I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, “all roads lead to Rome.” In terms of my Crawford family research, it seems like right or wrong, ‘all Crawford trees lead to Alexander, David or Col. William’. For my Crawfords in early Kentucky, many trees try to connect the Kentucky Crawford families to the Augusta county, Virginia family of Alexander and Mary (McPheeters) Crawford.
When I first started researching my Crawford line, I tried to do the same thing — to connect my line to Alexander and Mary McPheeters Crawford. However, I encountered a book, Descendants of Alexander and Mary (McPheeters) Crawford, which helped me to realize that Alexander is NOT my ancestor.
However, there are two lines in the Crawford R1b group that have Alexander Crawford in their trees. Unfortunately, there is another yDNA test with Alexander in their tree. This time, it is in the R1a group. The two tests in the R1b group go thru Alexander’s son William. The test in the R1a group goes thru Alexander’s son Samuel. Thus, DNA is indicating that either the William trees or the Samuel tree have the wrong parent for William or Samuel.
The Descendants of Alexander Crawford book includes a lot of information about William’s family but very little about Samuel. Since the book was written over 200 years after Alexander’s death, the book may not be correct. To compound the problem, the area of Augusta County, Virginia is ‘home’ to several Crawford lines, with James, John, William and even Alexander being common names in each line. Thus, it would have been challenging to identify Alexander’s descendants.
And that is still the challenge today. Using the sources cited in the book, it was possible to document the family structure for William. The two trees going thru William agree with the book. When it comes to the Samuel tree, the sources in the book identify a son named William while the yDNA tree goes thru a son named Thomas. In addition, the book identifies Samuel’s wife as Elizabeth Craig while the yDNA tree identifies her as Elizabeth Bradley.
Below is a report for the family of Samuel Crawford using the sources in the book, Descendants of Alexander and Mary (McPheeters) Crawford.
Samuel Crawford was born in 1759 in Augusta County, Virginia. [1–7]
ENDNOTES:
He chose Samuel McPheeters as his guardian on 17 Mar 1773 . [5]
He was witness to the marriage license for William Jameson and Margaret Craig. on 2 May 1789 in Augusta County, Virginia. [8]
He obtained a marriage license to marry Elizabeth Craig on 9 Oct 1790 in Augusta County, Virginia. [1,9–10]
He married Elizabeth Craig on 12 Oct 1790 in Augusta County, Virginia. [1,11–12]
In Mar 1792, Samuel was sued by Henry Miller for debt on a 1788 note in Augusta County, Virginia. [13]
Before 1795, a child named William Crawford was born. [1]
He died before 1795 at the age of 36.
He signed a will on 14 Feb 1795 in Augusta County, Virginia. [1,14–15]
1. Amanda Crawford Arbogast Forbes and Lucetta Crawford Sammis, compilers, Descendants of Alexander & Mary McPheeters Crawford: Pioneer Settlers of Augusta County, Virginia (Baltimore, MD: Gateway Press, 1980), page 260 Samuel Crawford; FHL microfiche 6110842 at MidWest Genealogical Library.
2. Jos. A. Waddell, Annals of Augusta County, Virginia, from 1726 to 1871 (Staunton, Va: C. Russell Caldwell, Publisher, 1902), page 207. digital image, Annals of Augusta County, Virginia, from 1726 to 1871Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com viewed online 27 November 2023.
3. “Virginia, Land, Marriage and Probate Recrods, 1639-1850,” database, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : viewed online March 2019), Samuel Crawford.
4. Amanda Crawford Arbogast Forbes and Lucetta Crawford Sammis, Compilers, Descendants of Alexander & Mary McPheeters Crawford: Pioneer Settlers of Augusta County, Virginia (Baltimore, MD: Gateway Press, 1980), p. 260 Samuel Crawford.
5. Lyman Chalkey, Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia (Roselyn, Virginia: The Commonwealth Company, 1912), page 169; digital images, FamilySearch, http://www.familysearch.org viewed online 21 January 2023.
6. Helen McPheeters Rice, The McPheeters Family (Winter Park, FL: No publisher, 1956), P. 103 Descendants of WIlliam McPheeters; digital images, FamilySearch, http://www.familysearch.org viewed online 27 November 2023.
7. William M. Clemens, Crawford Family Records: An Account of the First American Settlers and Colonial Families of the Name of Crawford (New York: William M. Clemens, 1914), p. 9-12; digital images, FamilySearch, http://www.familysearch.org viewed online 27 November 2023.
8. Chalkley Lyman, Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia: Extracted from the Original Court Records of Augusta County 1745-1800, volume 2 (Rosslyn, Virginia: The Commonwealth Company, no date), page 289 – marriage William Jameson and Margaret Craig; digital images, FamilySearch.org, http://www.familysearch.org viewed online 25 January 2023.
9. John Vogt & T. William Kethley Augusta County Marriages, 1748-1850 (N.p.: Iberian Publishing Company, 1986), p. 66 Samuel Crawford.
10. Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia, page 287 Marriage Samuel Crawford / Elizabeth Craig.
11. Virginia, Augusta County. Marriage Records, 1785-1900. Film #30415 DGS 7578826. Samuel Crawford, 1790; image 16; digitized images, FamilySearch.org http://www.familysearch.org : viewed online 27 November 2023.
12. First Marriage Record of Augusta County, Virginia 1785-1813 (Augusta County, Virginia: Col. THomas Hughart Chapter, D.A.R., n.d.), page 12; digital image, FamilySearch, http://www.familysearch.org viewed online 27 November 2023.
13. Chalkley Lyman, Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia: Extracted from the Original Court Records of Augusta County 1745-1800, volume 2 (Rosslyn, Virginia: The Commonwealth Company, no date), page 5; digital images, FamilySearch.org, http://www.familysearch.org viewed online 27 November 2023.
14. Virginia, Wills and Probate Records, 1652-1900, Samuel Crawford, 14 February 1795; database with images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : viewed online 24 January 2023). Original Source: Virginia County, District and Probate Courts.
15. Virginia, Augusta County. Will books, 1745-1871; index to wills, 1745-1903. Film #30318 DGS 7643869. Samuel Crawford, 14 Feb 1795; Vol. 8: page 176 (image 346); digitized images, FamilySearch http://www.familysearch.org : viewed online 27 November 2023.
The book is found in several larger genealogy libraries, but a digital version is not currently available. Check out WorldCat for a list of libraries.