Posts

1839 Hall to Mounts Deed

Image
Barthlomew County Indiana Land Records Deeds, Vols. E (cont.) to G (to p. 351), 1837-1840 FamilySearch Film 1301778 DGS 8059758 Hall David to Wm Mounts Columbus lot 63 Oct 2 1839 Book F page 692 Volume F starts on image 59 Deed Record Vol F 20 Nov 1837 to 11 Oct 1839 Item 2 Hall David to Mounts William p 692 Book F page 692 Image 434 David Hall & Jane Hall his wife to William Mounts 2 Oct 1839 This Indenture made this second day of October in the year of Our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty nine between David Hall & Jane Hall his wife of the County of Bartholomew and State of Indiana of the first part and William Mounts of the County and State aforesaid of the second part witnesseth that the said party of the first part for and in consideration of the sum of twenty dollars to them in hand paid by the said party of the second part The receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged have granted bargained and sold and by these presents do grant ba...

1838 Hall to Shell Deed

Image
Bartholomew County Indiana Land Records Deeds, Vols. E (cont.) to G (to p. 351), 1837-1840 FamilySearch Film 1301778 DGS 8059758 Hall David to Wm Mounts Columbus lot 63 Oct 2 1839 Book F page 692 Volume F starts on image 59 Deed Record Vol F 20 Nov 1837 to 11 Oct 1839 Item 2 Hall David to Shell Solomon page 358 Hall David to Mounts William p 692 Book F Page 358 image 267 David Hall and Jane Hall his wife to Solomon Shell 1 Dec 1838

1822 Hall Purchase Lot 104 Columbus

Image
Bartholomew County Indiana Land Records General Index, Vol. 11, 1885-1887 / Deeds, Vol. A 1822-1827 FamilySearch film 1301775 DGS 8059756 image 177 start of item 2 Deed Record Vol. A 22 Aug 1822 to 2 Apr 1829 Hall David from Farquer John, Agent page 153 No 131 Know all men by these presents that I John Farquer agent for the county of Bartholomew in the state of Indiana for and in consideration dollars to me in hand before the ensealing have by David Hall the receipt whereof I do hereby acknowledge have in my capacity of agent as aforesaid and for and in behalf of the sd county of Bartholomew granted bargained sold and conveyed and by these presents do grant bargain sell and convey unto the said David Hall his heirs and as- signs forever the following described tract parcel or lot of land situated in the town of Columbus in said county of Bartholomew known and designated on the plat of said town by number one hundred and four containing seventy five feet ...

Beverly Vawter

Image
  Beverly Vawter 1 was born on 28 Sep 1789 in Culpeper, Culpeper County, Virginia. 1 – 7      He lived in Jefferson, Indiana Territory, United States in 1811. 6 He served in the military as a Sargent in Capt. Elisha Golay's Company during War of 1812. 8 – 9       Beverly was the parent of Pascal Vawter. 6 , 10 He of Jefferson county has made full payment for the Southeast quarter of section 29, Township 4, range 10 East on 9 Oct 1813 in Jeffersonville, Clark, Indiana, United States. 11 In 1818, he advertised 175 acres of land on the Clifty within 2 1/2 miles of in Madison, Jefferson, Indiana, United States. 12 Beverly was the parent of Rebecca Vawter. 6

Cluster Overlap

Image
Do you ever feel like you've figured out a new way to cluster matches and then realize that those clusters you thought you had found included matches from distinctly separate areas of your tree? Well, that was my experience when I expanded my mountain/valley analysis of my Crawford line. As explained in my DNA Clusters: Mountains and Valleys post, I had a 'missing mountain' for the parents of Nelson G. Crawford in my original diagram.

1846 Vawter Deed

Image
Jefferson County, Indiana Deed Records, 1812-1891 Deed Record v. X, July 1846-May 1846 / Deed Record v. 1. May 1846-Mar 1847 FamilySearch Film 1310277 DGS 8059622 Image 597 Volume 1 Page 528 to 529 Beverly Vawter and Elizabeth Vawter to Thomas Blair page 528

DNA Clusters: Mountains and Valleys

Image
Dana Leeds' recent blog post about " Who Is in a Cluster " demonstrates that although all people in a cluster share DNA with one person in the cluster, they don't necessarily share DNA with another member of the cluster. Curious as to what this would look like with my Crawford branch of my tree, I looked at the DNA matches I share with a first cousin once removed. At first, I was trying to map out all of my known matches. However, this became cumbersome since I have a lot of 2nd cousin matches. As I was creating my matches diagram, I realized that I needed to be looking for matches that were for the different surnames.

