Jeremiah Crews, Possible Children, Part Two

Another possible child for Jeremiah Cruse (Crews) is a daughter by the name of Susannah. The website www.findagrave.com shows a burial for a Susannah Crews Nelson in Hull Cemetery in Terre Haute, Vigo County, Indiana. She was born in 1795, so if she was the daughter of Jeremiah she would have been born in Madison County, Kentucky, before her father's removal from there about 1799. Her deathdate is given as 1865, the last year of the Civil War. There is no picture of a headstone, so I am uncertain if one exists. She was, according to the page, the wife of James Nelson, and he does have a headstone in the same cemetery, although it is crude and the engraving is wearing away. James was born in 1796, and he died in 1871.  

Susannah married James Nelson on 15 Feb 1820 in Daviess County, Kentucky (record is found on Ancestry.com). It has long been conjectured, again without proof, that a Cruse male found in the U. S. Federal Census for 1820 Daviess County, Kentucky is Jeremiah son of David of Madison County, Kentucky. This census records one male under the age of 10, 1 male aged 10 to 15, 1 male aged 16 to 25, 1 male 45 and/or older, 1 female aged 10-15, and 1 female aged 26-45. Clearly, Jeremiah and his wife, Elizabeth Harland (provided she had not died and this was a second wife) would be the older male and female. One of the irksome things about census records before 1850, of course, is that they do not give the other names of individuals in the household. It is worthy of note that Jeremiah, in the U. S. Federal Census for 1830 Vigo County, Indiana, ten years later, is living close to the household of John J. Nelson. There may or may not be a connection with this Nelson to Susannah's marriage. If there is, then the Nelsons and the Cruses obviously migrated from Daviess County, Kentucky, to Vigo County, Indiana, between the years 1820 and 1830.

In regards to Susannah's birth, proof does come in the U. S. Federal Census for 1850 Vigo County, Indiana, for the Honey Creek Township. James Nelson, aged 54, is the head of the household. He is enumerated with a birthplace of South Carolina. Wife Susannah's birthplace is given as Kentucky. This is more than likely the same J. Nelson that owned a joint survey with David Cruse on the map found here in last week's posting. 

The 1860 Vigo County census is changed little except for an aging of ten years for both James and Susannah. Their birthplaces are still given as South Carolina and Kentucky. 

Again, as I stated in my previous blog posting, more work will need to be done at the county level in order to find proof on the relationship of all these individuals. If anyone has more information they would like me to add to this blog on Susannah Cruse Nelson, or who would like to contact the researcher who is currently working on this line, free to contact me.

Jeremiah Crews, Possible Children, Part One

One of the long standing mysteries in the Crews family, if you define a mystery as "without proof," is what happened to Jeremiah Crews, son of David Crews and Annie Magee, after he left Madison County, Kentucky. I detailed up-to-date research on him in my latest edition of Metes & Bounds II: David Crews, Ancestors & Descendants, but unfortunately, I still was unable to find proof concerning his whereabouts.

It is generally believed that he is the Jeremiah Cruze that appears in the 1830 Vigo County, Indiana census. Notice the name change, although whether it was intentional on the census taker's part or an accident is not known. It is told that Jeremiah and Elijah, upset at being cut out of their father's will, changed their last names.

What I did not detail in my book were the children of Jeremiah Cruze. While I have found listings online, including on Ancestry, there was little proof as to how or why those children belonged in the family. Therefore, I chose to leave conjecture out of the 2nd edition.

I was contacted recently by an ancestor of Jeremiah's who was able to supply a bit more information in regards to two possible children born to him.  Although there is still a lack of proof, for those individuals trying to locate a proven link anything is valuable at this point. Some of what I will relate in this blog posting and the next is information from her, and some is what I have since added. 

While Jeremiah disappears after the 1830 Indiana census, and we will assume at this point he had died, a David Cruise is found in the 1840 Sullivan County, Indiana census. Sullivan County borders Vigo County. The 1830 census lists 3 males aged 30 to 39, 2 females aged 20 to 29, 3 males under 5 and 1 male aged 5 to 9. It is believed at the present this man is possibly linked to Jeremiah Cruse and is, therefore, a grandson of David Crews and Annie Magee.

David Crews (this spelling now used), the householder in the 1840 census, married Jane Jewel in Vigo County on 1 May 1833 (Indiana Marriage Records courtesy of a Jeremiah Cruse descendant). It is possible that David himself died by 1850, for the 1850, 1860, and 1870 U. S. Federal censuses for Vigo County, specifically Honey Creek Township, enumerate Jane Cruse as the head of the household and her children are living with her. Her son, Zachariah Crews, later indicated in his Civil War enlistment records that he was born in Sullivan County, Indiana in 1838.

