A couple of weeks ago, my mouse started ‘misbehaving’. The first thing I noticed was the inability to highlight text. Instead of highlighting what I wanted highlighted, it would jumb somewhere else and start the highlighting. Even if I could get the section of text highlighted that I wanted highlighted, it wouldn’t ‘stop’ highlighting. Then it started creating a ‘double-click’ when I only clicked once.
The obvious solution was to replace the mouse. Since I live with someone who hangs onto older hardware, we tested several different mice. We found that a wired mouse worked as well as a different branded wireless mouse worked.
So, I was ready to order a new mouse. However, my husband was still trying to figure out why my mouse – and other mice – were not functioning correctly. He ran the diagnostics and discovered that my hard drives are failing. Yes, that is plural. Both the C and D drives are failing.
Thus, all of my genealogy files are at risk! Even though I am working with a dying computer, I am thankful. I am thankful for the lessons learned about backing up and restoring files while working as a high school technology coordinator. I am thankful for the monthly reminders from Dick Eastman and other genealogists to back-up my genealogy files. I am thankful for Cousin Russ and his reminders to test your backups to make sure files can be retrieved.
Thus, I do have back-ups — and I have redundancy.
I use a cloud backup service to backup both drives to the Cloud.
I use the program, Second Copy, to set up tasks to run overnight to copy my data files to a USB drive
I use a cloud service to store most of my files in the cloud
I copy my genealogy files – especially pictures — to a portable USB drive.
Knowing that my computer could stop at any moment, I have spent the last couple of days verifying that my genealogy files are backed up to multiple locations. (I also have new hardware on order.) Having all of this redundancy will make it easy to transfer my files to the new hardware.
Now, I need to verify the list of installed software and make sure I have installation files and serial numbers.
Even though the thoughts of a crashed computer is disturbing, I am thankful that my computer is still running. I’m also thankful for the chance to improve the organization of my files.
If you don’t currently automatically backup your files, take this post as a warning to backup your genealogy files — and listen to the monthly reminders to backup your data!
I’m struggling with ‘same name’ issues. Particularly in regards to Alexander Crawford. I believe there are two different Alexander Crawfords.
Alexander Crawford who married Margaret McElwee in Lincoln County, Kentucky in 1788 and likely lived in Pulaski County, Kentucky
Alexander Crawford, son of Rev. James Crawford of Fayette County, Kentucky and grandson of Alexander Crawford and Mary McPheeters
Other researchers disagree with me. Thus, I’m on a quest to locate documentation to hopefully resolve this issue.
Today, I’m working with census records. Since these are all pre-1850 census listings, they can’t be depended upon to prove family relations. However, they can help establish places of residency.
Using the family information for Rev. James Crawford from the book Descendants of Alexander and Mary (McPheeters) Crawford, I can determine approximate ages for the various census years.
Name
Birth Year
Death Year
Sex
Age 1810
Age 1820
Age 1830
Age 1840
Rev James Crawford
1752
1803
m
Rebecca McPheeters
1755
1830
f
55
65
75
Martha Crawford
1775
1831
f
35
45
55
Alexander Crawford
1782
1845
m
28
38
48
58
Mary Crawford
1784
f
26
36
46
56
Elizabeth Crawford
1789
1845
f
21
31
41
51
Sarah Crawford
1801
1841
f
9
19
29
39
Rebecca Crawford
1805
1830
f
5
15
25
35
Using the above chart, I can then look at the census records for Fayette County and compare the tick marks to potential family members.
In the 1810 census for Fayette County, Kentucky (where Rev. James Crawford lived), I was able to find a Rebecka Crawford as the head of household on the census with 12 total people in the household:
Free white males 26-44: 1 – son – Alexander Crawford – age 29
Free white females 10-15: 1 – daughter Rebecca Crawford – wrong age – she would have been 5
Free white females 16-25: 3 – daughters Sarah age 9, Elizabeth age 21, Mary age 26
Free white females 45 and over: 1 – Rebecca Crawford
Number of slaves: 6
number of household members under 16: 1
Number of household members over 25: 2
number of household members: 12
In the 1820 census for Fayette County, Kentucky, I was able to find Alexander Crawford listed as a 26-44 year old male head of household.
