[Ed. The following is the first-person account of JCGS member Jean Crawford Brown, whose principal genealogical interests are the Crawford, Briscoe, and Brown families. We print it here, along with the fabulous result of Jean’s quest.]

It has been some years since I began to pursue genealogy in more than a perfunctory way, and I have known some triumphs and some crushing disappointments—such as are common to all who claim this hobby for their own—as I searched among the oft-tangled roots of my particular tree. I chose to concentrate on the family name of my father: Crawford; as much out of the joy of memories of hearing older ones of the family talk as, truth to tell, a bit of laziness because I thought it would be easier than some other family lines. I seem to hear the sounds of the more experienced among you chuckling…NONE OF THEM ARE EASY.

At first, I had some marvelous successes. I had known, after all, that our Crawford ancestors came to the mountains of North Carolina from Rutherford County with the arrival of my fourth great-grandfather Samuel and his wife Mary in or about 1820. And since my great-great grandmother Adelaide lived to be 96 or so, I had the deepest respect for the veracity of her claim that Samuel was a child of John. If only she could have been persuaded to tell or to write Samuel’s wife’s maiden name, I might never have had an odyssey to describe.

The search for the maiden name of Samuel’s wife Mary eventually took me to St. Mary’s County, Maryland, on two different occasions, but those are not the particular odyssey I have in mind. I was able to place a Mary in the correct place in the family of Briscoe, a descendant of one Dr. John Briscoe who came to America in 1634 as the ship’s surgeon with the original expedition of The Ark and the Dove. What I could not do was prove that Samuel Crawford, son of John, had married Mary Briscoe, daughter of Nathan, who had settled in Rutherford County in the early 1780’s, but I wanted a marriage bond or Bible record, neither of which, for all my efforts, was forthcoming.

A positively identified son of Samuel and Mary Crawford, Rev. William R. Crawford, was my third great-grandfather. Preacher Billy had signed the petition to form Jackson County from Haywood and Macon Counties, and he had been a man of some property and some civic responsibility. He served Jackson County on the first Board of Commissioners, helped survey the town of Bryson City, pastored many local Baptist churches, and seemed, from the wording of his will, to be an erudite man. I decided that if I could find his family Bible, he might very well have indicated his mother’s maiden name. Once the notion occurred to me, I knew that I would never be content, genealogically speaking, until I had seen that Bible, always assuming that one existed, for myself. Thus, after digression, my odyssey.

After some considerable search, I had to face the fact that no one I knew among the Billy and his wife Olif Varina Hemphill, descendants had his Bible, nor did they know where it might be located. I had, however, heard my grandfather speak of his great aunt, Varina Carletta, (Billy’s and Olif’s youngest child) who had moved with her family to the state of Washington just after the turn of the century. She had inherited the family’s grand piano via Billy’s will, but since it measures approximately four by seven feet, it would not have been a very practical item to move to the west coast. Her father’s Bible, however, might well have made the journey with little or no inconvenience. I believed my reasoning to be sound, but the families were no longer in touch with each other. Some playing with dates convinced me that there could be living grandchildren of Carletta and her husband, Rev. Henry Deck Welch, but how on the round earth was I to find them?

There was nothing for it but to travel to the state of Washington. Some of you may contend that to be an extreme measure in this day of modern communication, but since my family has other relatives (with whom we have stayed in touch) living in western Washington, my brother and I set forth, in the summer of 1992, to visit with them and to find Welch descendants. My brother cautioned me that I must not get my hopes too high, and for the first few days of our trip, it seemed that he had been correct. All I had to show for several days of hard work was one record from Lyman, Washington Elementary School, which contained the names of three of Deck and Carletta’s children. But, blessed be the telephone! In near desperation, I searched the telephone directory for anyone whose last name was Welch still living in Lyman. I found exactly one.

Thank Providence for an elderly man who was willing to listen to my stumbling explanantion for calling him and asking if he might perchance be a descendant of Rev. Henry Deck and Carletta Crawford Welch. His answer was no, but my heart began to beat again when he said that his grandfather Vance was a brother of Deck Welch, if that would help me. He told me many stories of the family, how four of the Welch brothers came to Washington, how one of them founded the Welch Grape Juice Company and later sold it, and how Rev. Henry Deck Welch was killed in an automobile accident in 1927. Best of all, he was able to direct me to a grandson of Deck and Carletta’s who lived in Anacortes.

Loren Welch is a son of John S. Welch, Deck and Carletta’s oldest son, and his wife Nancy Baker Welch. He and his wife were leaving early the next morning on a trip, but he gave me the name and telephone number of a first cousin who knew the most about the family. I was able to meet with Ruth Whitley Rice, who admitted to being in her eighties, and so enjoyed one of the most fulfilling times I have known as an amateur genealogist and as a human being. She was, and is, a delightful lady, and the joy she felt at contact with her grandmother’s family was a beautiful thing. Among other facts, we learned of the existence of one more child of Deck and Carletta, their youngest daughter Tessie. When I broached the subject of a family Bible, she said there was indeed an old Bible in the family, but she was not sure if it had been in the Welch family or the Crawford family. When she also said that her grandparents had been living with Carletta’s mother when Olif died in 1900, I felt sure the Bible was the one I wanted so much to see.

You may imagine how I felt when Ruth Rice gave me this information: she had begun to give family items to various cousins, nieces, and nephews, since she is childless. She had given the Bible to Gary Loren, son of Loren with whom I had spoken, and his company had transferred him to Denver about six months before my visit. Both Ruth and Gary’s father assured me that Gary would not be averse to my calling him and asking about the family heirloom, and I did exactly that when we returned home from our trip.

