CRAWFORD</CENTER>
CRAWFORD GENEALOGY
A Crawford Family
of Wiregrass Georgia and Florida
by
Dale M. Crawford
19 Rue Calais
Kenner, Louisiana 70065-2010
[504] 467-7028
11 December 1991
Copyright 1991
published serially in the 1993 issues of Georgia Genealogical
Magazine
Dedication
This genealogy of the Crawford family is dedicated to the man who
gave me my interest in this Crawford family as well as my Crawford
name: my father, Odom Millard Crawford of Jacksonville, Florida. My
father is a son of Thomas Aaron Crawford, who was a son of John C.
Crawford.
The Crawford family of this article is a large family that is
currently concentrated in the Wiregrass region of southeastern
Georgia and northeastern Florida. Individual members reside
throughout the United States. Other branches of this family
undoubtedly exist, but are not yet known to the author. There
appears to be little written on this family, and there are
mistakes in the material that is written on this family. This
article is intended to address this lack of published information
and to stimulate interest in this family so that answers to the
questions may become known. The organization of this article will
follow the line of the author's enquiry into this family. This
organization, perhaps unusual for an article in genealogical
research, aids significantly in clarifying what is and isn't known
about this family. The enquiry initially concentrated on the
branch of the Crawford family that settled in Baker and Bradford
counties in northeastern Florida. The author is a member of this
branch of the family. The goals of the enquiry were and are to
identify the immigrant Crawford who originated the family in this
country, approximately when he arrived, and his country of origin.
While this goal remains unchanged, it has not yet been met, and
enough research has been completed to suggest that achieving the
goal will be a long and arduous process.
What was Known from Family Traditions
Prior to beginning research, a number of the older members of the
family were contacted in order to learn as much as possible about
what was known. This information is summarized in this section.
There is a family tradition that this Crawford family is of
Scotch-Irish descent, and that the family moved into Georgia from
Virginia through the Carolinas. There is also a family tradition of
a group of several brothers who together were believed to make up an
earlier generation of the family. The author's great-grandfather was
John C. Crawford, who was born somewhere in Georgia and who died in
Baker County, Florida. On the back of an old photograph of John C.
Crawford in the possession of the author's father is the handwritten
annotation, "John C. Crawford 1834-1912", accompanied by no other
information. Based on this note, John C. Crawford was believed to
have been born in 1834 and to have died in 1912. John C. Crawford
was a farmer throughout his adult life, and was a Primitive Baptist
minister for some part of his life. He was married to Elizabeth
Roberts, and they were the parents of a large family, with nine
children whose names and birth dates were known through family
records. There was also a memory that John C. Crawford had a child
named Harly or Harlan by an earlier marriage.
The Beginning of the Search
Research located John C. Crawford in census records. In 1860, he
lived in Pierce County, Georgia [53, p. 1022]. By 1870, he had moved
to Charlton County, Georgia [54, p. 25] . By 1880, he had moved to
Baker County, Florida, where he can be found in the 1880 U. S. and
the 1885 Florida censuses of Baker County [55, 58]. In the 1860
census of Pierce County, John C. Crawford is listed as a farmer with
a spouse named Mariann and a son named Harly of age one year. This
marriage is evidently his first marriage. The 1870 census of
Charlton County, Georgia, finds John C. Crawford listed as a farmer
of age 34, along with his wife, Elizabeth, 30, and children Harly,
12, Thomas, 3, Alice, 2, and Nirum, 5/12. Apparently, his first
wife, Mariann, died sometime between 1860 and 1865. John C. Crawford
then married Elizabeth Roberts in about 1865, and she gave birth to
their first child, Thomas Aaron[the author's grandfather], on 12
October, 1866. In the 1880 census of Baker County, Florida, the
family was found to consist at that time of John C. Crawford, a
farmer of age 43, Elizabeth Crawford, age 39, and eight children.
The eight children and their ages were: Thomas Aaron [14], Alice
[12], James C. [10], Niram [10], George [8], Gideon [6], Jefferson
[4], Ruebin[ 3], and John [4 months]. Note that the child, James,
appearing in this census, did not appear in the 1870 Census, nor do
any of the family's records or remembrances include James. The son,
James, appears to be an error, or, perhaps a visiting nephew or
cousin, for he is otherwise unexplainable. John C. Crawford,
Elizabeth Crawford and the first seven children were listed as
having been born in Georgia. The eighth child [John] was born in
Florida. In this census, John C. Crawford lists the birthplace of
his parents as Georgia. Another source [31] says that John C.
Crawford was pastor of the Emmaus Primitive Baptist Church in 1880.
This church is located in the "Big Bend" section of Charlton County,
Georgia, about five miles below Saint George. This location would be
a short distance across the St. Mary's River from Baker County,
Florida. In the 1885 State Census of Baker County, Florida, the
family is shown without the questionable son, James C., but with the
addition of a young daughter, Martha, age 1. In this census, John C.
Crawford lists his occupation for the first time as "Minister of the
Gospel". In the 1910 census of Baker County [59], John C. and
Elizabeth Crawford were living with their son, Niram. John C. was
shown as age 73, and he reported that he had been married twice, was
born in Georgia, was a veteran of Confederate service, and again
listed Georgia as the birthplace of both his mother and father.
Elizabeth reported that she was 71, was born in Georgia, and that
she had borne nine children. This statement by Elizabeth Crawford
that she had borne nine children provides additional support for
excluding as her child, James C., a child who was included among her
children in the 1880 census, but who appears nowhere else in family
records or remembrances.
TABLE 1
THE CHILDREN OF JOHN C. AND ELIZABETH CRAWFORD
TABLE 2
AN HYPOTHESIS ABOUT THE CHILDREN OF GIDEON CRAWFORD AND SARAH
BURGESS
TABLE 3
MENTIONS OF VARIOUS CRAWFORDS IN EFFINGHAM COUNTY AREA RECORDS
(1769-1812)
TABLE 4
VARIOUS NAMES OF MALE CRAWFORDS WITH DATES OF MENTION IN
EFFINGHAM COUNTY, GEORGIA
TABLE 5
ASSOCIATES OF THE CRAWFORDS IN EFFINGHAM COUNTY
TABLE 6
LAND WARRANTS AND GRANTS BASED ON HEAD RIGHTS MADE TO
EFFINGHAM COUNTY CRAWFORDS
TABLE 7
CHILDREN OF JOHN AND PRISCILLA CRAWFORD
PRISCILLA MULLADY
SOURCE MATERIALS
DALE CRAWFORD
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