A Trip to Madison County

I must apologize for my long absence this summer from my blog. I was given the wrong dosage of medicine from the local pharmacy for my thyroid, and I was basically suffering from an extreme case of hypothyroidism all summer long. I am happy to report, though, that the proper dosage has finally kicked my levels back up to normal. I should be posting on a more regular basis and getting back to posting on Jeremiah Crews' family.

This week, I am going to share a post from cousin Mary LaRue. She went to Descendant Weekend at Ft. Boonesborough, Kentucky this past summer. Many of you who follow this blog are descendants of David Crews and Annie Magee. I would like to thank Mary for sharing her trip and pics with us, and I need to apologize for being so long in getting her words put up here.

Recently, I had the chance to travel to the Richmond, Kentucky area in Madison County, Kentucky, home to David Crews and Annie (nee McGee) Crews, my Maternal 6^th Great Grandparents. Their home still stands, although it is completely enveloped by the present-day house shown here.

No part of their original house can be seen from the outside, but the land they lived on is still green and shady with large trees, the way I imagine it must have been when they lived there. Their daughter Mary, and her husband Abraham Newland, my 5^th Great Grandparents, are buried just a few miles down the road from David and Annie’s home site, on land David granted to them. David, and presumably Annie, were originally buried at the home site, but David’s granddaughter, China, had David moved into the Richmond Cemetery in the 1930s.  A photograph of his grave is below, showing the old slab China had made, and the beautiful new marker put up by some of David’s descendants a few years ago. If you go to visit the grave, it is near the front entrance, close to the office. As far as I know, Annie was left behind when David was moved, so she is still a part of their home site, although the location of her grave is unknown to us now.
 

I was also able to visit both the original site and the current reproduction site of Fort Boonesborough, near Richmond. David and Annie, Mary and Abraham, and my other set of 6^th Great Grandparents, William and Sarah (nee Callaway) Hoy, were some of the first pioneers at Boonesborough, and they are all  listed on the monument just outside the reproduction fort.
 

The original fort is long gone, but the site was marked by the D.A.R. 99 years ago with a monument. As you can see from the photograph below, David Crews’ name is inscribed upon the monument that sits inside the area which was once enclosed by the original fort. This site was also where the first Christian church service in Kentucky was held, and also where the first Legislative Session ever held in Kentucky occurred.
 

The reproduction fort is a wonderful place to visit, and I hope you are able to go see it someday. Take a few minutes to look at the website of the Fort Boonesborough Foundation, they have a lot more historical information and photographs than I could include here. (www.fortboonesboroughlivinghistory.org)

If anyone would like to post stories or pics of their ancestors on our family tree, feel free to contact me at donnahechlerporterbooks.wordpress.com. 

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Jeremiah Crews, Possible Children, Part Six: David Cruse

    Another possible child of Jeremiah Crews/Cruse and Elizabeth Harland was David Cruse who was, according to the 1840 Sullivan County, Indiana census, born between 1801 and 1810. If this David was the son of Jeremiah, then I believe he was more likely born closer to 1801 if not before. Sister Mary Amelia Cruse is documented in several census records as having been born in 1801, and Jeremiah left Madison County, Kentucky, about 1800, more than likely after a series of bitter disputes with his father (Porter, Metes & Bounds II: David Crews, Ancestors & Descendants, 195). David Crews' remarriage to Mildred Williford Carlew in 1802 after the death of Jeremiah's mother Annie (Magee), probably about 1797, did not help matters. 
   Supposedly, Jeremiah and brother Elijah Crews were so upset at being cut from their father's will that they changed the spelling of their name and subsequently left Madison County, although it is possible Jeremiah left between his mother's death and his father's remarriage. Regardless of the timing of his move, it seems unlikely that Jeremiah would have named a son after his estranged father. More than likely, David Cruse was born in Madison County, but he if not, then he may have been born in Clark County, for Jeremiah Cruse purchased property there in 1800 (Porter, Metes & Bounds II:, 195).

