Do you ever try to prove another person’s tree in your DNA research? That’s my situation with a yDNA match. While I don’t have any reason to doubt this tester’s tree, others question trees similar to it because people try to wrongly attach their Crawford line to a fairly ‘famous’ couple: Alexander Crawford and his wife Mary McPheeters. Since this tester is in the R1b group along with my line, his line may help break down my Crawford brick wall.
Unfortunately, others question that descendants of Alexander are in the R1b group, Thus, I said I would do some research on this particular tree. I have found census records, obituaries and a guardian record that validates the line back to John Crawford of Lincoln county TN who married Sarah Blake. John is identified as a great grandson of Alexander thru Alexander’s son William.
According to Find a Grave (Memorial No. 105761063), John Crawford was born in 1818. In 1846, he married Sarah Blake in Lincoln County, Tennessee.
John Crawford is shown as a 30 year old male on the 1850 census in Lincoln County, Tennessee. Included in his household is 23 year old Sarah along with two children: Adalia, aged 2 and John aged 1.
John died in 1856 and is buried Lincoln county, Tennessee.
In 1858, a Sarah Crawford married Henry Henderson in Lincoln County, Tennessee. The 1860 Lincoln County, Tennessee census shows Henry Henderson as a 35 year old male head of household. The household contains six other individuals with only a first name given. Ancestry’s indexing assumes that everyone in the household has the same surname as Henry Henderson.
- Sarah – aged 32
- Fances – aged 12
- Edmond – aged 11
- William – aged 9
- Annah – aged 5
- Victoria – aged 1
On FamilySearch, the family for John Crawford and wife Sarah Blake has the following children:
- Adelia Frances – born 1847 – thus 13 in 1860
- John Edward – born 1849 – thus 11 in 1860
- William Blake – born 1851 – thus 9 in 1860
- Robert Alma – born 1853 – died 1858
- Lucy Annay – born 1855 – thus 5 in 1860
These children listed in the family on FamilySearch are similar to the children listed in the 1860 census record. I believe it is possible that the census taker may not have realized the children had a different surname. If so, then these children in the Henry Henderson household could be John Crawford’s children.
In September 1868, there is a probate record in Lincoln county, Tennessee for John Crawford which appoints Henry Henderson as a guardian for John Edward, Dilia Francis, William and Luch Anna.
We Henry Henderson, James Henderson [A J childress]
are held and firmly bound to the State of Tennessee in the penal sum of one
Probate file John Crawford, 7 September 1868; viewed online, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : viewed online 17 November 2023).
thousand dollars Witness our hands and seals, this
7 day of September 1868
The condition of the above obligation is such, that whereas the above bound Henry
Henderson has been appointed guardian of John Edward, Dilia
Francis, William & Luch Anna Crawford
minor heirs of John Crawford deceased:
If one analyzed these records separately, one might conclude that the 1860 census record for Henry Henderson shows Henry’s biological chidren. However, the guardianship record in John Crawford’s probate file supports the conclusion that these are CRAWFORD children and thus passing down CRAWFORD DNA to their descendants.
Sources:
Find a Grave, database and images, Find a Grave (www.findagrave.com : viewed online 13 November 2023), memorial for John Crawford Jr (1818-1856), Find a Grave Memorial no. 105761063, created by Jimbo, citing Crawford Cemetery, Lincoln County, Tennessee;, John Crawford Jr.
Tennessee, Marriage Records, 1780-2002,” database with images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : viewed online 13 November 2023), John Crawford.
1850 U.S. Census, Lincoln County, Tennessee, population schedule, Lincoln County, Tennessee, page 34, Image 12 of 21, family 210, John Crawford; digital images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : viewed online 17 November 2023)
“Tennessee, U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1784-1825,” Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : Dodd, Jordan, comp., Tennessee Marriages to 1825, Lincoln County Tennessee, viewed online (17 November 2023), Sarah E Crawford.
1860 U.S. Census, Lincoln County, Tennessee, population schedule, LIncoln County, Tennessee, page 177, Image 5 of 13, family 1291, Henry Henderson; digital iamges, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : viewed online 17 November 2023)
Tennessee, Probate Records, 1779-2008, Probate file John Crawford, 7 September 1868; Digital images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : viewed online 17 November 2023).