Males 26-44 — 1 – Alexander age 38
Females 16-25: 2 – sisters Sarah age 19 / Rebecca age 15
Females 26-44: 2 – sister Mary age 36 / Mother Rebecca age 65
Slaves – Males 26-44: 2
Slaves Female under 14:5
Slaves Female 14-25: 2
number of persons engaged in agriculture: 3
Free White persons over 25: 4
total free white persons: 6
Total Slaves: 9
Alexander Crawford again appeared as the head of household in the 1830 census for Fayette County, Kentucky.
Males 40-49: 1- Alexander age 48
Females 20-29: 1 – sister – Rebecca age 25
Females 30-39: 2 – Sisters Sarah age 29, Mary age 46
Females 70-79: 1 – Mother Rebecca age 75
Free colored persons Females 24-35: 1
Slaves Males 24-35: 1
Slaves Males 36-54: 1
Slaves Females under 10: 3
Slaves Femlaes 10-23: 2
Slaves Females 24-35: 2
Free white persons 20-49: 4
Total Free white persons: 5
Total Slaves: 14
Total free colored persons: 1
The 1840 census of Fayette County, Kentucky also lists Alexander Crawford as a head of household.
Males 50-59: 1 – Alexander age 58
Females 30-39: 1 – Sister Rebecca age 35
Females 40-49: 1 – Sister Sarah age 39 or Mary age 56
Free colored persons – males 36-54: 1
Slaves males under 10: 9
Slaves males 10-23: 2
Slaves Males 36-54: 1
Slaves Females under 10: 7
Slaves Females 10-23: 2
Slaves Females 36-54: 2
Persons employed in agriculture: 4
No. white persons over 20 who cannot read and write: 1
Free white persons 20-49: 2
Total free white persons: 3
Total free colored persons: 1
Total slaves; 23
Total all persons – free white, free colored, slaves: 27
The above census records support an Alexander Crawford living in Fayette County, Kentucky between 1820 and 1840. Although there are a few discrepancies, the tick marks appear to line up with the Rev. James Crawford family structure. Thus, there is support – but not definitive proof – for the theory that the Alexander Crawford in these census records is the son of Rev. James Crawford.
If there are two separate Alexander Crawfords, then there should be a second set of census records. I used the information I had compiled on the family of Alexander Crawford of Pulaski County, Kentucky to create a similar table showing ages of the family members in the various census records.
Name
Birth Year
Death Year
Sex
Age 1810
Age 1820
Age 1830
Alexander Crawford
1767
1823 / 1838
m
43
53
63
Margaret McElwee
1766
1832
f
44
54
64
Adams Crawford
1789
1869
m
21
31
41
Andrew Crawford
1791
1878
m
19
29
39
Martha Crawford
1801
f
9
19
29
John A. Crawford
1803
1838
m
7
17
27
Shelby Crawford
1805
1870
m
5
15
25
Harrison Crawford
1808
1870
m
2
12
22
Unfortunately, the census records for Alexander Crawford in Pulaski County, Kentucky are more difficult to line up with these known family members. In the 1810 census, this could be explained if one of the sons and his family was also living in the household
Free males under 10: 4 – ? grandsons?
Free males 10-15: 3 – sons John, Harrison, Shelby
Free males 16-25: 1- son Adams or Andrew
Free males: 45 and over: 1- Alexander
Free females under 10: 1 – unknown
Free Females 10-15: 2 — ? granddaughters?
Free females 10-15: 2 – unknown
Free females 16-25: 1 – daughter Martha or wife of Adams or Andrew
Free females 26-44: 1 – wife Margaret
Number of household members under 16: 10
Number of household members over 25: 2
Number of household members: 14
The 1820 census of Pulaski County, Kentucky showing an Alexander Crawford is even more confusing. If this is the same family, then Alexander likely has at least one if not two daughters-in-law living with him along with several grandchildren.