1836 Vawter Deed

Image
Jefferson County,Indiana Deed Records, 1812-1891 Deed record v. N. Feb 1837-Sep 1837 / Deed record v. O sep 837 - June 1838 FamilySearch film 1310272 DGS 8059617 image 266-267 Volume N page 515

1835 Vawter to Vawter Deed

Image
Jefferson County, Indiana Deed Records, 1812-1891 Deed record v. H, cont. July 1833-Nov 1833 / Deed Record v. I Nov 1833 - Jan 1835 / Deed record v. J Jan. 1835 - Oct 1835 / Deed Record v. K Oct 1835 - Jan 1836 FamilySearch film 1310270 DGS 8059615 Vol. J page 275 vol. I starts on image 74 vol. J starts on image 346 Image 487 page numbers hard to read may be page 275 for the start of first deed second deed would then start on page 276 and end on page 277 Image 487 - right side of image - likely page 276

Timelines - Cluster Research

Image
Do you use timelines in your genealogy research? I'm guessing that most people who have been searching their family history for some time have used some sort of timeline. When I retired and starting spending more time researching my family tree, I created a spreadsheet for my Crawford family research. In the spreadsheet, I was able to color code the people, locations and time periods. All of this information was copied from my RootsMagic data into the spreadsheet. It wasn't until I read Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Make a Timeline Report blog that I seriously looked at the Timeline Report in RootsMagic. Thanks to his post, I started looking at the built-in timelines on Ancestry and within RootsMagic.

1835 Vawter Deed

Image
Jefferson County, Indiana Deed Records, 1812-1891 Deed record v. H, cont. July 1833-Nov 1833 / Deed Record v. I Nov 1833 - Jan 1835 / Deed record v. J Jan. 1835 - Oct 1835 / Deed Record v. K Oct 1835 - Jan 1836 FamilySearch film 1310270 DGS 8059615 Vol. J page 275 vol. I starts on image 74 vol. J starts on image 346 Image 487 page numbers hard to read may be page 275 for the start of first deed second deed would then start on page 276 and end on page 277 Middle of page on left side of image 487

Harris - Pickett Society Marriage

Image
The World of Society Mrs. Harris and Mr. Pickett To Be Married Today Other Weddings of the “Best Day of All” — A Debutante Lunch- eon - Notes Mrs. Sallie Vawter Harris and Mr. Theo- dore J. Pickett are to be married at 4 o’clock this afternoon at the residence of the brother-in-law and sister of the former, Judge and Mrs. William A.Milliken, 2017 Massachusetts avenue. The Rev. Frederick D. Power of the Vermont Avenue Christian Church will officiate. There will be no at- tendants, and Judge Milliken will give the bride away. As both the bride and her sis- ter are in mourning, only the immediate members of the family are to be present. The bride has been engaged for several years in journalistic work, and has a wide acquaintance in society, to whom the an- nouncement of her marriage will have a great interest. She is a native of Kentucky, the daughter of the late Rev. Philemon and Mrs. Martha Humphreys Vawter. She belongs to the Beverley, Humphreys, Jamie- son and Vawter familie...

Harris Pickett Marriage

Image
"Social and Personal," The Washington Post (Washington, District of Columbia), 14 November 1906, page 7; digital image, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : viewed online September 2019). Mrs. Sallie Vawter Harris and Mr. Theodore J. Pickett will be married at 4 o'clock this afternoon at the home of Mrs. Harris' brother-in-law and sister, Judge and Mrs. William A. Milliken, 2017 Massachusetts avenue. There will be no attendants. On account of mourning, the ceremony will be witnessed only by the immediate members of the family. IT will be performed by Rev. Frederick D. Power, pastor of the Vermont avenue Christian Church. Mrs. Harris is a native of Kentucky, a daughter of the late Rev. Philemon Vawter and of the late Mrs. Martha Humphreys Vawter. She belongs to the Beverley, Humphreys, Jamison, and Vawter families of Virginia, Ken- tucky and Mississippi. Mr. Pickett, who is the son of the late Col. John T. Pickett, of Confederate fame, was in t...