Below is an 1858 map of Honey Creek Township in Vigo County, Indiana. Just to the southeast of the number 29, which is about 3/4 of the way down the map on the left side, surveys are shown for D. Cruse and J. Nelson, as well as another survey to the right of that one for D. Cruse. 

Anyone wishing to connect with this descendant researching Jeremiah is free to contact me for her email. As I told her, and we both agreed, at this point it will likely take deep digging in courthouse records in several locations to connect the threads of Jeremiah Crews and his children. She plans to work further on his line in the near future.

Next week we will explore a possible connection with a daughter of Jeremiah's, and the week after that we will look further into Jane Jewel Cruse.

When, in the course of human events, did one nation infiltrate another and then seek to subvert the very culture of that country they were desperate to be a part of?

The answer?

Never, at least that I know of, until now.

America has long been called (unless it is no longer politically correct to do so) as the "great American melting pot." Anyone else remember the History Rock video of the same name (before videos were cool). A melting pot, of course, is a mish mash of different cultures coming together to form one. You could say it made us stronger and part of a whole, rather than weaker and separate.

Probably Dominick Hechler and Elizabeth Dietz

My great-grandparents, Dominick and Elizabeth (Dietz) Hechler came to America from Russia (although they were 100% German - another story for another day) in 1890. I was told several times in asking stories of my family how they were PROUD to be here. They first landed at Castle Garden in New York (the forerunner of Ellis Island), but eventually ended up in Plantersville, Texas, with other families who had come with them. (I have written about them in my book I Will Go With You: The Hechlers, From Germany to Russia to America.)

The story was often told, but was told to me by Tilly Gaetz Hechler, wife of August Hechler who came with his parents from Russia, of how the school teacher came to my great-grandparents and told them they needed to start speaking English at home for the sake of the children. They were now Americans and lived in America and people here spoke English.  My great-grandfather, who around this time was also naturalized and became a US citizen,  did so. He was proud to be an American. He was grateful to be here, and he had no qualms speaking like an American and becoming part of the "melting pot" of this country. He even did so as he pressed for his oldest grandchild to be named Wilhelm, a very German name.

It is worthy of note, that my grandmother refused to do so. Was it calculated on their part for one to learn to speak English and the other to not so the children would learn both languages? Or did my great-grandmother simply refuse to learn for some reason? I do not know, nor is anyone alive who remembers. It was one of those questions one never ponders as a child, and then later it is too late to ask when it is thought of.

Dominick Hechler and Elizabeth Dietz family about 1915. My grandfather, D.J. Hechler, is sitting to the left on his father's knee.

Culture is more than the language a person speaks. Its their favorite foods, the folk music, oftentimes their ideas and religion. This is what homes are for. This is what parents and grandparents are for - to imbue a sense of the past into their offspring. If they choose to speak their native language at home, that is fine. But to come into a country and insist that country become bilingual is nonsense. They are not becoming a part of the "great melting pot," but setting up their own pot on a side burner.

I oftentimes heard stories of how my grandfather, D. J. Hechler, would go next door to the Wagners, another family that came with them from Russia, and how he and the older man would speak in German. And yet, my grandfather spoke English fluently as well. In fact, my grandmother, his wife, Eleanora Ressler Hechler, spoke English, but with her sisters spoke Czech. Neither one of my grandparents graduated high school, but they were bilingual. I cannot even boast of such skills today.

I have often heard the argument that immigrants do not wish to lose their identity as a culture. But why should they expect to leave their native land, come to another, and not lose something in the assimilation process? Did my great-grandfather, in coming here, give up his German roots? Sure, some. A person cannot move halfway around the world, or into another continent, and not lose something of their former way of life. Did my great-grandparents know this and chose that fate any way? Yes, because to stay in Russia was to continue to endure persecutions and the loss of their way of life. A loss that was harsher than moving to another country and becoming, in a sense, a hybrid of that culture.

But the thing of it is, they expected to do nothing so, for they were desperate to improve their lot and America offered them that chance. If America offers such a chance now to others, then those people who come should expect to be Americans, and that means learning OUR language, just like all other immigrants before them have done for hundreds of years.

That is what makes the melting pot strong.

Elijah Crews Update

Elijah Crews was one of the older sons born to David Crews and Annie Magee. He was born in about 1765 in either Hanover or Bedford County, Virginia. He spent most of his early years in Bedford County and was about twelve years old when his father first went to Kentucky. In 1789 he married Susannah Dozier in Madison County, Kentucky. Susannah was the daughter of James J. and Martha Dozier.

