A Deed That Adds a New Granddaughter to William Crawford’s Family
Do you use FamilySearch’s full text search capabilities? If so, have you ever uncovered a document that unexpectedly adds a new child—or grandchild—to a family group?
That’s exactly what happened in my research on William Crawford.
From earlier work, I already had Samuel McClary in my genealogy database. Samuel married Sarah Crawford in 1795 in Madison County, Kentucky. The marriage was recorded as follows:
I hereby certify that on the 9th day of May 1796 I celebrated the rites of matrimony between Samuel McClary and Sarah Crawford.
—John Manire
At the time I first encountered this record, I had no way to connect Sarah Crawford to any of the known Crawford families living in Madison or Garrard Counties during early Kentucky settlement. She remained an isolated individual in my database—clearly a Crawford, but with no documented parental link.
That changed when I turned my attention to land records.
While searching Kentucky records related to William Crawford, I came across a Garrard County deed that does something remarkable: it identifies a previously unknown granddaughter of William Crawford and, by extension, adds another daughter to his family.
The Garrard County Deed
The record appears in Madison County, Kentucky Land Records, 1810–1815 (images 771–772 of 812), page 569. The deed is dated 31 March 1815 and involves Samuel McClary and his daughter Betsy McClary.
The critical language reads (emphasis added):
“…of the one part and Betsy McCleary his daughter and Grand Daughter of William Crawford Deceased formerly a citizen of Missouri Territory and St. Genevieve County…”
The deed goes on to explain that Samuel McClary was fulfilling an obligation to Robert and James Crawford, administrators of William Crawford’s estate. As part of Betsy McClary’s inheritance from her grandfather’s estate, Samuel transferred ownership of an enslaved woman named Rachel to Betsy, in lieu of a $375 cash legacy.
This single paragraph does a great deal of genealogical work:
- It identifies Betsy McClary as the daughter of Samuel McClary
- It explicitly states that Betsy is the granddaughter of William Crawford
- It places William Crawford in St. Genevieve County, Missouri Territory
- It links Samuel McClary to the Crawford estate through marriage
Taken together, this deed strongly suggests that Sarah (Crawford) McClary—Samuel’s wife—is a daughter of William Crawford, even though she is not named directly in the document.
Why This Record Matters
This is exactly the kind of evidence that is easy to miss when relying solely on traditional index searches. I truly doubt this deed would have come to light without the full text searching now available on FamilySearch. Being able to search across deeds for specific names—rather than just grantors and grantees—made all the difference.
One deed. One paragraph. And suddenly, an isolated Sarah Crawford fits neatly into a larger Crawford family network.
Discoveries like this are a reminder that land records—especially estate-related transactions—can be just as valuable as probate files when reconstructing families in early Kentucky and frontier Missouri.
And they’re also a reminder of why it pays to keep revisiting old research questions with new tools.
Conclusion
This Garrard County deed serves as a powerful reminder that answers to long-standing genealogical questions are often hiding in plain sight—embedded in land records that were never indexed for relationships. What began years ago as a simple marriage entry for Sarah Crawford has now expanded into a clearer family connection, placing her within the household of William Crawford of St. Genevieve, Missouri. Without FamilySearch’s full text search capabilities, this critical clue identifying Betsy McClary as William Crawford’s granddaughter may have remained undiscovered. As more records become searchable in this way, revisiting familiar surnames and locations can yield fresh insights, unexpected connections, and the satisfaction of finally fitting a once-isolated individual into the broader family story.
Sources
Kentucky, Madison. Marriage Records, 1786-1983. Film #4260706. Sarah Crawford, 9 May 1796; page 4; 38 of 427, digital images, Family Search http://www.familysearch.org : viewed online 26 December 2025.
Kentucky, Garrard. Book of Deeds. Film #8341366. William Crawford, 31 March 1815; vol. K: page 568 and 569; 771 an d772 of 812, digital images, Family Search http://www.familysearch.org : viewed online 26 December 2025.