James Crawford of Paisley

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TKirouac
Posts: 11
Joined: Tue Mar 22, 2011 3:21 pm

James Crawford of Paisley

Post by TKirouac » Tue Mar 29, 2011 4:43 pm

Yesterday I had a major breakthrough of a 20 year old brick wall, and I want to agree with those that have written here, that you need to stand back and re-evaluate those walls once in awhile.

This old wall consisted of the family of James and Jane Crawford, who emigrated to Lanark Township, Lanark County, Upper Canada on the Earl of Buckinghamshire in 1821, as part of the Paisley Townhead Emigration Society. My 3x great Granny Janet Crawford was their youngest, but with James dying in 1828, Jane in 1834, and the rest of the children long gone by the time the first Canadian census was done in 1851, I didn't even have names for the other children. All I had was that they came with 6 children, 2 boys and 4 girls. And that 1 boy and 1 girl were over the age of 12 in 1821. Years ago a search of the old IGI microfiche had surfaced one likely family, that of a James Crawford and Jane/Jean Kennedy with children Marion, Robert, Jane, Margaret, James and Janet, with a marriage and baptisms all in Kilbarchan, Renfrewshire. But for years this has only been a hunch and no amount of searching on Scotlandspeople, FamilySearch or Ancestry had helped. Oddly enough, I can't even find those records on the new Familysearch, as now baptisms for Robert and Marion show up in Paisley. But sometimes all you have are your hunches and with little else to go on, you play along with them.

My breakthrough came from son Robert, B: 24 Nov 1804, Paisley, Renfrew, when I followed up on Ancestry on a Robert Crawford, now a minister, married and living in Adams, Mass. by 1850. Two of his children, christened Jane Douglas and James Douglas, made me sit up and pay attention, as my 2x great Granny had been named Janet Douglas Gemmill, and I'd never been able to determine where the Douglas came from. Googling this Robert's inlaws, Edward Dorr Griffin and Frances Huntington, brought me to "The Descendents of Jasper Griffing" on http://www.books.google.ca and this:
"Sixth Generation. page 90-91
356. Ellen Maria Griffing, born 10 Jany., 1810, daughter of Rev. E.D. Griffing (103) and Frances (Huntington) Griffing, married, 30 Sept., 1840, Rev. Robert Crawford, D.D., born 24 Nov., 1804, son of James and Jane (Kennedy) Crawford of Paisley, Scotland. he came to America with his parents in 1821, graduated at Williams College in 1836; was tutor there; and received the degree of Doctor of Divinity at Jefferson College in 1858. He has been settled as a minister in different places: in 1851 was at Deerfield, Mass.
Children:
670. Francis H. Crawford, b. 24 Sept., 1841, at N. Adams, Mass.
671. Edward Dorr Griffing Crawford, b. 30 July, 1843; d. 16 Dec., 1843.
672. Jane Douglas Crawford, b. 18 Nov., 1845; d. Aug., 1847.
673. James Douglas Crawford, b. 25 Dec., 1847.
674. Robert Gordon Crawford, b. 4 Sept., 1850; d. 17 Aug., 1851.
675. Lyndon Smith Crawford, b. 24 March, 1852.
676. Ellen Margaret Crawford, b. 18 Oct., 1854.
"

And then this from the same site: "A Biographical record of the Kappa Alpha Society in Williams College by Kappa Alpha, Massachussets
Hon. and Rev. Robert Crawford, D.D., of Deerfield, Mass., son of James and Jane [Kennedy] Crawford, was born at Paisley, Scotland, then his parents' home, November 24th, 1804. In 1821 his father emigrated with his family to America, settling on new wild land in the township of Lanark, Canada West."

Eureka! =D>

There is more written about Robert and his family in both these books, if there are others out there interested in this line. Now I know I'm on the right track, and can finally concentrate on the correct family. Coincidently, the name Lyndon Crawford also recurs in the descendents of Robert's sister Janet Crawford/John Gemmill's lines.