Gary told me as much as he knew about the old book and invited me to visit him whenever I could get to Denver. He did not think the pages could be photocopied successfully, and he found the script rather difficult to read. He was able to give me the birthdate of Grandmother Olif and tell me of a child born to Andrew Jackson Crawford and his wife Minerva Sutton. He found no record of Preacher Billy’s mother in the family record pages; however, he assured me that I could look at the book to my heart’s content if I came to visit.

At long last, I have made the second part of my odyssey. My sister Ruth and I returned in August from a driving trip to Salt Lake City where we worked in the LDS library. Need I say that we also drove home by way of Denver? We spent some wonderful days in the home of Gary and Kathy Welch, whom we had not previously met but who we knew at once were FAMILY. Some things we know with the mind; some things, the heart. Gary is a third cousin once removed to Ruth and me, but time and distance have not obliterated some familiar family characteristics. Gary is a great story teller, and one of his favorite themes is his much-loved grandfather, John S. Welch, who told his grandchildren stories about the North Carolina mountains.

The Bible I had wanted to examine was waiting for me in Gary’s living room. When I opened the book to the front cover and angled it so that I could read the dim script written there, I admit without shame that my eyes filled with tears. "William R. Crawford His Book" is faint but legible.

I offer the record from that family Bible to any of you who are interested. You may remember that I started the search because I hoped to find Preacher Billy’s mother’s maiden name somewhere within its pages. I regret that is not the case, although I literally went through it page by page by page. I did find friendship and family and as warm a welcome as anyone could ever hope to find, and I found another mystery to keep me interested in researching the Crawford family. A young son was born in 1860 to Andrew Jackson and his wife Minerva Sutton Crawford. The child was named William Russell. Andy was killed in the battle of Malvern Hill in 1862 and Minerva later remarried. When Gary first told me about this child’s birth, I assumed that he had died, since I had never heard of him. He may not have survived infancy, but I now know there is no record of his death in the pages of this meticulously kept book. What happened to that little child?

I am left with my original quandary as well. I am still unable to prove a marriage between Samuel Crawford and Mary Briscoe. To some, my trips west may seem a defeat since I am no closer to proving the marriage than I have ever been, and there are those who claim that Samuel Crawford married Mary somebody-else, anyway. They may be correct, but until I see proof, I rely on my own research. To others who have made their own odysseys in search of a link with the past, I need not try to explain the feeling I had when I knew I was holding my great-great-great grandfather’s Bible; suffice it to say, that feeling was far from defeat. I can also treasure the good memories I have stored from meeting a few of Deck and Carletta Welch’s descendants, and relish re-establishing contact between two branches of a family who had been separated for almost a century. I think my odyssey was a smashing success.

BIRTHS
Wm. R. Crawford was born AD May 25 day 1810
Olif V Crawford Born AD January 23 day 1817

and their children was born as follows

Back of page:
Births Wm Russel Crawford A J Crawford son was born in year of our Lord february the 15 day 1860

MARRIAGES
Wm R Crawford and Olif V Hemphill was married AD January 22 1832
Thomas M Henson and Mary E. Crawford was married AD December 23 1847
Robert P Crawford and Martha Sutton was married AD February 1857
A J Crawford and Minerva Sutton was married AD April 26 1859
Martin W Crawford and Elizabeth Snider was married AD April 30 1861
Sina M. Crawford Samuel Bryson was married AD April 6, 1865
Violet E. Crawford & Joseph Sutton was married AD February the 22 1866
Mariah O Crawford & John Bryson was married AD January 4^th 1867
George W Crawford and Nancy Morrow was married in AD December 11 1873
P J Crawford & Adalad Clayton was married AD May 14 1866
Varina C Crawford and Henry D. Welch was married 20 day of Oct 1878 on Sunday at 1 o’clock by S. H. Bryson

DEATHS
Wm. C. Crawford departed this life March 24 AD day 1861 on the Sabbath
J. Crawford departed this life July the 1^st day 1862 in a Battle in Vir. at Malvern Hill
Martin W. Crawford departed this life March the 5 day 1863 in hospittle at goldsborough NC
Robert P. Crawford departed this life March the 1^st 1872 Because of consumption
M.E. Henson departed this life May 1876
S.M. Bryson departed this life Jan. 19 1878
Rev. Wm. R. Crawford departed this life Nov. 27, 1879
P.J. Crawford departed this life Oct. 6, 1888
Rev. G. W. Crawford departed this life April 5, 1889
Olif V. Crawford departed this life 21 day of Jan. 1900
Olif Mariah Crawford departed this life Dec 16^th 1906
John S. Welch departed this life July 18 1957 Age 75 yrs, 10 mo and 12 days
Edward Theodore Welch departed this life Aug 30, 1961 Age 78 years, 7 days
Nora M. Welch Tatham Died June 18, 1973 Age 93
Tessie Blanche Welch Died April 3, 1971
Jule Jester Welch departed this life Dec 23, 1899 Age 8 years 9 mos & 18 days*
Etta Cora Welch Carpenter departed this life Nov. 24, 1909 Age 21 yrs 3 mo 16 da.
Rev. Henry Dexter Welch departed this life Oct. 12 1927 Age 75 yrs 3 mo 25 days**
Carletta Varena Welch departed this life Nov. 14 1943 Age 81 years 5 mo. 27 days
Charles Haddon Welch departed this life Aug. 7 1953 Age 67 years 6 mo 21 days

[JCB * Written vertically beside Jester Welch’s death date are the words "A blessed boy." This child was buried at Crawford Family Cemetery.]
[Ed.** This is a curious notation. We believe that the Rev. Welch’s middle name was Deck, after a maternal surname, rather than "Dexter." We wonder if that genealogical fact had been forgotten by this family, and they wanted to appear more formal and correct in the family Bible.]

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