In 1792, three years after his marriage, his father deeded him 200 acres on Otter and Silver Creeks. This property subsequently disappears from tax records, and in 1800, the Madison Court granted him permission to operate an ordinary (inn) out of his home. Tax records do not reflect his operation or ownership of an ordinary, however, so it is not known what happened to it.

By 1815, he had left Madison County and moved on to Hardin County, Kentucky.

In Metes & Bounds II: David Crews, Ancestors & Descendants, I stated that Elijah Crews died sometime after 1840. Mike Harris has located both the  settlement and probate papers in Hardin County Settlement Book G, page 374 (1830-1833) and Settlement Book I, Page 190 (1835-1837). 

Elijah died in 1833 at James Crews' house (possibly a son) and Elijah's son, David, executor of the estate, paid James $1.12 1/2 cents for bringing the body back home for burial. 

It had often been said by the children of David Crews' second wife, that the older sons by his first marriage drank too much and eventually lost the land their father had given them. It appears, perhaps, there is some truth to this statement, thanks to the research of Mike Harris, for Elijah Crews died in debt, and his widow, Susannah, was forced to buy back her furniture.

David Crews, in his will, stated about several of these older children, including Elijah, that he had "heretofore given all he intended giving" to them. Apparently, he meant it, for it does not appear he ever gave anything more to these children, despite the fact he was a very wealthy man at the time of his own death in 1821.

Elijah Crews's son, Squire Cruse, settled in Tyler County. Many of his descendants are listed in Metes & Bounds II: David Crews, Ancestors & Descendants, and some of my more recent blog posts are on this family. Again, thanks to Mike Harris for that information as well.

For a more extensive history of Elijah Crews, readers should refer to Metes & Bounds II.

Segrest Cemetery, Tyler Couty, Texas

Mike Harris has been kind enough to also offer his pictures of the Segrest Cemetery. He visited that location in January of 2015. The cemetery is located about two miles east of the Cruse Cemetery. The graves of William Cruse, son of Squire Cruse and Piety Pruitt, and his wife, Hester Ann Segrest, are here, as well as the second husband of Hester, George Rich.

The son of the woman who currently owns the land which the cemetery lies upon maintains it by regular mowing. There are, sadly, a number of broken headstone in the cemetery from vandalization by kids about fifteen years ago. There has been no trouble recently. 

Wide Shot of Segrest Cemetery

William Cruse was born on 22 January 1835 in Jasper County, Texas, the first child born to Piety and Squire after the fateful drowning of five of their children in the Mississippi River on the way to Texas. (That event is detailed in Metes & Bounds II: David Crews, Ancestors & Descendants.) William married Hester Segrest, but at the young age of 24 he died from a severe case of big red measles. He and Hester had one daughter, Marinda Cruse, who was the second great grandmother of Mike Harris. 

.

Grave of William Cruse
Tombstone inscription:
He that followeth after righteousness, and
mercy find life, righteousness, and honor.

Grave of Hester Ann Segrest
wife of 1) William Cruse and 2) George Rich

.

Cruse Cemetery, Tyler County, Texas, Part 5

There are several headstones in the Cruse Cemetery whose connections to the family are unknown.

The first is the headstone of Lona Cruse. The inscription, which is difficult to read, seems to indicate she was a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Barclay) Cruse. However, she is not found on my information.

The second is the headstone of Walker Johnston.

The third is the headstone of Ida Belle Jernigan.

The fourth is the headstone of Jessie Walker.

Cruse Cemetery, Tyler County, Texas Part 4

There are three more graves in the Cruse Cemetery with connections to the Cruse Family.

The first is Clementine "Clem" Cruse. She was was born on 15 May 1837 in Jasper County, Texas, to Squire and Piety (Pruitt) Cruse. She married William "Uncle Billy" Clark. William was born on 8 January 1820. He died at the age of 46, on 30 July 1866, of blood poisoning, not long after the Civil War. He was sitting with his family by the fireside one night. An open penknife was accidentally knocked from the fireplace mantle. It fell and cut his knee. He died a few months later of blood poisoning. Clementine outlived him by 27 years, passing from this life on 13 September 1893.