Free white males under 10: 2 – ? grandsons
Free white males 10-15: 2 – ? grandsons
Free white males 45 and over: 1 – Alexander Crawford
Free white females under 10: 1 – ? granddaughter
Free white females 10-15: 1 – ? granddaughter
Free white females 16-25: 2 – daughter Martha Crawford and 1 daughter-in-law or 2 daughters-in-law
Free white females 45 and over: 1 – Margaret McElwee Crawford
Free white persons under 16: 6
Free white persons over 25: 2
total free white persons: 10
Total all persons: 10
A search of the 1830 Pulaski County, Kentucky census for Crawford does not include an Alexander Crawford in the results.
This study of Kentucky census records does support
an Alexander Crawford living in Fayette County, KY at the same time as an Alexander Crawford lived in Pulaski County, KY.
the Rev. James Crawford family unit living in Fayette County under the name of Rebecka Crawford in 1810 and Alexander Crawford in 1820, 1830 and 1840.
Since the Pulaski County, Kentucky census records are hard to match up with the family unit of Alexander Crawford and Margaret McElwee, it is hard to conclude that the Alexander Crawford shown in these records is the husband of Margaret McElwee.
Thus, I need to locate more records to support my position that these are two different Alexander Crawfords.
Do you struggle with ‘same name’ issues in your genealogy research? I know that over the years I have struggled to either separate two people or prove that the records I found apply to my ancestor and not to someone else of the same name.
My newest struggle is with someone that I currently can’t even connect to my tree. I found an Alexander Crawford who married Margaret McElwee in Lincoln County, Kentucky in 1788. This marriage is one of four Crawford marriages that occurred in early Lincoln County:
1788 – Alexander Crawford married Margaret McElwee
1791 – Mary Crawford married James Sellers
1793 – James Crawford married Martha Knight
1796 – Sarah Crawford married William David Sellers
My ancestor, James Crawford married Sally Duggins in 1799 in Garrard County, Kentucky. Garrard County was formed from Lincoln County, Kentucky in 1796 — the year Sarah and William Sellers were married.
Thus, these 5 Crawford couples were married in the area of 1788 Lincoln County, Kentucky within an 11 year time period. Based on the marriage bonds and some land records, it is believed that Mary, Sarah and the James that married Martha Knight are all children of Rebekah Crawford who purchased land in Garrard County from George Douglas.
Since my ancestor, the James Crawford who married Sally Duggins, lived in the same area as the James Crawford who married Martha Knight, it is thought that they are somehow related, possibly cousins.
So that leaves Alexander Crawford. Is Alexander a sibling to Mary, James and Sarah? Or, is he possibly a sibling to my James Crawford?
In hopes of proving that Alexander Crawford is a sibling to one of these two families, I’ve done some research on Alexander. Although I haven’t done extensive research on Alexander, I have established a basic timeline for him.
Birth
abt Jan 1767
Augusta County, Colony of Virginia, British Colonial America
Mount Pleasant Baptist Cemetery, Pulaski, Pulaski, Kentucky, United States
Since my goal was to figure out whether this Alexander Crawford was related to any of the other Crawford families in early Garrard County, Kentucky, I started looking at trees hoping to find someone with parents for Alexander Crawford.
And I found several trees showing Rev. James Crawford and Rebecca McPheeters as the parents of Alexander. This lineage would make the Alexander Crawford who married Margaret McElwee a grandson of Alexander Crawford and Mary McPheeters.
Although Rev. James Crawford may have been an itinerant minister, he did not live in the Garrard County area. Instead he raised his family in Fayette County. Thus, I decided to look at information about the descendants of Alexander and Mary (McPheeters) Crawford to see if the Alexander Crawford of Pulaski County was a grandson.
Thus, I turned to the book, Descendants of Alexander & Mary McPheeters Crawford: Pioneer Settlers of Augusta County, Virginia by Amanda Crawford Arbogast Forbes and Lucetta Crawford Smmis. This book identifies the children of Rev. James Crawford as
Mary Crawford – died unmarried
Martha Crawford (1775-1831) married Charles McPheeters
Alexander Crawford (1782-1845)
Elizabeth Crawford (1789-1845) married Joseph Galloway
Sarah Crawford (1801-1841) unmarried
Rebecca Crawford (1803-1833) unmarried
p. 205.