Follow those hunches!
Tracey

Russell
Posts: 2559
Joined: Sat Dec 24, 2005 5:59 pm
Location: Kilbarchan, Renfrewshire

Re: James Crawford of Paisley

Post by Russell » Tue Mar 29, 2011 8:15 pm

Hello Tracey
[talkingscot] Welcomes you especially when you start off with the kind of guidance and advice that some folk find it difficult to follow especially if they are on a roll finding new family lines and links.
I'm in Kilbarchan so I dug out some earlier Crawford marriages and births which I'll send via e-mail. They might give you some more clues to the next generation back. There are two churches (of Scotland) in the village and most Crawfords are linked with the West or Established Church. The records I have are from 1649 to 1772 so a bit early but the Scottish naming patterns were generally followed.

Feel free to share your next brick walls with us. We enjoy the challenge :D

Russell
Working on: Oman, Brock, Miller/Millar, in Caithness.
Roan/Rowan, Hastings, Sharp, Lapraik in Ayr & Kirkcudbrightshire.
Johnston, Reside, Lyle all over the place !
McGilvray(spelt 26 different ways)
Watson, Morton, Anderson, Tawse, in Kilrenny

TKirouac
Posts: 11
Joined: Tue Mar 22, 2011 3:21 pm

Re: James Crawford of Paisley

Post by TKirouac » Tue Mar 29, 2011 8:55 pm

Awesome Russell! Thankyou so much!

The Crawford Baptisms that I found on Familysearch for Robert (29 Dec 1799) and Marion (03 Dec 1801), said they were from the Low Church, Paisley. Then for a second Robert (24 Dec 1804) but this time at Abbey (Paisley), Renfrew. The Kilbarchan records I'd copied from the IGI didn't state a church, I don't believe.

Thank goodness for good old Scottish naming patterns. I can't wait to dig into the book you sent. There is nothing like getting onto the scent of a whole new line of research....."Release the hounds!!"

Tracey

Russell
Posts: 2559
Joined: Sat Dec 24, 2005 5:59 pm
Location: Kilbarchan, Renfrewshire

Re: James Crawford of Paisley

Post by Russell » Tue Mar 29, 2011 9:17 pm

Hi Tracey

I only e-mailed a small part of it. The whole thing is 10Mb which would give my e-mail server indigestion :?
The name Craufurd of Auchenames is a major family dynasty here but I doubt your branch had any connection :wink:

Russell
Working on: Oman, Brock, Miller/Millar, in Caithness.
Roan/Rowan, Hastings, Sharp, Lapraik in Ayr & Kirkcudbrightshire.
Johnston, Reside, Lyle all over the place !
McGilvray(spelt 26 different ways)
Watson, Morton, Anderson, Tawse, in Kilrenny

TKirouac
Posts: 11
Joined: Tue Mar 22, 2011 3:21 pm

Re: James Crawford of Paisley

Post by TKirouac » Thu Mar 31, 2011 3:27 pm

Hello Russell,
I'm not able to access this book on googlebooks. Do you know if a reproduction is available to purchase either online or in paper form? I am new to googlebooks too, so maybe I'm missing something here, but I was able to download a few others that I found helpful. This one is still restricted but unlike others I've seen, there is no link to where you can buy a copy.

Tracey

Russell
Posts: 2559
Joined: Sat Dec 24, 2005 5:59 pm
Location: Kilbarchan, Renfrewshire

Re: James Crawford of Paisley

Post by Russell » Thu Mar 31, 2011 5:10 pm

Hi Tracey
Which books you can download appears to depend on where you live. Canadian relatives were able to download 'A history of Paisley Grammar School' . I couldn't even bring up a snippet view here in the UK.
I'll e-mail you then see whether I can use a large file transfer to send it to you.

Russell
Working on: Oman, Brock, Miller/Millar, in Caithness.
Roan/Rowan, Hastings, Sharp, Lapraik in Ayr & Kirkcudbrightshire.
Johnston, Reside, Lyle all over the place !
McGilvray(spelt 26 different ways)
Watson, Morton, Anderson, Tawse, in Kilrenny

TKirouac
Posts: 11
Joined: Tue Mar 22, 2011 3:21 pm

Re: James Crawford of Paisley

Post by TKirouac » Sun Apr 03, 2011 3:05 pm

You have been a great help Russell and I would like to repay it. Did you ever get a copy of the Paisley Grammer School book from Google, or would you like me to try the same data-transfer site and send it to you? I did notice one book informed me I had to live in the US to access it, so what you've explained makes sense.