     David Cruse spent little time in one place during his childhood and young adult years. By 1810, Jeremiah had left Clark County, Kentucky, and had moved to Henry County, Kentucky (1810 census). Between 1810 and 1820 Jeremiah moved on to Daviess County, Kentucky. It is possible that in 1919 David Cruse received two grants of land from the General Land Office of the United States. The first was recorded on 13 March 1919. The deed does not convey the number of acres on its face, although the second deed, which was recorded at the Vincennes Land Office as well, this time a week later on 20 March 1919, states this second grant was for 40 acres.  It also appears David might not have filed them until years later, for on the face of it they both appear to not have been patented until 10 December 1841 and the 1 August 1839 respectively. The deed patented officially in 1841 states David was living in Sullivan County, Indiana. (Both land grants, which were copies of the typed originals, were given to me courtesy of Marian Kay Cruse Abbott). 

    Both of the above grants were for lands in township 10, but as Honey Creek township, where David ultimately settled, was numbered 3, these grants were not located there, although he did receive two grants in that township at some point (see here for a map of those lands.) When David moved from Sullivan County to Vigo County is not known, but by 1830 Jeremiah Cruse was living in Vigo County, Indiana, where he is found in census that year, along with the families of Boone, Nelson, and Adams, David was more than likely here as well, and he was probably the male aged 20-29 in Jeremiah Cruse's household that year. 

   Three years later, on 1 May 1833, David married Jane Jewel in Vigo County, Indiana (Ancestry.com. Indiana, Marriage Index, 1800-1941 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005.) Jane was eighteen years old at the time of the marriage, having been born in Indiana in 1815 according to both the 1850 and 1860 Vigo County, Indiana censuses. (The 1870 gives a birth year of 1820 which is unlikely, as such a date would  indicate she was merely 13 years old at the time of the marriage.) 

   Seven years after their marriage, the 1840 Sullivan County, Indiana census enumerates the David Cruse household as having 3 males under the age of 5, 1 male aged 5-9, 3 males aged 30-39, and 2 females aged 20-29. One of the older females is obviously Jane, and one of the older males is obviously David, but who the others are is not known. According to later census records, the male aged 5-9 was probably David and Jane's oldest son, Josiah Cruse, born in 1834. Behind him, and in the under 5 category, were likely son Jeremiah Cruse, born in 1836 and aged 4 at the time of the census, son Zachariah Cruse, born in 1838 and aged 2, and son William Cruse, born in 1840. 

   More children followed after 1840 - John Cruse in 1843, James Cruse in 1844, and the only daughter the couple would have, Elizabeth Cruse, born in 1846. Around this time, or not long after Elizabeth's birth, David died. Jane never remarried, but continued to live in Honey Creek Township in Vigo County on their farm. In the 1850 census, she was 35 years old and was enumerated as the head of the household along with her seven children.

   On 1 July 1850 David's sister and her husband, Susannah and James Nelson, granted to David Crews, deceased, and his heirs, a tract of land in Vigo County, Indiana. No money is mentioned as changing hands in the deed, and a further note clearly states Susannah gave up her right of dower to the property. The deed was recorded in  Vigo County on 8 November 1850. It is unclear whether this property was sold to David and a deed had not yet been recorded, or whether it was possibly part of a settlement of their father Jeremiah's estate that had not been handled at the time of David's death. Unfortunately, there are no details given on the deed. (Original copy of deed given to me courtesy of Marian Kay Cruse Abbott.) 

   The 1860 Vigo County, Indiana census still enumerates Jane as the head of the household, this time with only her last four children living with her. A year later, the Civil War started. Sons John, Zachariah, and James enlsited in Co Co, 31st Indiana, and John was subsequently killed in the Battle of Chattanooga on 5 August 1864. He was buried in Chattanooga National Cemetery in Hamilton County, Tennessee (www.findagrave.com.) 

   By the time the 1870 Vigo County, Indiana census was taken, only daughter Elizabeth Cruse, aged 23 and apparently unmarried, was living with Jane, but there is a year old male child named Elijah Cruse living with her. This child may have been born out of wedlock, for Elizabeth and Elijah are found living in her brother Josiah's household in the Crawford County, Illinois census ten years later in 1880. She is still given the surname Crews, as is Elijah, who is enumerated as Josiah's nephew.  Jane, in the 1870 census, is enumerated as being 50 years old which is an error as it conflicts with previous census records and would also indicate a marriage age of 13 which is rather unlikely.