Fan Club Find

Image
While trying to verify a death date, I cam across a wonderful article on the VAWTER family that actually provides clues about the Crawford family. These clues are surnames of a potential FAN club for my Crawford research. Newspapers.com The Star Press (Muncie, Indiana) 14 Nov 1909, Sun page 14 “About Our Ancestors” by Eleanor Lexington The Vawter Family

Conflicting Information

Image
Do you use Ancestry's 'leaf' hints? If so, do you occasionally find a hint or two that have information that doesn't fit with what you already know about the person or family? I usually find such hints among the multitude of hints for the people in my trees. Usually, those 'incorrect' hints are 'way off'. These 'way off' hints are for events in England when the person/family is living in the United States. Today, however, I came across a hint for a death date that was a few months off of the date shown on Find a Grave. The hint was and index record with reference to a film number on Family Search for District of Columbia Deaths and Burials, 1840-1964. Even though the death date was different, the family names matched.

Crawford Genealogy Collaboration

Image
My Crawford line is a brick wall! I'm fairly certain my line goes back to Virginia from Kentucky -- but I can't find any land records, court records or even family members to help me go back a generation. Many other Crawford researchers also have brick walls -- maybe not in Kentucky, but somewhere in colonial America. Not only are we struggling with our paper research, but it is difficult to break thru these brick walls by finding common ancestors from our DNA results. Since we are trying to go back 200 or more years, our autosomal DNA isn't of much help. And, our yDNA matches are for names and places that aren't familiar to us.

Crawford Clan DNA Challenge

Image
Have you had your DNA tested? If so, did DNA help you answer a question? Based on Facebook posts I've seen, it appears that DNA is helping adoptees to connect with their birth family. In my case, I wasn't hoping to identify a close relative. Instead, I was hoping (and still am hoping) to identify my 5th great grandparents -- particularly on my dad's CRAWFORD line. It's been 3 years since I first spit in a test tube (autosomal DNA) and since my brother swabbed his cheek (yDNA). That's 3 years of working with various DNA results and few clues about this mysterious CRAWFORD grandfather. As I'm trying to learn more about our yDNA results, so I can make sense of how we might fit in the Crawford Clan, I've come to a couple of conclusions: There's too little data - I need more 5th, 6th and 7th cousins to do a yDNA test Determining relationships is VERY dependent on the accuracy of BOTH of our family trees

Media Issues

Image
Have you seen DearMyrtle's challenge ? When I first saw the challenge, I thought I should be in pretty good shape. After all, I scanned the family photos and attached them in my The Master Genealogist software several years ago. Since I've worked my way thru 5 generations of data review, I figured I should be set. That was until yesterday when I was verifying descendants for a thru-lines DNA match on Ancestry. As I was working with a known first cousin twice removed, I decided to check FamilySearch to see if there were any additional sources attached to this cousin. To my surprise, I found a slightly different set of parents than expected. I expected to find John Frederick Mentzer and Anna Wells Mentzer as the parents of a family of 8 children, including Mildred Mabel Mentzer. Instead, I found Fred Mentzer and Anna Wells Mentzer as the parents of one child, Mildred Mentzer. After digging thru my Mentzer records to verify that John and Anna did have a daughter named Mil...

Will of Beverly Vawter

Image
Jefferson County Will Record B Mar 1872-Jul 1884 Page 15 (Image 37) Will of Beverly Vawter

James Maxwell Crawford

Image
James Maxwell Crawford 1 was born on 3 Mar 1790 in Garrard, Kentucky, United States. 1 – 4 He was the child of . 5      He signed a petition asking for a division of roads on 14 Oct 1811 in Jefferson, Indiana Territory, United States. 6      James purchased land being of the NE qr of section 29 in township no 4 north of range no ten east on 7 Apr 1826 in Jefferson, Indiana, United States. 7 He lived in Jefferson, Indiana, United States on 1 Jul 1830. 8      He sold land being 136 acres to the county for the purpose of creating an asylum for the poor on 25 Feb 1833 in Jefferson, Indiana, United States. 9      James   purchased land being O T Madison Lot 51 for $1800 from Chas W. Basnett on 30 Oct 1846 in Jefferson, Indiana, United States. 10      He lived as a 60 year old male born in Kentucky who was listed as James M Crawford in Clay Township, Decatur, Indiana,...