Josephine Collier was the first wife of Henry A. Cruse, who was the son of John and Elizabeth (Barclay) Cruse. She died in 1891 and Henry remarried Ada F. Bean, daughter of John Thomas "Jack" Bean and Narcissa Jane Fulghum. Both Henry and Ada were great-great grandchildren of David Crews and Annie Magee.

tombstone of Henry's first wife,
Josephine "Joe" Collier

Mattie Luciel Runnels was the daughter of Mary Ellender "Ella" Cruse and Jesse F Runnels, and the granddaughter of John and Elizabeth (Barclay) Cruse. She was born 2 September 1898 in Tyler County, Texas. At the age of four she became afflicted with intestinal complications and subsequently died on 16 September 1902.

Cruse Cemetery, Tyler County, Texas, Part 3

Usually family cemeteries are not confined to just family members. The Cruse Cemetery is no exception.

Buried alongside the John and Elizabeth (Barclay) Cruse family are her parents, Robert Barclay and Sarah McKinsey.

Robert Barclay was the oldest son of Walter Barclay and Elizabeth McQueen. Robert was born on 12 November 1804 in Madison County, Kentucky. His paternal grandparents were Robert and Leah Barkley of Rowan County, North Carolina. His maternal grandparents were John and Nancy (Crews) McQueen. When he was about two years old, his parents left Kentucky for Tennessee, following the McQueens.

Sarah McKinsey was the daughter of Lacy McKinsey. She was born in 23 December 1808 in Kentucky. Her parents moved to Union County, Arkansas at an early date. Robert left Kentucky as a young man, met Sarah there, and married her.

About 1840 Robert and Sarah moved to Texas where he died in 1845. Sarah remained a widow, running their farm on her own with her slaves and her sons, until 1854 when she married widower Milton McQueen. Sarah is a controversial figure in McQueen-Barclay history. Beloved by some, she was hated by others. She was sued for slander by Narcissa Jane Fulghum (later wife of John Thomas "Jack" Bean) before the Civil War, accused of poisoning Milton McQueen, and was estranged from several of her sons in her later years.

Milton died in December of 1864 at the end of the Civil War. Sarah died on 11 October 1892 and was buried by her first husband in the Cruse Cemetery.

Tombstone of Robert Barclay

Tombstone of Sarah (McKinsey) Barclay - McQueen

Tombstone of Sarah (McKinsey) Barclay - McQueen

Cruse Cemetery, Tyler County, Texas, Part 2

I have been deep in the throes of the last editing for my novel, Breaking Promises, so it has been difficult to get to genealogy for the moment. Hopefully, things will slow down here shortly and I can get back to posting on here.

I will continue posting pictures from Michael Harris that he took recently at the Cruse Cemetery. The pictures below are the tombstones of the family of John "Jack" Cruse, son of Squire Cruse and Piety Pruitt. He was the oldest child born to Squire and Piety, and the only child to survive the breaking apart of the Cruses' raft on the Mississippi River on the way to Texas. (He lost five younger brothers and sisters.)

John was born in Rutherford County, Tennessee on 30 August 1820 and came to Texas with his parents when he was thirteen years old.

John married Elizabeth Barclay, daughter of Robert Barclay and Sarah McKinsey on 8 July 1847 in Tyler County, Texas. Elizabeth was the great-granddaughter of John McQueen and Nancy Crews, and a great-great granddaughter of David Crews and Annie Magee. John Cruse's grandfather, Elijah Crews, was the brother of Nancy Crews, so he was the 3rd great grandson of David and Annie. Elizabeth's parents are also buried in the Cruse Cemetery (their pictures in the next posting).

Elizabeth was born 1 April 1829 in Arkansas. She came to Texas with her parents as a small child, but her father died not too long after their arrival. Her mother, Sarah, remarried to widower Milton McQueen in 1854.

There is a separate headstone in the Cruse Cemetery for Elizabeth, but at some point a large monument was erected directly behind hers that includes both Elizabeth and John. Elizabeth died in 1878, while John lived another 29 years, not passing from this life until 1907. It is likely the larger memorial was erected sometime after his death.

At least 3 of John & Elizabeth's children are buried in the Cruse Cemetery, all under the age of 9 at the time of their deaths.

Below you will find the pictures of the headstones of not only John and Elizabeth, but several of their children. Their daughter Clementine, however, will be in a separate posting.

This memorial for John Cruse and Elizabeth Barclay.  

Headstone for Elizabeth Barclay Cruse, wife of John "Jack" Cruse

Elias Cruse, son of John & Elizabeth (Barclay) Cruse, born 22 April 1863 and died 25 Aug 1863.
Elias was born during the Civil War and lived only four months. 

Elzira Cruse, daughter of John & Elizabeth (Barclay) Cruse, born 26 January 1856
and died at the age of 2 1/2 years on 29 Aug 1859.

