My Crawford Ancestors - Part 2

William Crawford "The Patriot," (my maternal 5th great grandfather), was the son of Alexander and Mary. He is my Patriot ancestor in the Daughter's of the American Revolution (DAR). 

William was born 1 June 1744 in Mountain View, Augusta County, Virginia and died on 19 October 1792 in Augusta County, Virginia. He married Rachel Sawyers in 1765 in Augusta County, Virginia. She was born 30 April 1750 in Augusta County, Virginia and died on 4 September 1821 in Howell, Lincoln County, Tennessee. Her family was from Tyrone, Ireland. They had nine children (5 boys and 3 girls). This William was one of the surviving sons after his parents Alexander and Mary were massacred by the Indians in 1764. He stayed at the home place and in 1769 built a brick house on the site of the burned cabin.

After William died, Rachel remarried (William Bell) and moved to Lincoln County, Tennessee near Swann Creek around 1812.

Their son Captain William Crawford (my maternal 4th great grandfather) was born 14 February 1780 in Augusta County, Virginia and died 7 March 1859 in Howell, Lincoln County, Tennessee. He married his first wife Rachel Titus on 29 April 1802 in Davidson County, Tennessee. She was born 19 August 1782 in Kentucky and died 18 June 1841 in Howell, Lincoln County, Tennessee. They had 10 children (3 boys and 7 girls). 

We have a photo of William and as a family we have always lovingly called him "mutton chops."

Captain William Crawford

After his wife Rachel died, William married Nancy R. Gibson on 16 October 1843. They had 4 children (2 boys and 2 girls). 

William was in Davidson County, Tennessee by 1797 and moved to Huntsville, Alabama around 1810 where he served as Captain in the War of 1812 with Andrew Jackson.

In 1813, they moved to Cane Creek, west of Howell, Lincoln County, Tennessee. 

William died at the old rock house near Howell and is buried beside his two wives and his mother Rachel Crawford.

On his tombstone it reads: "We gently lay thee down to rest, beneath this silent sod. We'll think of thee as with the blest, and with thy gracious god."

Captain William Crawford House near Howell, Lincoln County, Tennessee

My Crawford Ancestors - Part 1

It has been a while since my last post. It has been busy and I have been focusing on my courses at the National Institute for Genealogical Studies during my free time.

I wanted to share some of the information and stories about my Crawford line as gathered by my grandmother (Helen Crawford) and my grandfather (Timothy Marsh).

They spent many years researching and exploring their ancestors and it has been handed down and is now in my possession. Our Crawford's in America trace back to ancient times in the south of Scotland near the village of Crawford-John, on the Clyde, dating back to the eleven hundreds.  The walls of the ancient castle, are still standing.

Ruins at the Crawford Castle

The ancestor of the American branch migrated from Ayrshire to the north of Ireland in the early 1600s, settling first in Donegal.  By the 1730s, the branch that came to America were living in Tyrone county, sailing to America, landing in Philadelphia by 1740 and settling in south Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

Alexander and a brother Patrick with other siblings may have emigrated from Ireland at the same time, however Patrick does not name Alexander when he signed his declaration of importation in 1840 to Orange County, Virginia.

Alexander and Mary McPheeters Crawford settled first on Octororo Creek in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania near the Delaware border southwest of greater Philadelphia and about twenty miles northwest of Wilmington, Delaware in about 1740, having landed at Pennsylvania from North Ireland, probably Ulster. 

The first to come to Augusta County from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania were Alexander and Mary McPheeters Crawford, settling around 1744 near the base of Little North Mountain on Dry Branch situated between Churchville and Buffalo Gap, including a small part of Little North Mountain, on a two thousand acre grant.  Alexander and Mary built their cabin near the base of the mountain looking out over the plains.  The cabin was log with the chimney of native stone.  Their first son, William was born 1 Jun 1744 in the county and baptized at the North Mountain House (Presbyterian) by the Rev. Craig June 1746. Alexander was said to be a smith and silversmith as was his son William.

