Different name, same person?

[Muriel]

I wonder what people think about this one & apologies now for the length of this. I have the family of John Crawford & Christina McCallum Shearer as follows:

1. Mary McCallum Shearer Crawford b. 1866 d. 1867
2. John Crawford b. 1870 d. aft. 1930
3. David Douglas Crawford b. 1872 d. 1894
4. Christina McCallum Shearer Crawford b. 1873
5. Thomas Crawford b. 1875
6. William Smith Shearer Crawford b. 1877
7. Mabel Stanley Crawford b. 1879 d. 1967
8. Randolph Roland Percival Crawford b. 1883
9. Bertram Cecil Edmond Crawford b. 1885
10. Reginald Bruce Crawford b. 1888 d. 1963

In the 1881 census (can’t find them in 1871) John & Christina are at 6 Bridgeton Cross with John, David, Christina, Thomas, William & Mabel. In 1891 they are at 83 Govan Road with John, David, Christina, Thomas, William, Mabel, Randolph, Bertram & Reginald. By 1901 Christina is a widow (haven’t yet tracked down John’s death but he was the death informant for David’s death in 1894, signing himself J.S. Crawford) living at 5 Rutland Crescent, Kinning Park with, as head of household her son PERCIVAL S Crawford, aged 25, Christina, William, Mabel, Randolph, Bertram & Reginald. John, by now calling himself John Stanley Crawford, had married Jeanie Bell Flanagan in 1898. One of the witnesses is Percy S. Crawford.

In 1903 Percival & Christina arrive in New York on their way to their uncle Hugh Shearer in North Andover, Mass & in 1904 mother Christina arrives in Boston with William, Mabel, Randolph, Bertram & Reginald to join her son & daughter with Percival’s name given & his address as 80 Massachusetts Ave, North Andover. In the 1910 census Christina (recorded as Gretchen) is at Laurence Ward 5, Essex, Massachusetts with Percival, William, Randolph, Bertram & Reginald. Christina is shown as having given birth to 11 children of whom 8 are still living. John & Jeanie also emigrated to Massachusetts & I have them in the censuses until 1930.

So I know that 6 children - John, William, Percival, Mabel, Bertram & Reginald were alive in 1910. I now have to decide if Thomas changed his name to Percival, possibly after his father’s death – his grandfather was Thomas Crawford. This seems to me to be the most likely explanation (perhaps he was jealous of his siblings fantoosh names). There is a 4-year gap between Mary & John when there could have been a short-lived child I haven’t picked up. But I’d be grateful to know, if you’ve made it to the end of this epistle, what others think. I have no death information for John, Christina, Percival, Randolph or Bertram.

Muriel

[speleobat2]

Hi Muriel,

The name change is certainly a possibility. Lots of people did that especially after them immigrated. Maybe he just didn't like the name Percival!

Have you checked the WWI draft registrations on Ancestry? It looks like there is one for Reginald Crawford living in Tewksbury, Middlesex, MA. There is also one for a Bertram Stanley Crawford living in Massachusetts, but that is a different middle name than you have. Both have dates of birth so you can compare if you have them.

Carol

[Muriel]

Hi Carol

Looks like he changed his name to Percival!

However, you make me look again at Bertram Stanley & in doing so I found the missing child of Christina's 11. The first Bertram Cecil Edmond was born on 5 Jan 1885 & died 2 Feb 1885. The second Bertram Cecil Edmond (according to his b.c) was born 27 May 1886. As the Bertram Stanley in both the WW1 & WW2 draft registrations gives his d.o.b. as 28 May 1886 I think they must be one & the same.