Also in the book is some information from the Fayette County, Kentucky will of Alexander Crawford.
p. 206.
Comparing the information I have compiled for the Alexander Crawford of Pulaski County, Kentucky with the information in the book about descendants of Alexander Crawford and Mary McPheeters, I don’t believe these two Alexander Crawfords are the same person.
However, I am basing my conclusion on one book. Since that isn’t sufficient evidence to convince others, more research is needed to support my conclusion. Perhaps in the process, I will stumble on something that leads to information connecting the Alexander Crawford of Pulaski County to the Crawfords of Garrard County.
Sources for Alexander Crawford who married Margaret McElwee:
1. Dodd, Jordan R., Kentucky Marriages Early to 1800 (: Precision Indexing Publishers, ), p. 49.
2. “Family Tree”, database, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : viewed online November 2016), Alexander Crawford / Margaret McElwee Family; undocumented and unnamed family tree submitted by wendyhar, [contact information for private use]; Crawford Tree.
3. Find a Grave, database and images, Find a Grave (www.findagrave.com : viewed online 3 September 2020), memorial for Alexander Crawford (1767-1823), Find a Grave Memorial no. #186274065, created by Sandra Lytch, citing Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Somerset, Pulaski County, Kentucky;, Alexander Crawford.
4. Kentucky, Lincoln County. Tax Books, 1787-1875. Film #DGS 007834472. Alexander Crofford, 1789 : image 104; digital images, Family Search http://www.familysearch.org : viewed online 4 September 2020.
5. “Kentucky, Tax Lists 1799-1801,” database online, Genealogy Publishing Company, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : viewed online August 2019), Alexander Crawford.
6. “Kentucky, Compiled Census and Census Substitutes ndex, 1810-1890,” database, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : viewed online July 2019), Alexander Crawford.
7. 1810 U.S. Census, Pulaski County, Kentucky, population schedule, Somerset, Pulaski County, Kentucky, image 16, Crawford Alexander; digital image, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : viewed online August 2019).
8. 1820 U.S. Census, Pulaski County, Kentucky, population schedule, Somerset, Pulaski County, Kentucky, image 7, Alexr Crawford; digital image, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : viewed online August 2019).
9. “Family Tree,” database, Ancestry.com, Alexander Crawford / Margaret McElwee Family.
10. Find a Grave, database and images, Find a Grave (www.findagrave.com : viewed online 3 September 2020), memorial for Alexander Crawford (1767-1823), Find a Grave Memorial no. #186274065,
11. “Family Tree,” database, Ancestry.com, Alexander Crawford / Margaret McElwee Family.
12. Find a Grave, database and images, Find a Grave (www.findagrave.com : viewed online 3 September 2020), memorial for Alexander Crawford (1767-1823), Find a Grave Memorial no. #186274065,
Do you ever find yourself so engrossed in researching those 6th and 7th generation brick walls that you overlook documenting earlier generations with obvious sources? That’s what I’ve found to be true with my research.
I recently read the post, 7-gen-1-sheet that suggests using a spreadsheet of ancestors to look at one’s data in a different manner. Thus, I decided to look at the sources I’ve attached to death facts to see whether I have sourced an obituary and their Find a Grave site.
See all of that red? Needless to say, I’ve failed! A few of these don’t have known death dates/locations – but I’ve been to some of the other graves shaded red.
Before shading the 7th generation, I’m going to try and turn more of these yellow.
To start turning the red to yellow, I started by checking the burial fact . For many of these 6th generation ancestors, I had attached the Find a Grave source to the burial fact but not to the death (or birth) fact. Thus, I simply had to memorize the source on the burial fact and paste it onto the death fact. That simple task changed a lot of the red to green.
For those still shaded red, I do not know a death date or place. Thus, they will likely remain shaded red until such time that I can verify their death date and place.