Brother Patrick married Sally Wilson and settled at Fort Defiance near Stone Church.

In the summer of 1764, Indian troubles were prevalent throughout this area of Augusta County, forcing the inhabitants to seek protection in an old house call Old Stone Fort or sometimes called the Keller House, it stood in the bend of Middle River near the mouth of Buffalo Branch.  In October of 1968, this house was about gone.

After the Trimbles were killed and some of the family captured, Thomas Gardiner and his mother Ann (formerly Ann Crawford, sister of Alexander Crawford), Alexander and Mary became alarmed, and hurried to the fort. After a short stay, Alexander and Mary left the small children at the fort and decided to return to their cabin along with their older sons John and William to check their holdings and care for the horse and cattle. While John and William were at the side of Little North Mountain searching for their horses from the cabin below, when they returned to the site of the cabin they found the remains of their father Alexander in the ashes and stubble and the body of their mother Mary in the yard where she attempted to escape.  This massacre occurred in September 1764. Will McPheeters qualified as administrator of Alexander Crawford. The remains of the murdered Crawford's were carried to Old North Meeting House Graveyard for burial.

In October of 1968 when Tim and Helen Marsh visited the old Alexander and Mary McPheeters Crawford's homestead "Mountain View," located near Churchville in Augusta County, Virginia on Dry Branch at the base of Little North Mountain, they visited the site where this pioneer couple met their dreadful fate at the hands of hostile Indians in the late summer of 1764. They found and photographed the remains of the ancient rock chimney, then a large pile of native stones, that had remained in a pile from 1764 undisturbed until their visit.  The old cabin that was burned during the massacre had stood beside the rubble of the chimney about a hundred years to the rear of the stately colonial house that William, the son of Alexander and Mary, had built in 1769, according to an old iron plaque that the Sorrells, the owners of the house, pointed out to us.  The visit and tour of the house was an exhilarating yet sad experience. As they stood on that very spot, their minds eye could visualize that terrible day in the past.

A Bittersweet Day at the Archives

On Tuesday, I went to the courthouse to volunteer at the Bedford County Archives.

To provide context for the rest of the post, I will share the following...

Over the years, my grandmother and grandfather volunteered at the Bedford County Archives. The "vault" where many of the original books are housed has been named in their honor. They were strong advocates for preserving records and history of the county. My grandmother painstakingly indexed many of the record books housed there.

I have digital versions of many of those indexes and have been working to create a master spreadsheet of those names and page numbers so that it would be easy to do a search for names in the records.

I was working with Carol Roberts, archivist on matching up the file names of the digital files I have with the printed lists in the books to determine which ones might be missing. Some of the early ones were done on a typewriter and were never entered into a computer.

We got to one of the books and inside was a yellow legal pad. Carol handed it to me and asked if I recognized the writing. I did. It was an index my grandmother had started and never finished....

I lost my grandmother in November of 2017. Seeing this yellow paper with her distinctive handwriting on it shook me to the core. I had a rough time the rest of the day.

Ever since I moved into my grandparents house, I have seen a male and female cardinal feeding regularly outside my front window.

That afternoon when I got home, I sat down and just looked out the window. I was still shaken by the experience from earlier. Not long after that, the female cardinal landed on the banister outside the window and looked in while turning its head as if were looking for me. I guess that was my grandmother letting me know it would be okay and that she was watching over me.

Isn't it odd how the simplest of things can bring back such a flood of memories and emotions?

I love volunteering in the archives just like she did for many years. Every time I go in the vault, it has a distinct smell of old papers, dust and who knows what else! It reminds me of my grandparents. I wish I could bottle that smell for days when I am missing them. For some reason, it gives me peace.

I miss my grandparents every. single. day. But...I know they are watching over me and are proud that I have continued in their footsteps.