Have you ever compared a family in your genealogy software to the same family on the FamilySearch site to discover that you have quite a few more children in your genealogy file than on the FamilySearch site? That’s what I encountered when reviewing the male descendants of James and Martha (Knight) Crawford. My file has eleven children in the family of John Havre Crawford while the FamilySearch site only has seven.
When I looked at one of my ‘additional’ children, I expected to find a source referring to a family tree or a family group sheet. Instead, I found a reference to a photocopy from the book, Prairie Farmer’s Reliable Directory, that I received from Warren County Indiana researcher, Walter Salts,
For some reason, I had not worked the Ancestry hints for this family. A simple comparison of the information from the FamilySearch site, census records and the Directory revealed my problem. I had entered some of John H. Crawford’s grandchildren as children.
| Child in RM | Family Search | 1900 Warren Co. IN Census | 1910 Warren Co. IN Census | 1920 Warren Co. IN Census | Directory |
| Oland | grandson John Oland York age 15 | yes | |||
| Clara | granddaughter Clara R York age 16 | yes | |||
| Lawrence | Grandson age 4 | grandson Lawrence J York age 14 | yes | ||
| Harry York | Grandson age 2 | grandson Harry N York age 13 | yes | ||
| Bertha | Gladys Barbara K4LW-F55 | daughter Gladys B age 17 | |||
| Nellie | L5BY-FJM | daughter age 16 | yes * | ||
| Maude | KLR3-PBQ | daughter age 14 | yes * | ||
| Ruth B. | KLKG-728 | daughter age 12 | daughter age 22 | yes * | |
| Owen | MSQ9-1CL | son age 9 | son age 18 | yes | |
| Beulah | 973F-1KZ | daughter age 7 | daughter age 17 | yes * | |
| Freddie | MT66-65F died 1890 |
Wanting to update the citation for this photocopy to today’s standards, I searched Google for the title. I found the book available on Archive.org. By locating a digital copy of the book, I was able to not only search the book for all CRAWFORD entries but to also find out what the * meant next to some of the names.
Star (*) indicates children not at home
Using the search feature, I was able to locate some of the Crawford children not living at home.
Maude – page 100
Carpenter, Luke (Maude Crawford) Ch John, Cherry, Ralph; Pence Rt 1 Jordan Sec 1 W T142a Crawford and Goodwine (1901) Cadawalder Tel. Pence
Beulah – page 135
Reeder, Calmer G. (Beulah Crawford) Williamsport R3 Jordan Sec10 T17a Ernest McCandly (1917) Cadawalder Tel. West Lebanon
Ruth – page 139
Sloan, Hobart (Ruth Crawford) Ch Kolman, Virginia; Pence R1 Jodan Sec12 T159a John Crawford (1909) Cadawalder Tel. Pence
That leaves two children of John H. Crawford who were mentioned in the directory but not living at home. Nellie Crawford McLaughlin is living in Warren County, Indiana in 1910 and Vermillion county, Inidana in 1920. Thus, she was likely living out of the county when the directory was printed.
That leaves Owen Crawford. A headstone application for Owen H. Crawford indicates Owen H. Crawford was likely serving in the military at the time the information was collected for the directory.
My quest to find male descendents led me
- to an incorrect family structure,
- to a record buried in my files,
- to search out other records to document the family structure
- and to update my file to correct my error.