I doubt I would have ever gone back to update these death facts if I hadn’t looked at my data in this way.
Are you overwhelmed with DNA data? Have you ever tried looking at the data in a different way to see what you can learn from it?
The Leeds method of looking at DNA matches is often used for this purpose. Today, I read the blog post, 7-gen-1-sheet, by Ann Raymont. In this post, the author explains how to set up a spreadsheet to display 7 generations of ancestors. Once the spreadsheet is created, color coding can be used to identify patterns such as European roots, lineage society lines or whether a specific source has been used.
Intrigued by how this spreadsheet could be used, I decided to create the page of ancestors. As I was creating the spreadsheet, I decided to use it to look at my ThruLines data. Since I’ve tested myself, my two brothers and my mother, I have four sets of ThruLines. Even though I’ve looked thru this data for each match, I’ve never compared the results.
By adding columns for each of my DNA tests, I was able to record the number of matches for each ancestor from the 4 DNA tests.
Having this data all in one place will help me evaluate my tree in relation to my DNA results. For example, does it indicate an error in my tree if I only have a few matches for that ancestor? Having this data side by side has also allowed me to see that even though I might only have a few matches with descendants of a particular ancestor, my brothers or mother could have quite a few more matches. In those cases, the probability that my tree is accurate increases when I look at all four tests versus looking at just my results.
Now that I have 9 generations of ancestors on my spreadsheet, there are several other ways that I hope to utilize this sheet.
Color code states of residence in 1850
Color code ancestors whom I have found an obituary
Color code ancestors whom I have a Find a Grave source for
Color code potential DAR ancestor lines
Thank you Ann Raymont for sharing your 7-gen-1-sheet method of looking at our ancestors.
In your genealogy research, do you have a FAN (Family Associates, Neighbors) club? If so, do you ever see a name and question whether to add him/her to your FAN club? If so, that’s how I felt about Moses Dooley.
It was like that name, Moses Dooley, kept cropping up in different places and times. My first notes for Moses Dooley are from tax records for Preble County Ohio — living in the same community as my ancestor, James Crawford (wife Sally Smith Duggins) and ‘big’ James Crawford (wife Martha Knight).
Thinking that I should find Moses Dooley in Kentucky with these same Crawford families, I looked back at my Kentucky notes and discovered that I didn’t record anything about Moses Dooley. Rechecking the tax records, I found Moses Dooley in 1794 Madison County, Kentucky — on the same page as several Crawfords. [Kentucky, Madison. Tax Books, 1787-1874. Kentucky Historical Society, Frankfort, KY. Film #8126 DGS 7834478. Crawford James, William, 1794 Tax bookx 1787-1797, 1799-1807: image 197; digital images, Family Search http://www.familysearch.org : viewed online February 2019.]
Assuming the Moses Dooley of Preble County, Ohio is the same person as the Moses Dooley of Madison County, Ky, that places Moses Dooley traveling a similar migration path as that traveled by the two James Crawford families.
A brief study of the information about Moses Dooley on the FamilySearch tree [L66r-BYH] revealed other connection points with my research:
Moses Dooley was born in Augusta County, Virginia in 1748. Augusta County, is where my ancestor, James Crawford, is said to have been born.
Moses Dooley died in 1822 in Preble County, Ohio. James Crawford was living in Preble County, Ohio in 1822 and died there in 1854.
Moses Dooley’s grandson, Silas Dooley married Isabel McCracken. Isabel’s grandparents were Nathan Sellers and Sarah Finley. The Sellers family is part of my Crawford FAN club.
Moses Dooley’s son, Abner married Nancy Douglas. Nancy is the daughter of George and Rebecca Douglas. George Douglas is believed to be the brother of Rebekah Crawford. Rebekah Crawford is believed to be the mother of Sarah Crawford (md Williiam Sellers), Mary Crawford (md. James Sellers) and James Crawford (md Martha Knight)
With all of these loose connections to my Crawford family, I decided to see what else I could learn about Moses Dooley and his family. Digging thru Google searches, I stumbled upon a biography of Reuben Dooley, son of Moses Dooley.
