Entry 5-The Missing Piece: James is Elmer E. Crawbuck?–Part 3

This new information regarding matching addresses was intriguing. If Elmer and James were indeed the same person, the next few generations would be clear and bring the family line back to the 1700s and an era before the Revolutionary War. The next clue appeared as articles in both the Brooklyn Daily Times and the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.(1) On March 19, 1906, both papers had articles stating that Elmer Crawbuck, of 41 Ashland Place, was charged with third degree assault. The articles state that Elmer’s wife, Elizabeth, filed a complaint the he had struck her. This is not the details I had hoped to find, but it still was hard evidence that Elmer Crawbuck was married to Elizabeth Crawbuck and the father of Edward A. Crawbuck. Both the newspaper article and the directory listings was enough evidence to get me to believe the census entries and baptism record showing ‘James’ was misleading and possibly a self-inflicted name change that Elmer imposed on himself.

Yes. I was convinced that Elmer and James were one and the same, but I still wanted a hard connection that tied together Edward A. and records of earlier Crawbuck families. The next important record I found was proof positive that Elmer E. Crawbuck was Edward’s father. A few months after finding the articles in the Brooklyn newspapers, I found the marriage certificate for Elmer E. Crawbuck and Elizabeth McIlduff. (2) This was the hard proof that Elmer and Elizabeth were married on April 14, 1890. The back of the certificate shows Elmer was living at 316 Sacket in Brooklyn. It also states it was the first marriage for both of them. Elmer’s father was listed as Cornelius and mother as Sara Brokow. Elizabeth was shown to be living at 282 Classon (sound familiar?) and lists her father as Edward and mother as Mary Devlin. The mystery was solved and the proof is solid. I have not seen any evidence to the contrary and I hope this helps all of the people doing research along this family line. There is no other supporting evidence to backup the census entries showing ‘James’ Crawbuck as Edward’s father.

I have not been able to find much more information regarding Elmer and the last record I can find for him is the articles that appear in the Brooklyn newspapers. He does show up in the 1905 New York State Brooklyn census as living with his father Cornelius, mother Sara and some of his siblings.(3) I can only assume that after his arrest in 1906 he left Elizabeth and Edward and never returned. What happened to Elmer may be a mystery that will never be solved.

(1) Brooklyn Daily Eagle – March 19,1906 (page 3) and Brooklyn Daily Times – March 19,1906

(2) Certificate of Marriage, Brooklyn

(3) 1905 New York State Brooklyn census (page 22)