    A year later, on 4 August 1871, Jane sold to Stephen Lovell for $50 1/3 acre of land in township eleven (which was Riley Township and not Honey Creek) in Vigo County, Indiana, which was her life dower of 1/3 interest. (Copy of original deed courtesy of Marian Kay Cruse Abbott.) It is possible Stephen was her son-in-law, having married Elizabeth Cruse the previous year (Vigo County, Indiana; Index to Marriage Record 1840-1920 Inclusive Volume, W. P. A. Original Record Located: County Clerk's O; Book: 5; Page: 340). If so, I have no explanation for why her surname is given as Cruse in her brother's subsquent census in 1880. Since 1/3 interest is mentioned in the deed, it is more than likely deceased husband David Cruse's property and not property she inherited from her father. It was also located in another township and not Honey Creek. 

    Jane must have died after this date and before the 1880 census, for she is not enumerated in her own household nor in that of her children. 

Jeremiah Crews, Possible Chidren, Part Three: Elizabeth Crews Boon

This is the third installment in a continuing series detailing the possible children of Jeremiah Crews and Elizabeth Harland/Harlan. This research is courtesy of Marian Kay Abbott who is diligently searching for a link proving the Jeremiah Crews of Vigo County, Indiana, was the son of David Milton Crews and Annie Magee of Madison County, Kentucky.

Elizabeth Crews, who married Josiah Boon (spelling of cemetery marker, see below) in Shelby County, Kentucky on 31 July 1813, is named in the marriage record as a daughter of Jeremiah Crews. The bondsman for the marriage was Zachariah Crews. If she is a daughter of Jeremiah and a granddaughter of David and Annie (Magee) Crews, she was likely born in Madison County, Kentucky, about the year 1792 and probably on Otter Creek, as that was where her father was living at the time (see Metes & Bounds II: David Crews, Ancestors & Descendants). 

        

Courtesy of Wikipedia

Sarah Rockenfeld in her book Our Boone Families: Daniel Boone's Kinfolk (Whipporwill Publications, Evansville: 1987, pgs 71-72, extracted and shared by Marian Kay Abbott), gives Josiah's name as  Josiah Boon III.  At the time of his marriage to Elizabeth, he was a veteran of the War of 1812, having served as a private in the 1st Rifle Regiment (Allen's), Kentucky Volunteers. According to Rockenfeld, Elizabeth later received 80 acres of bounty land on Josiah's service.

Josiah and Elizabeth moved with the families of Nelson, Adams, and Crews, in the 1820s, into Vigo and Sullivan Counties, Indiana. Here, Josiah owned 80 acres in Haddon Township in Sullivan County, Indiana (NE N FR, Sec. 3, T6N, R9W, Rockenfeld does not indicate this 80 acres was part of his bounty warrant.)  Sullivan County was directly south of Vigo County. The Wabash River borders the county on the west, with the state of Illinois across the river.

Picture from www.findagrave.com.

Josiah is enumerated  in the 1830 Sullivan County, Indiana,  census as having 1 male 40-49, 1 male 15-19, 1 male 10-14, 4 males 5-9, and 2 males under 5. Females in the household included 1 between the ages of 30-39, 1 female 10-14, 2 females 5-9, and 1 female under 5. Obviously the oldest male is Josiah and the oldest female is Elizabeth.  This is the only census available for Josiah, for he died on 4 September 1836 in Sullivan County, Indiana. He was buried in the Boone Cemetery in that county, and a War of 1812 monument marks his grave.

Elizabeth is subsequently enumerated in the 1840 and 1850 Sullivan County, Indiana, censuses in Haddon Township, but with son David Boon, aged 34, as the head of the household in the 1850 census.  Others enumerated with her and who were likely her children were: Joseph Boon, 24, Pearcus Boon, 22, Nancy Boon, 19, Thomas Boon,  17, and William Boon, 14. William must have been born shortly before or after his father's death. Six year old Elizabeth Boon was probably a granddaughter, and carpenter  Willis Milam, 34, was living with them as well.

According to Rockenfeld, Elizabeth (Crews) Boon, five of her children,  and two small grandchildren died in August of 1851 of the "flux," which was caused by eating meat that had been undercooked and thus the parasites had not been killed. Rockenfeld states this was probably wild meat, and that the meat was probably eaten on a Sunday while the family was at Elizabeth's house visiting. Those who died were Elizabeth (Crews) Boon, George Boon, David Boon, Mary E."Polly" Boon Boatman and her baby, Levi Boatman, Nancy Boon, William Boon, and a grandson Columbus W. Lowdermilk, the baby of Leah Boon Lowdermilk. 

They were all buried in the  the Boone Cemetery in Paxton, Sullivan County, Indiana, and all have entries on www.findagrave.com. 

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.

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.