Not only does this biography provide a lot of detail about Reuben Dooley and his parents, but it provides details for their migration path. This path took the family from Bedford County, Virginia to Madison County, Kentucky in 1781. From there the family moved to Barren County, Kentucky and then to Preble County, Ohio.
This migration path is very similar to that of the Preble County Crawfords. Deeds place James and Martha in Barren County, Kentucky prior to moving to Preble County, Ohio. Marriage records place both James in early Kentucky. James and Martha were married in Lincoln County, Kentucky in 1793. James and Sally were married in Garrard County Kentucky in 1799. Both James are believed to have been born in Augusta County, Virginia, one in 1770 and the other in 1772.
Although I haven’t found any relationship between my Crawford line and the Dooleys, this biography provides support for the migration of the Preble County James Crawfords South onto the Marrowbone out of the Garrard County Kentucky area prior to the migration North into Preble County, Ohio.
I am glad I followed that ‘nudge’ to do more research on Moses Dooley. He is now an ‘official’ member of my Crawford FAN club.
If you search your DNA matches for a member of your genealogy FAN (family, associates, neighbors) do come up with results? Do you ever scratch your head trying to figure out how they fit in your tree?
I’m sure scratching my head trying to figure out the over 300 DNA matches to my brother who have SELLERS in their tree. (Note the number goes higher if I click on ‘Include Similar Surnames’.)
I do have Sellers in my database. I have a whole lot of them in my database. Since the Sellers family is part of my Lincoln County, Kentucky FAN club, I have tracked the descendants of Nathaniel Sellers (1720-1795) for several generations.
Two of his sons, James and William, married into the Crawford family in Lincoln County, KY. The marriage records for these Crawford sisters, Mary and Sarah, suggest a relationship with the widow, Rebekah Crawford. Rebekah is also thought to be the mother of the James Crawford that married Martha Knight in Lincoln County, KY.
Based on the research of Rebekah and Mary, Sarah and James, the working theory is that Mary and Sarah are sisters to James Crawford (1770-1833). This is NOT my Crawford line. My Crawford line goes thru my father to James Crawford (1772-1854).
Thus, the mystery: Why do I have so many SELLERS DNA matches?
The search of my brother’s matches for Sellers yields one explanation: I need to look for the SELLERS surname on both sides of my tree.
Looking at the matches with a common ancestor, it appears that I may need to look for the SELLERS surname as ancestors of the following:
4th great grandparents: John Reed (1800-1864) and Mary Buckles (1792-1867) on my mother’s side of the tree
5th great grandmother: Mary Wright on my mother’s side of the tree
5th great grandparents: Jacob Iglehart (1774-1856) and Ann Beall (1777-?)on my mother’s side of the tree
5th great grandparents: Jeremiah Browning (1744-1834)and Cassandra Foster (1767-1830) on my father’s side of the tree
4th great grandmother: Sarah Smith (1770-1856) on my father’s CRAWFORD line
If I go to my set of DNA matches and do the same search for the SELLERS surname, I come up with even more confusing information. I match descendants of James and Mary (Crawford) Sellers and his brother / her sister William and Sarah (Crawford) Sellers.
Not only do these Sellers/Crawford matches appear, but they have quite a few shared matches.
Thus, all of the confusion: lots of Sellers matches with possible connections to BOTH sides of my tree. I’d love to connect with other SELLERS researchers to try and figure out how all of these matches connect.
We finally have DNA evidence of a relationship between our James Crawford (md Sally Smith Duggins) and his neighbor, James Crawford (md. Martha Knight). In addition, we have evidence of a DNA relationship with the James Crawford who owned land on Paint Lick Creek in Kentucky.
However, this DNA evidence does not tell us HOW we are related. It might also be telling us that we are not as closely related as we thought.
Below is a diagram of what the yDNA tree probably looks like.
