Maternal Ancestor Charts ... to Date (Direct Line)

As I explained yesterday, I thought I had previously posted the direct line ancestor charts for my maternal side, to the extent I've found them thus far, but when  I looked for them, I only found one side posted and I'd screwed up the image posting somehow. So I'm going to post the charts for the maternal side of my family (to date) tonight.

I'm only doing direct line charts because there are too many people in most generations to post readable charts if I were to include entire families. And I'm only including the people I'm pretty sure of -- so yes, I might have others on my working tree ...trying them out, so to speak. But not here.

Vertical Pedigree Chart for Clarence Weldon Snyder (1910-1984)
My maternal grandfather
Click to make bigger

Vertical Pedigree Chart for Mabel LeRe Erwin (1910-1990)
My maternal grandmother
Click to make bigger

If you think we share any ancestors, please contact me. I'd love to hear from you! You can leave a comment or email at the address on my Contact Me page.

52 Ancestors: Ancestor #1 Crawford Erwin, 1818-1910

[Picture property of Jimmie Ferguson, Bowling Green Kentucky, used with permission. Click to embiggen.]

Crawford Erwin is my third great grandfather, and it is through researching his family that I connected with my first previously unknown cousin, a third cousin once removed, Jimmie Ferguson. He had several photographs of our mutual several times great grandfather and he graciously allowed me to use the photo above for my blog. Jimmie is descended through Crawford’s son ,Edward, from his second wife, and I am descended through Crawford’s second son from his first marriage.

I’ve done several posts about others in Crawford Erwin’s family. He is the son of Judge William Erwin and the father of John Erwin and Eli Erwin. They have been easier than some to write about as biographical sketches of several family members were written up in History of Wayne and Clay Counties, Illinois", published in 1884.

The book describes Crawford Erwin as one of Hoosier Township's "best and most prominent farmers." He would have been sixty-six when it was published. Crawford was born on April 19, 1818, in Lawrence County, Indiana, when his father was 40 and his mother was 35. His father, William Erwin, moved with part of his family, including Crawford and two of his brothers, to Clay County in October, 1832.  Crawford was fourteen at the time.  

Crawford Erwin was “brought up among the deer and other wild animals, and hence early learned the use of fire-arms. He has killed many a deer and other wild game.  At one time, upon returning home from taking his grandmother to his aunt's, he saw a herd of seven deer. He at once brought his gun to his shoulder (for they always carried guns then), and fired without getting off the horse.  The ball passed entirely through the deer he had shot at, and entered another one just in the rear, killing both of them. This was a wonderful feat for a boy. “ (I think it was pretty amazing since he likely had a muzzle loading rifle. It probably also was a flintlock rifle. Percussion rifles had just been invented in the 1820’s and were more expensive and thus not likely to have been given to a boy. The U.S. army had adopted an early single shot breech loader in 1819; but again, given the expense, it is doubtful that a boy had one.) 

In 1837, when he was 19 years old,  he married Eliza A. Craig (my third great-grandmother), daughter of Adam Craig, an early settler of Clay county; she was also 19. They had seven children, two of whom  died in childhood, in 1852, (Sarah Jane, 13, and Elbert, 16 mos.); those who survived to adulthood were William, John, Eli, Lafayette, and Elizabeth Adeline. Eliza died in February 1855, and Crawford again married, July 3 of the same year; this time to Mrs. Rachel Humes Milligan. (While this might seem like unseemly haste, Crawford was a farmer, which would have involved long hours in the fields, or hunting for meat for his family, and when Eliza died, their youngest surviving child was only one year old, and the rest were boys of 7, 12, 14, and 17. He needed someone to care for his youngest sons and baby daughter.) Rachel also likely needed a man to help provide for her children as the 1860 Census shows four children under 15 with Rachel’s prior married name living with Crawford and Rachel. He and Rachel had another five children together, two of whom were living in 1884 when the county history book was published, Angeline and Edward Everett. 

[Crawford Erwin seated with second wife Rachel Humes Milligan Erwin. Back row, standing (L to R): Angeline Erwin Britten, John Erwin (my 2nd great- grandfather), Edward Everett Erwin (Jim Ferguson's great-grandfather), and Elizabeth Adeline Erwin Kenley Henderson. (kindly given to me by Jim Ferguson, 9/23/13, and used with permission.) The gentleman with the medal is my 2nd-great-grandfather, John. The one labeled "Grandpa" is Jimmie Ferguson's 2nd-great-grandfather, Edward. They are half brothers. (Click to embiggen.)]

