Another Case of the Wrong John Crawford
Apparently, ordering California death certificates and receiving the wrong CRAWFORD was a recurring theme in my genealogy research.
Today’s Friday Find features yet another case of mistaken identity.
Years ago, I requested the California death certificate for John Edgar Crawford, my first cousin three times removed, who died in California in 1944. I hoped the document would provide another useful clue for my Crawford research.
Instead, the certificate that arrived belonged to a different man entirely: John E. Crawford, who died in San Diego in 1927.
Not my John Crawford.
But still, someone’s John Crawford.
Genealogists who research common surnames know exactly how this happens. A name in an index looks promising. Initials match. The location seems plausible. A request gets mailed off. Weeks later, the envelope arrives—and suddenly you’re looking at the life story of a stranger.
Meet the Other John E. Crawford
This John E. Crawford was born on 25 November 1859 in California, making him a California native at a time when that was still relatively uncommon.
According to his death certificate, he was:
- a prospector
- married to Maybell Crawford
- the son of John Crawford, born in Pennsylvania
- and Julia Ann Binns, born in Scotland
He died at San Diego County General Hospital on 11 May 1927, age 67.
The cause of death reflects the blunt medical terminology of the era: uremia, pyelonephritis, and diffuse arteriosclerosis.
His final resting place was listed as Masonic Cemetery in San Diego.
Following the Unexpected Trail
Since I already had the certificate, I decided to learn a little more about the man.
A bit of research showed that this John E. Crawford appears on FamilySearch (LTDQ-12J) and now has a memorial on Find a Grave. I also found him in an Ancestry tree—the Binns, David and Elizabeth-Virginia tree—which helped provide enough context to identify him.
Since I had the death certificate in hand, I added John to my own tree as a floating individual so I could attach the record and make it available for others researching this family.
Because that has become my philosophy with these mistaken finds: if the record exists in my files, perhaps it should help someone.
A Familiar Genealogy Lesson
This is now at least the second California death certificate in my files that was ordered for one Crawford but turned out to belong to another.
Apparently, common surnames and paper record requests were not always an ideal combination.
Still, these mistakes remind me of what genealogy research used to be like.
Before online databases delivered instant images, we worked from indexes, mailed forms, enclosed checks, and hoped we had identified the correct person.
Sometimes we guessed wrong.
And sometimes the mistake introduced us to an entirely different family.
Friday Find Reflection
Have you ever ordered the wrong record?
Perhaps a death certificate for the wrong person, a pension file for the wrong soldier, or a deed belonging to an entirely different family?
Those mistaken records can be frustrating—but they also remind us that every document represents a real person whose story deserves preservation.
Even when they aren’t our person.A Friday Find about another genealogy record mix-up: the California death certificate I ordered for John Edgar Crawford turned out to belong to a different John E. Crawford—but still revealed an interesting family story.