The bright yellow boxes represent the ancestors of other yDNA testers. The light orange box represents the yDNA tester of my line. This diagram supports an uncle/nephew relationship between the James of Paint Lick area and the James that married Martha Knight. Even though a will for John Crawford has been found that identifies his wife as Rebekah and names sons James and Nathan, documentation has not been found to help prove that the family in Kentucky is the same family named in the Virginia will.
For a time, it was believed that our James (md Sally Duggins) was also a nephew of the James Crawford that married Rebecca Anderson Maxwell thru James’ brother, Andrew. However, the yDNA information does not support that close of a relationship. Thus, Andrew is no longer considered a potential ancestor.
Since we are all in the same yDNA haplogroup, we are related. However, it appears that our James (md Sally Duggins) is possibly a cousin to the James Crawford that married Rebecca Anderson Maxwell.
More research both with DNA and with records needs to be done to prove these relationships and to identify that elusive common ancestor. Thus, your help is needed.
If my previous posts and Ancestry tree caused you to add Andrew Crawford as the father of James Crawford (1772-1854), please remove Andrew as the father of James at least for now. This will hopefully help Ancestry ThruLines search for someone besides Andrew as a potential father.
If you have tested your DNA with Ancestry, please look for matches that have the Crawford surname who were born in Preble County, Ohio or Garrard County, Kentucky. These matches are likely related on our Crawford tree somehow.
If you have tested your DNA with Ancestry, please look for matches that have the SELLERS surname. There are two SELLERS marriages in Lincoln County Kentucky to CRAWFORDs. These Crawford women are likely sisters to James Crawford (1770-1833). Even though my Crawford line has no known Sellers ancestor, I have lots of Sellers DNA matches. Thus, these Sellers matches might be a key to figuring out our Crawford relationships.
Please help by poking holes in my research or making suggestions for further research.
Since we should protect the privacy of our DNA matches, we should not publicly share the name of our matches or shared matches. Instead, please invite them to join this conversation.
If you are willing to be part of a collaborative group to further research these Crawford families, please leave a comment on this post or message me on Facebook (Marcia Crawford Philbrick).
Below are some links to these various families on FamilySearch
James Crawford (1758-1836) – md Rebecca Anderson Maxwell
The ‘Collaborate’ menu allows one to add a discussion to an individual on FamilySearch. This is a way to ask questions or make suggestions for individuals on the FamilySearch tree.
Below are links to these same people in my Ancestry tree.
James Crawford (1758-1836) – md Rebecca Anderson Maxwell
The comment feature on Ancestry should allow anyone to leave a comment on my tree. Unfortunately, I’m not sure how I would figure out that you had left a comment. If you wish to leave a comment on my tree, please do so, but please also notify me somehow so that I can read your comment.
Please help us take advantage of all of this DNA information by asking to join the Crawford Facebook group and by collaborating on this research. Together, let’s figure out who those question marks at the top of he chart represent!
My mind is ‘jumping up and down’ with joy this morning. Another CRAWFORD researcher contacted me this morning to let me know he had found out his haplogroup: R-Y88686. That is the SAME haplogroup as my brother.
We FINALLY have some evidence that we are related!
We both descend from James Crawford of Preble County, Ohio. His James Crawford was born in 1770 in Augusta County, Virginia and died in 1833 in Warren County, Indiana. My James was born in 1772 in Virginia and died in 1854 in Preble County, Ohio.
Both men were living in Kentucky prior to 1800. His James married Martha Knight in 1793 in Lincoln County, Kentucky. My James married Sally Duggins in 1799 in Garrard County, Kentucky. (Garrard County was formed in 1797 from Lincoln and Madison counties.)
In 1811, his James filed land entry papers showing he had made the final payment for the SW 1/4 of Section 14, Township 7 Range 2 East in Preble County, Ohio. In 1816, my James filed similar land entry papers showing he had made the final payment for the NW 1/4 of Section 14, Township 7, Range 2 East in Preble County, Ohio. Yes, they owned adjoining land.
These two families appear to have migrated together for over 100 years. Thus, we have long suspected a relationship.