When the Civil War broke out Crawford’s three oldest sons left to fight for the North in the Missouri Volunteer Infantry, and his fourth son fought for the North in the Illinois Infantry.  Crawford's eldest son, Capt. William Erwin, Captain of Company D, Eleventh Regiment Missouri Volunteer Infantry, was killed in front at Spanish Fort, Ala., while “heroically leading his men on to victory”.  His third son, Eli, a private, was badly wounded at the Battle of Shiloh; and, while records show he survived in hospital a few months, he never made it home. His second son John was wounded in his first service but returned to fight again, and survived the war, to return to Clay County. The youngest of the four, Lafayette, also survived, and subsequently moved to California.

At the time the county history book was written, Crawford owned 347 acres of land and resided along the northern township line (sort of in the central portion) of Hoosier Prairie, Clay County, Illinois (see picture below, click to embiggen). He was a member of the Methodist Protestant Church, and of the Masonic order. For ten years, in addition to being a farmer, he held the office of Justice of the Peace, and “also has held other offices of trust”. 

Rachel Erwin died in 1893 at age 70, and apparently Crawford liked being married, as he married Elizabeth Adams the next year. She was 69 and he was 76. He was widowed again by 1910, and living in the home of Clara and Thomas McWilliams; the 1910 census lists Crawford as a step-father in that household. I haven’t figured out whether one of the two was a child of Rachel Humes Mulligan who wasn’t living with them after their marriage, a child of Elizabeth Adams, or whether he married yet again after Elizabeth Adams died. Crawford died on December 2, 1910, at the age of 92.

["History of Wayne and Clay Counties, Illinois” published 1884 by Chicago: Globe Publishing,historical Publishers, reprinted 2000 by Brookhaven Press , LaCrosse Wisconsin, (Google ebook, scanned), pp. 185 & 186 of original, pp. 655 & 656 of Google eBook scan;  Find-a-Grave: Illinois; Federal Census for 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910; Illinois, Marriages, to 1850 and 1851-1900[database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Volume 1, page 222, Lic # 2950, Clay County; Ancestry.com. U.S., Indexed County Land Ownership Maps, 1860-1918 (database on-line). Photos from Jimmie Ferguson, used with permission.]

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First pass of Mom’s Maternal line

In the past week I got as far as it appears I can on this first pass through of my Mom’s mother’s side of the family. Earlier, in the Catching You Up post, I explained how far I’d gotten up Mom’s maternal grandmother’s line in this first pass and posted a picture of the direct line pedigree chart starting from Fannie (Hartman) Hart Erwin (which involved the following surnames: Diehl, Hart, Hartman, Meyers, Speicher, Whonsetler, Wonsetler/Wonsettler, and Zimmerman). Since then, I’ve been researching Mom’s maternal grandfather’s family, and have gotten as far as I can go on this first not-so-very-in-depth pass. I’ve got some good hints as to where I’ll be going in the next step up in general, on several of the lines, but I just can’t find/make the next connection using the family papers I have, Ancestry.com, Google EBooks for county history books, Fold3.com, Google, and Newspapers.com, alone, right now.  [Yes, I know I originally said I’d stick to Ancestry.com for the first pass – I got enticed and distracted. ; ) ]

Mom’s maternal grandfather’s family tree, as I have it now, looks like this (click to embiggen):

It involves folks with the following surnames: Conley, Cosner, Craig, Erwin, Lewis, Miller, Wilson. 

I can tell that in the next pass I will be doing a lot more research into North Carolina, as I have indication in the documentation I have that nearly everyone I lost the trail of was born in or spent some time in North Carolina. It shows that Judge William Erwin & his wife Lydia Lewis were born in North Carolina, as were both Henry Conley, his father John, and his father John, and Henry’s wife Sarah Cosner. I have some indication that Judge William Erwin’s father, William, may have been born in Ireland. Adam Craig may have at one point been in Tennessee, since his daughter, Eliza Ann, was born in that state, but I really know very little about him. I know nothing about either John Conley's (1776-1853) wife or his mother.

Putting together the charts for my Mom's maternal line, the direct line chart of my maternal grandmother (Mom’s Mother, Mabel Erwin), as I have it now, looks like this (click to embiggen):

I’ve been reading up on lots of other possible types of searches for the second pass. That pass will take more time and more patience. I can see now too, that I will probably take some time off searching between the two passes to create and/or organize my physical files in a much better way as that will help me make a better and more successful search ultimately. I will probably also be sending out emails/letters to older relatives requesting memories/stories they have of their relatives/ancestors as those would both help my search and provide body & color to the bare bones of my document search to help me know my ancestors more as people. But first I must finish the first pass of the rest of the family.

This weekend I started the first pass of my mother’s paternal line of the family. I have some help with this side in the form of handwritten remembrances of her own family and family tree, and that of her husband, by my great grandmother, Pearl Pauline Bailey.  I started by entering her remembered connections and names as she wrote them into Ancestry.com and waited overnight for little wiggling leaves to show up to hopefully verify her memories. I’ve already discovered that her remembrances of family history aren’t entirely accurate. So, while it’s a start, it all must be verified. Fun!