08 June 2012

Crossen/Crosson/Crossin/Crossan?

So, for the past few days, I have been tracking a group of Crossens in Perry County, Ohio, to see if they connect with my Ann Crossen.  As you can tell from my title, this surname seems to have many spellings, even in the same family group.  Here's a couple more alternatives: Crawson, Croisin, Croyson...  My mom says that her mom always pronounced and spelled it Croisin.  However, in all the searches I have done, I have yet to see that name in print anywhere.
A little background on Ann.  First record I can find that lists her is the marriage record of Ann Crawson and Patrick Fielding in Cuyahoga County, Ohio Marriages 1789-1994.  An image is listed at Familysearch.org. The only other information in this record is the date, 7th of January 1837 and the name of the Justice of the Peace who solemnized the marriage contract. No ages, no parents, no place of birth or where they currently live... nada....
Census information shows them as living in Columbus, Ohio in 1860 and 1870.  In 1880, they have moved to Delaware County, Ohio, living next to their son, James Fielding, my great great grandfather.  Their children are born starting 1838 through 1855.  Patrick and Ann die in Delaware County, Ohio. She was living in the Infirmary/Old Age/County home at the time of her death.  She is listed in the old part of Oak Grove Cemetery, but there is no marker for her or Patrick.
So, how did I think to start searching Perry County, Ohio, when I really had no clue?  Lately, I've been trying to go back through my family tree program and re-visit brick walls.  I changed the year of her birth and voila! a new little shaky leaf popped up.  So, I thought, okay, let's go see what that's all about.  Well, it took me to an 1850 census record for an Ann Crossin, living at home, with several siblings.  She's 31.  Okay, well, the age is close. And this family is from Ireland.  In fact, there's a bunch of Crossens on this census and the older ones are all from Ireland....   So, I thought, what if she went home to have a baby?  And they counted her that way?  Only problem with that is... where are the other kids that she already had?
One other reason is, the first two children were born in Cleveland, the third, James, my great great grandfather, was born in Logan, Ohio... now there's a couple of Logans in Ohio.. but one is actually close to Somerset, Perry County, Ohio.
The thing is that this was an Irish Crossen family.  So, I played with it a couple of days because you just never know.  And more of them seemed to line up than anything else I had found previously.   Like I never found any Crossens in Cleveland in 1840 or 1850.
Alas... I still can't attach her to these Crossens.  There just isn't enough information. I did make a tree and I uploaded it to Ancestry to see if it gets any attention. Maybe someone else is looking for Ann...

Timeline for Ann Crossen:
1837 - marriage to Patrick Fielding
     Feb 1838 - Alfred/Ralph Fielding born in Cleveland (died Jul 1864 Andersonville Prison)
    1839 - Eliza Lizzy Fielding born in Cleveland
1840 - unable to locate family in 1840 census
    1840 - James Fielding born in Logan, Ohio ( from Civil War records) (died 10 Jan 1916 - Columbus)
    1846 - Mary Ann Fielding - Ohio
1850 - unable to locate the family in 1850 census
    1850 - William Fielding - Ohio (died 1919 in Delaware County Home, possible flu victim)
    1852 - Patrick Fielding - Ohio (died 1913 in Delaware County flood)
1860 - Columbus, Ohio Census
1870 - Columbus, Ohio Census
1880 - Delaware County, Ohio Census
1894 - Died in County Home, Delaware County, Ohio (from cemetery records at Oak Grove)

Here is a link to the tree I put together from my research: http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/42638253/family