Even though I’ve been adding sources to events in my family tree for years, I hadn’t written a ‘proof’ argument until the last month. For my first proof argument, I decided to write out my reasoning behind my great-grandfather’s name: Washington Marion Crawford.
When I started researching my family, my grandmother was my primary source of information. Even though she married into the Crawford family, she knew a lot about the family. Besides the photo albums, grandma took me on a tour of the cemetery. Since I grew up knowing about what I considered to be ‘the’ family plot, I was surprised when she showed me other plots containing my great-great grandparents. The Crawford plot for my great-great grandparents was where I first encountered the ‘mystery of the name’. The tall family stone showed my great-great grandfather as Marion Crawford. Even though my grandmother had not met him, she knew of him as Marion Crawford. Near the tall headstone was a military stone – with a different name: Wash N Crawford.
Thus started the quest to figure out his name. Over time, I collected a wide variety of records using different variations of his name. For my proof argument, I decided to look at those records again and see how each record recorded his name.
Sources using Marion Crawford
- Obituary – Ford County Republican
- 1850 Census – Warren County, Indiana – household of Nelson Crawford
- 1880 Census — Warren County, Indiana
- Family Tombstone
Sources using M Crawford
- 1885 Kansas Census – Ford County, Kansas
Sources using Washington Crawford
- 1860 Census – Warren County, Indiana
Sources using W. Marion Crawford
- Obituary – Dodge City Times
- Lewis Post No. 294 GAR – Resolution
Sources using Washington M. Crawford
- Coroner’s Report
- U.S. Records of Headstones of Deceased Union Veterans 1879-1903 (FamilySearch)
- Headstones Provided for Deceased Union Civil War Veterans 1879-1903 (Ancestry)
- Certified copy of marriage license – Warren County, Indiana
- Military and Pension file for Washington M. Crawford
Sources using Wash N Crawford
- Footstone
Based on the fact that all of the legal documents (marriage license, military record, coroner’s report, etc.) use the name Washington M. Crawford, I have concluded that his first name is Washington. Based on the fact that an obituary and the resolution for the GAR post identify him as W. Marion Crawford, I have concluded his middle name is Marion. Thus, I believe his legal name was
Washington Marion Crawford
even though family often referred to him as Marion Crawford.
