Entry 3-One more step into the past – Edward A. Crawbuck’s Parents–Part 1
- joe10026
- Oct 7, 2020
- 2 min read
Updated: Feb 22, 2021
It is very clear that Edward’s mother was Elizabeth McIlduff. Edward appears in the 1900 and 1915 US census listed as the son of Elizabeth Crawbuck. In the 1910 US census, Edward is listed as the son to Mary (Mary-Elizabeth?) and the ages all line up correctly.(1) A baptism register found on Ancestry.com lists Crawbuck Edw baptized on June 24th, 1891. The second line is “Jas Eliza Mc Ilduff 6 Jun”, which I interpreted as James (father) and Elizabeth Mc Ilduff (mother) born to them on June 6th.(2) This information supported the 1900 US census, which shows Edward as the “Son”, James as the “Head” and Elizabeth as the “Wife”.
As I continued to step back another generation, I found Elizabeth’s father was Edward McIlduff and her mother was Mary Devlin. Both of her parents were born in Ireland and so was her oldest brother John. Somewhere between 1848 and 1852, Elizabeth’s family left Ireland to settle in Brooklyn. This is where her brother James, sister Mary and Elizabeth were all born. They all appear in the 1875 New York census, along with a border and, possibly Mary’s father, Mark.(3)
When I tried to step back looking for James Crawbuck, the pieces did not fall so neatly. I could not find a James Crawbuck that was born around 1867. There was a James F. Crawbuck that was born in 1870, but he didn’t fit the description of my “James”. James F.’s life is neatly laid out in other historical documents. He married Mary McGee, had at least four children and passed away at the age of 52 with acute broncho pneumonia.(4) He did not seem like he was leading a double life, married to Elizabeth, in another part of Brooklyn.
Along my research trails, I came across a document on the internet called “The Book of Crawbuck”.(6) It contained a lot of useful information and neatly outlined some of the branches of the Crawbuck family tree. It listed my “James” Crawbuck as “Crawbucks of Unknown Descent”.(5)
Now my goal was clear. The question I needed to answer was - Who was my “James Crawbuck”?
(1) 1900,1910 and 1915 US Census
(2) Church Baptism record on Ancestry.com
(3) 1875 New York Census
(4) Index to Death Certificates 1862-1948 on Ancestry.com
(5) Book of Crawbuck – author unknown
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