Light Bulb Find

Image
Do you get 'light bulb' hints? Since I have my RootsMagic software connected to my Ancestry tree, I get a yellow 'light bulb' next to someone's name whenever there is a new Ancestry hint. When I opened the software today, I had several of those hints sprinkled thru the first 5 generations of my tree. One of those light bulbs was for my great-great grandmother, Mary Foster Crawford . That 'hint' was a link to a 'story' posted by another researcher. That story appears to be an obituary clipping from an unknown source.

DNA Haplogroup

Image
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.

Database and Colors

Image
Do you think of your genealogy research as a tree or a database? I realize many people fall into the 'tree' group, but I am in the 'database' group. Because I think of my data as a database, I want computer software to manage that data versus only using an online tree. I use RootsMagic to manage my database. You might say, 'but that's family tree software' and I would say you are correct. RootsMagic is great software to manage family tree based research. However, I don't just research my tree, I research their FAN club (Friends Associates and Neighbors) as well as potential lines. And all of this research ultimately ends up in my RootsMagic file. Since this is one fairly large database, I have to have a way to visually keep track of the various lines in my research. That's where the color coding feature in RootsMagic comes in handy. I started by assigning different colors to various lines of my research. Besides assigning a color to anc...

Same Names - Identity Tag

Image
While using The Master Genealogist software, I developed an 'identity' fact. By sharing this fact, I was able to connect two individuals whom I thought might be the same person. I used the notes field to add information about the possibility that these were the same person. The fact type transferred to RootsMagic , but the sentence structure still needed work. As I'm encountering a lot of 'same name' issues in my current research, I want to use this fact type. Thus, I needed the sentences to work. After some trial and error, I got the sentence structure to work for the Principal and Principal2. I have two Hampton Crandalls in my database that I believe are the same person. Thus, I had added the Identity tag to one and shared it with the other. In the past, this type of tag helped keep me from combining individuals before having sufficient proof that they are indeed the same person. Thus, I am going to start using it again!

Hijacked - Same Name Issues

Image
In your genealogical research, have you researched people of the same name? Have you found it challenging to separate those individuals of the same name? I know that in my research, I have encountered a lot of 'same names'. This experience has helped me look at my current research and question whether I'm working with records for the same person. Yesterday while working Ancestry hints for William Crawford , son of the William Crawford who was in Madison County Kentucky prior to 1800, Since I didn't have much information on the son, William, I wasn't sure the will was for the correct William. Thus, I wanted to see whether the family in the will matched what other researchers had for William Crawford. So, I turned to the tree on FamilySearch.

William Crawford Will

Image
Arkansas Wills and Probate Records, 1818-1998 Ancestry.com Image 124 Page 103 William Crawford's Will Pope County State of Arkansas Feb 8th 1855

Edward Crawford Deed

Image
Is Edward Crawford of Overton, Tennessee a brother to James Crawford of Preble County, Ohio? Is he the same Edward Crawford shown in the 1896 tax list for Garrard County, KY. To answer either of these questions, I need to learn more about Edward Crawford of Overton County, Tennessee. Since I'm looking for a source tying two locations together, I'm starting with deeds. Edward Crawford of Overton County, Tennessee purchased land in 1807 from Thomas Dillen. Overton County, Tennessee Deeds Deeds, V. A-C 1801-1813 FamilySearch Film 981131 DGS 7903546 Crawford Edward (grantee) from Thomas Dillon Book B page 13 In Column: Original Book B page 14 &c Thomas Dillen To Deed 300 acres on waters of Obed’s river Edward Crawford

Revisiting Tax Lists

Image
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...

Left Turn

Image
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, Edw...

Sub-Clustering

Image
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.

Thanks!

Image
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.