Searching Crawford County, Missouri

In 1832, Allen Davis (1809-1886), my 3rd great-grandfather, bought land and settled in Crawford County, Missouri. The land he bought was on Whittenburg Creek on Dobkins farm.  Three years later, he married my 3rd great-grandmother, Missouri Scott (1821-1890), who was likely born in Crawford County, Missouri (still looking for proof).

Since that time, my family has lived in Crawford County. My great-great grandfather, Moses Henry Davis (1842-1915) was the postmaster of a town that ended up becoming named Davisville because of him.  Additionally, I still have some first cousins there (once removed, mind you).  In fact, my mom's first cousin, Lyle, is the police chief of Steelville, the county seat. It is strange when you think about your family living in an area for at least 180 years.  Other families married into the Davis line, like the Martins and Deweeses, who all settled there by 1850.  Some family members left, but often not to far. Most remained in Missouri over the years, quite a few in St. Louis.

Crawford County is not particularly large.  It has a population of around 25,000.  I am probably related, in some way, to a good portion of that population.  So, it is not particularly surprising that I spend a lot of time doing research on the inhabitants of that county.  I am working on my family tree going down. One of my best resources in recent years has been the Steelville Star-Crawford Mirror, the local paper.  I find some family gossip on occasion, but mainly look to it for obituaries which help me flush out my line.

Currently, I have been going through the 1940 U.S. Federal Census, township by township.  I look for the surnames I have become familiar with over the years and see if they match up with people in my tree; names such as, Davis, Martin, Deweese, Setzer, Britton, England, Worley, and Turnbough, just to name a few.  It has been taking me a while to get through just one township because I am related to so many people.  However, I do love that I have a place that I know is rich with my family history.  You can't beat that.

Looking for the Dead

Lately, I have been quite busy going obituaries. Lots and lots of obituaries.

Obituaries are a great resource of information, whether going up the tree or down.  A good obit lists the birth date, death date, parents' names, and, if it is really fabulous, even a marriage date. 

When I am looking at an obituary, I try to pull every piece of information I can from it, from sibling names, to children and sometimes, if I am lucky, grandchildren.  

The obituaries I am focusing on now all come from Crawford County, Missouri.  My maternal grandfather's family has lived there for many generations.  In fact, the Andrews family (from North Carolina), the Martins (from Casey County, Kentucky and before that Albemarle, Virginia), and the DeWeeese family (from Cumberland County, Kentucky) all settled in Crawford County at some point before 1850.  The Davis family, though, has been there the longest. They first settled in Crawford County on Whittenburg Creek in 1832.

Generation after generation of these families have stayed. I still have first cousins (granted, once removed) who still live in Crawford.  So, when I go through the obituaries, I merely do a search of my tree to see if I'm related to any of the people listed in the obituaries. More times than not, I am. 

Currently I have gone through all the obits from 2000 through half of 2001. My plan is to catch up and go through all of the obits, including the current ones. Luckily for me, the GenWeb site for Crawford County has all of these obituaries online. What a fantastic resource!