My research focus for the past few months has been on my  CROUSORE [Kraushaar, Crowser, Croushore, etc.] family. My maternal 3rd great-grandfather was Jacob Crousore. His wife was listed in numerous family trees as Annie Ice. I was never convinced that those trees were correct. I took on identifying Jacob's wife as my "brick wall" for January's Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy Problem Solving Course [more on the SLIG in a later post].

I knew Jacob was married in Ohio during the early 1820s, but not where. Online census indexes were a bust, so I knew the 1820 Census Index book could open the door - it did. John [Jacob's father] and Christian Crouser were in Clinton Co., OH in 1820. Next stop - marriage index. There were three Crowser entries: Elisabeth to John Smith [1818], John to Caroline Treadway [1835] and Jacob to Jemima Smith [29 Aug 1822]. Jemima definitely match with Annie, Anna or Anny from the 1850-70 Howard Co., IN Censuses.
I later received the marriage license, which named Jacob's father as John Crowser and Jemima's brother as John Smi th. The Crousores were in Delaware Co., IN during the 1830s. A deed search turned up "Jacob Crouser and Ama Jemima his wife." [She was 'Amy' in another deed.] Ama was indexed as Annie, Anna and Anny, now it made sense!

Jacob's trail seemed to end with the 1870 census. But NO! Sole surviving son, William, went to McPherson Co., KS, where the family appeared in the 1875 Kansas State census [Jacob & Emma]. Records show Jacob there until 1877. It appears Ama died about 1876.

So, Jacob Crousore [b. c1805 PA - d. 1877-1879 McPherson Co., KS] and Ama Jemima Smith [b. c1803 VA - d. c1876 McPherson Co., KS] were the parents of Edith Crousore who married John T. Simmons. Edith and John named a daughter Ama Jimima [Mima], who was my great-grandmother. I had always wondered where Mima's name originated. Now I know!

I'm working on Jacob's grandfather once again. The project is attempting to get all of Nicholas Crousore's children and their spouses identified. I'm missing one spouse, you guessed it! The wife of John, Jacob's father.