R506
Husband: Nathan Crawford
Father: James Crawford
Mother: Mary (Gilbert) Crawford
Died: 1819
Wife: Jean (Jane) (Sitlington) Crawford
Father: John Sitlington [R512]
Married: According to J. R. S. Sterrett’s history [S004], “Jean Sitlington married Nathan Crawford (he died in 1819). They lived near Old Millboro. Miss Mary Semple of Mounthill, Larne, [Northern] Ireland affirms that Nathan Crawford married Jean Sitlington in Ireland. This seems impossible to J. R. S. Sterrett, because John Sitlington (7) came to Millboro in 1774, and William Crawford, the first-born child of Nathan Crawford and Jean Sitlington, his wife, was not born until 1778 (see no. 79). That was before the organization of Bath County, and their records may be in Staunton. Miss Semple says further that Nathan Crawford was reared at Ballyrickard Beg; that his father was James Crawford, and that his mother’s maiden name was Mary Gilbert.”
Children:
William Crawford, b. 3/6/1778 [R510]
John Crawford, b. 2/18/1782, did not marry
Mary Ann Crawford, b. 11/9/1783 [R519]
Samuel Crawford, b. 9/15/1785 [R511]
Elizabeth (Betsy) Crawford ([S004] but not listed in the Crawford
family Bible, [S006]), m. Matthias Cleek, ch. Andrew, Christina,
Martha, William, Samuel, Jacob, Mary J.
Andrew Crawford, b. 6/4/1792 [R520]
Jean Crawford, b. 5/27/1794
Martha Sitlington Crawford [R505], b. 2/29/1796
(1996) The Bath County Land Book [S137] shows Nathan Crawford held 327 acres of land when the County was formed in 1792. In 1798 he acquired another 150 acres, and about 1808 another 80 acres. In 1814 his holdings were described as “300 on the Cowpasture R. joining the lands of James Kelso and Rebecca Lafferly, 150 joining the same.” The same description held as late as 1834 for the Nathan Crawford estate. Nathan and Jean lived in the house shown in Fig. R505a until 1803, when they deeded it to their son William. I don’t know where they lived thereafter. Nathanial was one of the four first elders of the Windy Cove Presbyterian Church [R023]. The date this refers to is uncertain, but the church took this name in 1766 when its second building was constructed on a site near Bath County’s “Blowing Cave” (a geological curiosity, now obliterated). Children Martha, Mary, Samuel, and William Crawford were listed as communicants of the Church in 1833. However, William [R510] and Samuel [R511] had moved to Indiana considerably earlier than this.
Four of Nathan and Jean’s children (John, Mary Ann, Samuel, and Andrew) never married. William and Samuel migrated to Indiana, but Samuel returned to Bath County at the end of his life. There is no mention of daughter Jean in the wills of her parents or siblings; perhaps she died young. Elizabeth and Martha [R505] married and remained in Bath County. The 1810 Bath County census showed Nathan and Jean living with 1 girl 10-15 (Martha) and 2 women 16-25 (Jean and, probably, Elizabeth).
Nathan Crawford signed a will on February 12 1819 (WB2-262) in which he left his house and land to his son Andrew, with the stipulation that he provide for the welfare of Nathan’s widow Jane (Jean) for the rest of her life. Nathan divided his personal estate fairly equally among his wife and six of his children: Samuel, Andrew, Mary, Elizabeth, Martha, and William. The sale of his personal property is recorded on December 13 1819 (WB2-271). [R912] contains the will and the 12/18/1850 appraisement of the personal estate of daughter Polly, a nickname for either Mary Ann or Jean Crawford, probably Mary Ann.