 

Lacy M. (probably Milton) Cruse son of John & Elizabeth, born 8 Oct 1851
and died 2 Jan 1862 just as the Civil War started. He was 9 years old. 

Cruse Cemetery, Tyler County, Texas, Part 1

One of the neat things about getting the book on David Crews into a second edition is the finding of new cousins. Michael Harris, a descendant of David Crews through his son Elijah and grandson Squire recently contacted me. He is the only descendant thus far from this line that I have been in contact with. He has been doing research on this family and last year took a trip to the Cruse and Segriest Cemeteries in Tyler County. It will take me several postings to relay the pictures Mr. Harris has so graciously allowed me to post here. 

According to Mr. Harris, both cemeteries are maintained. I had lamented in my 2nd edition that that last time I was at the Cruse Cemetery nearly twenty years ago the path to it was not being maintained, nor was the cemetery. It is nice to hear someone is taking care of it. 

Squire Cruse was the son of Elijah Crews and Susannah Dozier and the grandson of David Milton Crews and Annie Magee. Squire married Piety Pruitt, daughter of Matthias Pruitt and Polly Hoover. He was one of the first settlers to acquire a land grant within the present limits of Tyler County, Texas. Five of his children drowned on the Mississppi River while en route to Texas. I have an extensive chapter on him in Metes & Bounds II: David Milton Crews, Ancestors & Descendants, and will not relay that information here. 

Acceess Point from the Road

Wide shot of Cruse / Methodist Cemetery in Tyler County, Texas

Original Headstone of Squire Cruse

Original Headstone of Piety Pruitt Cruse

Squire Cruse footstone erected by the State of Texas 1962

Newer Headstone

Mary F. Newland and John Graves

One of the frustrating things about publishing a genealogy book, especially one the size of Metes & Bounds II: David Crews, Ancestors & Descendants, is the fact that new information is being discovered all the time, and cousins are always around the next corner. These new cousins almost always know something I don't. I will likely never get to doing a 3^rd edition of the Crews book, but I will be posting information on this blog that “updates” the Crews family.

Graves of John E. Graves and Mary F. (Newland) Graves
Donnelton Cemetery, Hunt Co., TX
courtesy of Mary La Rue, El Paso, TX 2015

I received an email this week from Mary La Rue of El Paso, Texas. Mary is a descendant of David Crews and Annie Magee through their daughter Mary Crews Newland. She informed me that Mary F. Newland, daughter of William W. Newland and Arthusa Bascom Randall, married John E. Graves. On page 179 of my 2^nd edition, I indicate the last name of Mary’s husband to be “Graves,” but I had no record regarding his first name. Mary F. Newland was the great-great-great granddaughter of David Crews & Annie Magee.

William and Arthusa (Randall) came to Texas not in 1848, as I stated in my 2^nd edition, but sometime between 1850 and 1860. In 1850, they are in the Jessamine County, Kentucky, census, but by 1860 they were in the Kaufman County, Texas census. 

Grave of Sarah Elizabeth "Lizzie" Newland - Smith
courtesy of Mary L Rue 2015

Mary F. Newland was born in 1843 while the family was still in Kentucky. She would have been a little girl when her parents moved from Kentucky to Texas. She died in 1924. John was born in 1833 in Georgia and died in 1901. They are both buried in the Donnelton Cemetery in Hunt County, Texas. John and Mary were married on August 9, 1859 in Henderson County, Texas. 

John and Mary (Newland) Graves’ daughter, Sarah Elizabeth “Lizzie” Graves, was the maternal great-grandmother of Mary La Rue. Mrs. La Rue is also a descendant of William Hoy and Sarah Callaway, early settlers of Boonesborough, Kentucky, and contemporaries of both the Crews and McQueen families. In fact, Hoy’s Station was 400 yards southwest of David Crews Station on the dividing line between Otter and Tates Creeks in Madison County.

Lizzie was born in 1866, at the very end of the Civil War, and died in 1901. She married John R. Smith. John was born in 1862 and died in 1942. Lizzie and J.R. married on April 10, 1882 in Hunt County, Texas. The picture below is of Lizzie and J.R. and their family and Mrs. La Rue believes it was taken in or near Brownwood, Texas around 1897, not long before Lizzie's death. 

Family of John R. "J. R." and Sarah Elizabeth "Lizzie" (Graves) Smith about 1897.
Children pictured are Lula, Behula, Thomas, William, and Legal  who is on Lizzie's lap.
(Legal was Mary La Rue's grandmother.) 

NOTE: All information and pictures used with permission of Mary La Rue in an email dated to blog owner February 2015.