since I recognized the surname from Linda's blog, that immediately caught my attention. Then I checked ...

  Following Richard Foster’s Property Through an Abstract of Title Sometimes a genealogy record contains far more of a story than can be absorbed in a single reading. That was certainly the case with an abstract of title for land originally purchased by Richard Foster in Warren County, Indiana . After transcribing the abstract, I decided to experiment with another way of exploring—and sharing—the information it contained. I uploaded the transcription to Google NotebookLM , where I created both an infographic and an audio overview . I then combined those two pieces in Canva to create a video, which I uploaded to YouTube. The finished video provides a different way to follow more than a century of history associated with one piece of land. It Started with Richard Foster The abstract begins on July 12, 1828 , when Richard Foster entered 240 acres from the United States. The property consisted of the northeast quarter and the west half of the southeast quarter of Section 10, Township ...

One of the challenges with my CRAWFORD research is separating my CRAWFORD family from the family of James and Martha Crawford. My ancestor, Nelson G. Crawford is the son of James and Sally (Smith Duggins) Crawford. Both James Crawford families lived in Preble County, Ohio before James and Martha and their children along with my ancestor, Nelson G. Crawford, moved to Warren County, Indiana. So, when I saw that Nelson Crawford was a first land owner in section 8 with James Crawford listed as a first landowner in both section 5 and section 8, I had to wonder if this could be MY James Crawford.

Warren County Pioneer Is Dead Mrs. Margaret Robb Passes Away at 94; Entire Life Spen in West Lebanon Vicinity West Lebanon, Ind. April 21 (Special) -- Mrs. Margaret Robb, said to have been Warren county's oldest resident, died yesterday at her home here at the age of 94 years. She observed her birthday last Friday and on the preceding Sunday relatives and friends arranged a birthday party in her honor. Mrs. Robb was born April 18, 1836, three miles south of West Lebanon, on the farm where her brother, George W. Crawford, 83, now resides. It was entered by her father in 1838. The brother is the sole surviving member of a family of 11 children. The parents were William and Leutitia Crawford, pioneers of the county. Mrs. Robb had been a member of the Christian Church for nearly 80 years and was the teacher of the beginners' class in the Sunday school for 40 years. She was formerly president of the Aid society. In 1836 she married Bolivar Robb who died in 1913. Besides her...

I like Ancestry's new ThruLines feature! Unfortunately, it is pointing out one of my frustrations with my DNA results. I have several verified second and third cousin DNA matches on my Crawford line but we never got a DNA circle for my 3rd great grandfather, Nelson G. Crawford. When Ancestry released ThruLines, I was hoping to locate some fourth cousins thru one of Nelson's other children. However, the ThruLines for Nelson G Crawford only includes DNA matches going thru my 2nd great grandfather, Washington Marion Crawford. It does not include any lines going thru the siblings of Washington Marion Crawford.

Warren County Indiana Deed Records Deed records, v. 10-11, 1841-1850 FS Film 1977054 DGS 8071879 Book 10 page 113

Warren County Indiana Deed Records, v. 8-9, 1844-1848 FS Film 1977053 DGS 8071878 (locked) Book 8 page 487

The will of James Crawford, husband of Martha Knight, was entered into court records on 12 February 1834 in the Probate Court of Warren County, Indiana. Indiana, Wills and Probate Records, 1789-1999, James Crawford, 5 Sep 1931; database with images, Ancestry.com www.ancestry.com : viewed online March 2019. page 11

While obtaining a digital image of a deed, I decided to re-do my research of land records in Warren County, Indiana for the Crawford surname. Not only does my ancestor, Nelson G. Crawford, and his descendants have land records in Warren County, but also the James Crawford married to Martha Knight and his descendants have land records in Warren County. One of the finds (or re-finds) from this deed research was a deed identifying the heirs of James Crawford and Martha Knight. Warren County Indiana Deeds Book 8 - Deed records, v. 8-9, 1844-1848 FS film 1977053 Image 174 Page 282