The name Stanley seems to have had some meaning for the family. Father John was signing himself J. S, son John gave himself the middle name Stanley, Bertram changed his middle names to Stanley & by the WW2 draft Reginald was signing himself Reginald B. S. Percy/ival also used S as an initial. On his WW1 & 2 registrations Bertram shows his next of kin as Mrs Ruth V. Crawford, so it looks as if he married. Reginald gives his in WW1 as Tina Daniels (presumably sister Christina) and in WW2 as Mrs Moffat, who was definitely his sister Mabel. It looks as if mother Christina may have died before 1917 & possibly Percival as well otherwise I would have expected Reginald to name him as next of kin.

In comparison to this lot the rest of the family lived very sedate lives & had very ordinary names!

Thanks for the help.

Muriel

[speleobat2]

Ooops! Some days I can't tell my left foot from my right!

Unless Percival changed his name back to Thomas, I think you're right in thinking he died before 1917.

One thing I will say for this family instead of lacking middle names to give you clues, this one seems to have an overload of them!

Good hunting!

Carol

[Muriel]

No they all seem to change them to Stanley I was looking again at Bertram's WW1 registration and clicked over to the next one - Randolph Stanley Crawford, next of kin, Tina Daniels. Still no sign of Percival though.

Muriel

[speleobat2]

Muriel,

Are you familiar with this site:

John Moffat - pafg03.htm - Generated by Personal Ancestral FileDavid married Mabel Stanley Crawford in 1907. She was born in 1880 in Glasgow, Lanark, Scotland. On 02 Apr 1904 she emigrated from Scotland to Boston, ...
http://www.fromscotlandtoamerica.com/moffat/pafg03.htm

Found it by googling "Stanley Crawford" Scotland

Mabel Crawford Moffat and husband are written up and there are pictures of Mabel and a baby.

Carol

Edit: The baby belongs to William Moffat, but there are two pictures of David and Mabel.

[Muriel]

Yes, I did the same! That's how I knew who the Mrs Moffat listed on Reginald's WW2 registration was. It also gives her death date, which is confirmed by the Social Security Death Index. Reginald doesn't seem to have married & is shown in the SSDI as dying in Chicago in 1963.

I changed the 2nd Bertram's name to Bertram Stanley & got 2 hits on Ancestry, both showing him marrying Rotha Vickerson & dying on 2 Feb 1961 in Methuen, Mass. One of the trees shows him having a son named, what a surprise, Bertram Stanley in 1917. The other shows a daughter Mabel Ethel b. 1920. I find it odd that people can do a tree that entirely misses their aunts/uncles; neither are still living according to the trees. I'm kind of surprised that I haven't found either BS in the SSDI.The hunt goes on -I'm becoming obsessed by this family

Muriel

[speleobat2]

Hi Muriel,

All of genealogy is obsessive!

I was looking at Stanley families in the Glasgow area last evening and found one with a connection to a Moffat family. Long shot, I know, but you can never tell. I think it was on the 1851 census and there was an Alexander Stanley age 7 living with his uncle who was a Moffat. The printer is upstairs and my laptop is downstairs this morning so I don't have the paper right here. With cousins marrying each other the way they used too, it might be worth looking into this lot.

Whoever your Stanley was he obviously made quite an impression on your family!

Carol

[Muriel]

Hi Carol

I'll have a look at the Stanley/Moffat connections - it does look as if Mabel & David knew each other prior to emigrating & there could well be a connection.

I've got Longmuirs in my family too but they're from Lanarkshire not the North-East!

Muriel

[speleobat2]

Hi Muriel,

There are Longmuir/Longmores everywhere and I'm related to about half of them!

Have you looked at the city directories on Ancestry?

If not, go to the card catalogue and click on Massachusetts City Directories. Choose Lawrence, then the year and the letter C. Use the Image number window to skip ahead to get to Crawford.
In 1915-1916, Percival S and Edna are living at 41 Butler (image 30). In 1918-1919, Edna widow of Percival is living at 41 Butler.

1910 (image 53), 1911 (image 52-53), and 1912 (image50) have the family mostly like the 1910 census, but William S. is gone in 1912. He might simply have moved to another town.

I only looked at these few years. There are many more to keep you busy!

Carol