#Saturday Night Genealogy Fun
Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:
It’s Saturday Night again –
time for some more Genealogy Fun!!

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to:
1) Pretend that you are one of the subjects on the Who Do You Think You Are? show on television.
2) Which of your ancestors (maximum of two) would be featured on your hour-long show? What stories would be told, and what places would you visit?
Oh, what fun it would be to think that my participation — even pretend participation — would help tell the story of James Crawford. Or, tell the story of all three of the men named James Crawford who resided in the area of Garrard county, Kentucky prior to 1800.
Our first visit would be to the area of Garrard County, Kentucky to view the land. I would want to visit the parcel of land that Richard Cave sold to Mary Crawford on Sugar Creek. Then, I would visit the parcel of land that Rebekah Crawford bought from George Douglas. As I learn about the lay of the land, I would try and figure out whether these two Crawford women attended the same meeting house.
As land owners, these women are listed on tax lists. They are identified as widows. Who are their children? Are these widows sisters-in-law? Are their children cousins? How did these women have the funds to purchase land? What happened to their husbands? Did their husbands die while migrating to Kentucky? Or were their husbands killed while serving in the militia?
Then I would venture to the East side of Garrard county – to the area of Kennedy station. It is in this area that James Crawford owned land on Paint Lick Creek. While looking over James’ land, I would try and figure out how far it was to Mary and Rebekah’s land. Would the three families have interacted? Would James be the male roll model for Mary and Rebekah’s children? Was James a brother-in-law to Mary and/or Rebekah? Had Mary and Rebekah’s children married by the time James and his family moved to Indiana?
As I learn more about these families and their land, I would also want to learn about their neighbors. Who was meeting at the local meeting house? When did they arrive in Kentucky? Where did they come from?
And then for the BIG questions: Did Rebekah have a son named James? Did Mary have a son named James? If the answer to either or both of these questions is yes, then the BIGGER question is which James is the son of which widow?
My ancestor is the youngest of the three men named James Crawford. According to his tombstone, he was born in 1772. The 1850 census indicates he was born in Virginia. James married Sally Duggins in 1799 in Garrard county, Kentucky. Thus, James was 27 when he married. The marriage record is the only record I’ve found placing my ancestor, James, in Kentucky. When did he arrive in Kentucky? Is he the son of Mary (or Rebekah)? Sally is a widow with two young boys when she marries James Crawford. Her husband is said to have died in Virginia. What brought Sally to Kentucky? Where was she living?
While James and Sally didn’t get married until 1799, another James Crawford married Martha Knight in 1793 in Lincoln County, Kentucky. Also married in Lincoln County was Mary Crawford to James Sellers in 1791 and Sarah Crawford to William Sellers in 1795. Are these three Crawfords who married in Lincoln County siblings? Could they be first cousins to James Crawford, husband of Sally?
What stories will the hills of Garrard county reveal about the Crawford families that were only there for a short time.