Not only has our yDNA tests shown us that we need to keep looking for that relationship, but it has added a third James Crawford to the mix. This James was also in Garrard County prior to 1800. James was born in Augusta County, Virginia in 1758 and died in Jefferson County, Indiana in 1836. In 1779, this James Crawford married Rebecca Anderson Maxwell in Montgomery County, Virginia.
So that’s three members of our haplogroup:
three James Crawfords
all in Garrard County, Kentucky prior to 1800
all born in Virginia – likely in early Augusta County, Virginia
no father/son relationship between any of the three James Crawfords
The fourth member of our haplogroup descends from William Nelson Crawford. William was born in 1829 in Ohio. Little information about William has been found prior to his marriage to Julia Ann Decious in 1864 in Lassen, California. By 1877, William and Julia were living in Klickitat County, Washington. William died in Klickitat County in 1907.
This William Crawford may have been the 21 year old William Crawford listed in the household of William Crawford (son of James and Martha Crawford) on the 1850 census in Pike Township, Warren County, Indiana.
If so, that would place William Nelson Crawford in Warren County, Indiana along with James and Martha Crawford and their children and with my ancestor Nelson G. Crawford, son of James and Sally Crawford.
This new haplogroup information says these four families are related. We just need to do more digging to figure out how!
Have you learned thru the years that spelling matters when doing an Internet search? On the other hand, have you found that spelling of names varies — and thus a specific spelling doesn’t matter any more? That need to be able to search for various spellings of a name was behind the development of the Soundex code.
Soundex code was very valuable in pre-Internet days for locating census records. It can still be used today with searches of Ancestry’s databases. Unfortunately, this concept isn’t used when Ancestry’s computers compares the trees of people who have a DNA match to identify the common ancestor. Instead, the computer is looking for an exact match.
As I’ve started researching an ancestor that Ancestry identified as a potential match, I’m running into spelling issues.
This new ancestor is a revolutionary war veteran, Major Simon Van Arsdale. In addition to his revolutionary war service, Simon Van Arsdale was part of the Low Dutch Settlement that migrated to Kentucky.
The discovery of Simon Van Arsdale as a potential ancestor is opening up doors to other potential ancestors and a lot of interesting history. Unfortunately, the spelling of the Van Arsdale name is making it difficult to locate records and to identify DNA matches. So far, I’ve identified the following spellings for this surname:
VanArsdale
Van Arsdale
Van Arsdalen
Vanarsdall
Vannarsdall
Van Artsdalen
Van Osdol
Vanosdol
For the most part, clicking to also use Soundex when searching Ancestry databases will help me get around the many spellings of the name. However, that option isn’t available when working with DNA matches. I recently learned that I should use the ‘alternate name’ fact to add variations on the spelling of a name.
This morning as I was thinking about the need to add ‘alternate name’ facts for Simon Van Arsdale, I saw a Facebook post questioning why Ancestry’s computers can’t find common ancestors when both parties of a DNA match have large trees. I believe the same post also talked about how changing the spelling of a name (Fannie to Fanny) caused the number of matches on a ThruLines to drop. In the comments on the post was a suggestion to add an ‘alternate name’ fact for the different spelling of the name. (Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find this post back. Thus, I can’t give credit to the parties who wrote the post and the comment.)
In thinking about this question as to why the computers aren’t finding the common ancestors, I realized that spelling of surnames and name variations could be a big issue with my tree. I have a lot of places in my tree where the name I have could be slightly different from the name another person might have in their tree. However, I have one surname where this could be a big issue: CURREY.
Over the years, I have found that when the name is spelled with the ‘e’, the record is usually for someone in my line. I have also found records using the CURRY spelling that are for individuals in my line. Thus, the name could be spelled CURREY or CURRY. Since I only have the CURREY spelling in my direct ancestral line, I’m going to experiment with adding CURRY as an alternate name to see what happens to my ThruLines.
Below are the number of ThruLines matches for each generation of my CURREY line:
Hiram Currey – Dodge City – 1866-1943 —– 3 matches
I will add the ‘CURRY’ alternate name for each ancestor and their children. Then I will re-check my numbers in a few days. Hopefully, I will see the number of matches increase!