I also found this book "Kilbarchan, a Parish History" extremely helpful in understanding issues of the times. http://www.archive.org/stream/kilbarcha ... k_djvu.txt
Although it was a scanned-text copy, with many typos to overcome. But after copying it to a word document file, I was able to clean it up and save the parts I found particularly pertinent.

It turns out my James Crawford was a cotton spinner and lived in Linwood. So this parish history was right on the mark and helped explain a lot.

Tracey

Russell
Posts: 2559
Joined: Sat Dec 24, 2005 5:59 pm
Location: Kilbarchan, Renfrewshire

Re: James Crawford of Paisley

Post by Russell » Sun Apr 03, 2011 11:21 pm

Hi Tracey

I have access to an original McKenzie's' Kilbarchan, a Parish History' thanks and a Canadian relative sent over The History of Paisley Grammar School on a CD but I'm open to offers of any obscure bits of Kilbarchan history.
No need to repay anything either. Positive comments from a satisfied customer are payment enough :D. What you can do though is join in this merry band of extroverts called TS who try to answer the most obscure questions and untangle the Gorgian knots our ancestors left some of us. Most of us had to sort our our own family links first before we could offer help to others and by that time its an incurable illness/obsession :shock: :lol:

Russell
Working on: Oman, Brock, Miller/Millar, in Caithness.
Roan/Rowan, Hastings, Sharp, Lapraik in Ayr & Kirkcudbrightshire.
Johnston, Reside, Lyle all over the place !
McGilvray(spelt 26 different ways)
Watson, Morton, Anderson, Tawse, in Kilrenny

melody
Posts: 52
Joined: Tue Jan 10, 2006 5:19 am
Location: Telkwa, B.C. Canada

Re: James Crawford of Paisley

Post by melody » Wed Apr 27, 2011 6:30 pm

I have also been trying to find elusive ancestors whom I am fairly sure came with the Paisley Townhead immigration society (Glasgow Wrights)in the early 1820's to Lanark, and settled in Ramsay. You have probably already seen this but if not the Lanark County (Ontario, Canada,) Genealogical Society has online a Paisley Townhead society list that was transcribed from the microfilm entitled Scottish Immigration Society 1815-1834 in the London Ontario Public Library. All the info about it is on the Lanark County G.S. website. There are two transcribed lists of settlers on the website, and James Crawford is listed there with details of his family and property.http://www.globalgenealogy.com/lcgs/articles/A-PAIS.HTM If that doesn't work google up the Lanark County Genealogical Society's website. (Get the one in Canada.) What interested me most was "This microfilm is available at the National Archives (Canada) (or through inter library loan) as reel B-880 and is titled: Colonial Office-Original correspondence-Secretary of State. Contents of this microfilm also include: Emigration 1820-North America Offices (contains petitions form individuals telling why they should be allowed to emigrate) as well as smaller listindg from 3-4 othe Societies, most of whose people actually did emigrate."
If you haven't seen this and can't get it to come up for you, let me know and I'll scan and e-mail it to you.

Perhaps there is more detail on the film of your Crawfords? I would love to order this microfilm when I get time to read it. If I ever do I'll keep an eye out for Crawfords.I don't know if they loan the films outside Canada, but worth a try if you don't live here..Thanks for sharing how you overcame your brick wall, I can't find hide nor hair of my Mcleans back in Scotland, but your story has given me hope!
Mel
mlm

Alan SHARP
Posts: 612
Joined: Tue Apr 06, 2010 9:41 pm
Location: Waikato, New Zealand

Re: James Crawford of Paisley

Post by Alan SHARP » Wed Apr 27, 2011 8:33 pm

Greetings from New Zealand.

I read your post with interest. What I'm looking for is Paisley Immigration Society records that started with a push to emigrate to Canada, but finished up being reformed for a Paisley 1842 assisted passage to New Zealand, when the NZ Authorities, were first to get their act together, with an assisted immigration package. All I have at this time is newspaper accounts, and articles drawing upon the same.

Alan SHARP.