Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:
It’s Saturday Night Again –
Time For Some More Genealogy Fun!!
Come on, everybody, join in and accept the mission and execute it with precision.
1) One of the goals of every genealogy researcher is to solve difficult name and relationship problems. What is one of your most frustrating research challenge that you have not yet solved?
Same Names!
One same name challenge that I think I’ve partially solved is in my CURREY line. I consider this partially solved because I finally found records supporting the lineage and also have DNA results supporting the line. I would still like to find more proof. This line starts with my great grandfather and goes back to my 4th great grandfather — all of them with the same name.
- Hiram M. (Miles) Currey – 1866-1943
- Hiram M. Currey (1835-1901)
- Hiram M. Currey (1787 – ?)
- Hiram Mirick Currey – treasurer of the state of Ohio prior to 1820
I would have to say that figuring out people having the same name and living in the same location at the same time is one of my most frustrating research challenges. My Briles line, full of Noah and John Broyles/Briles, would be an example. Fortunately, other researchers have done a lot of work to untangle this line.
However, my CRAWFORD line still frustrates me. My line traces back to my 4th great grandfather, James Crawford. James was born in 1772 and died in Preble county, Ohio in 1854. According to the 1850 census, James was born in Viriginia. James and his wife, Sally Duggins were married in Garrard county, Kentucky in 1799.
James’ son, Nelson G. Crawford (my 3rd great grandfather) migrated to Warren County, Indiana around 1830. Also migrating to Warren County, Indiana about that time was their neighbor, James Crawford along with his children and their families. This James Crawford was married to Martha Knight in Lincoln County, Kentuky in 1793. James (and Martha) owned land in Ohio adjacent to James and Sally (my 4th great grandparents).
In 1878, James H. Crawford, oldest son of Nelson G. Crawford, migrated to Dodge City, Kansas. By 1885, my 2nd great grandparents, Washing Marion Crawford and Mary, joined his older brother, James, in Dodge City.
In 1880, Harvey Harrison Crawford, a grandson of James and Martha, is living in Ford County, Kansas. By 1897 Harvey Crawford is living in Dodge City within a few blocks of Mary Crawford, widow of Washington Marion Crawford.
In Dodge City’s Maple Grove cemetery, when you walk down the row with James H. Crawford on the south end you will pass by Harvey H. Crawford’s stone before getting to the Crawford plot where Judson Crawford and some of his family is buried. Judson is the eldest son of Washington Marion Crawford and my great grandfather.
Even though they lived in the same places at the same times, I’ve been able to separate many of the records for these two James Crawford families. Their tendancy to migrate along the same path at about the same time suggests a relationship between these two men. Unfortunately, evidence to support a relationship is still elusive.
Thus, my CRAWFORD line is my most frustrating research challenge.
I wish you luck in figuring out all your Crawford lines. I know you’ve been working at it for a long time. Even DNA can only go so far in helping. As for your Curreys, that is another tangled web. My husband has a William Currey, born c1740 and died by August 1801 in Mercer County, KY. No idea where he was born.
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