Friday, June 26, 2015

2011 SLIG: The Great Crail Mystery

2011: The goal was to locate James B. Crail, Jr. [birth - death unknown] and tie him to the family of James B. Crail, Sr. [consultants: Jim Petty & Craig Scott]: James B. Crail, was the father of Sylvester, John and Aaron Crail. He married Mary A. Jones. The births of the three boys were given in their Civil War service records. Their marriages and deaths are recorded. The same cannot be said for James.

This family has been the topics of several posts. James and/or Mary appear in three records. She bought two town lots in Marietta, Shelby, IN in 1851 and 1853. Together they sell the lots in 1854. That's it until Mary appears as a widow residing with son John in the Indy city directory in 1875.

I searched Hamilton Co., Ohio [where Sylvester and John were born], Marion Co., Ohio [where Aaron was born], Shelby, Marion, Johnson and Hamilton Counties in Indiana, where the family was known to reside. Two references in church records stood out in Hamilton Co., Ohio. James Sr. had already moved on, suggesting James Jr. could be the James Crail mentioned. The same could be said for a handful of tax records for the same county. James Sr. was in Indiana. There were possible cousins and brothers also taxed. All of the records were within a year or two of births of Sylvester and John. That was it for the week.

Note: Bull-headedness figures into the Crail research. I have been in touch with a couple of descendants of George Berry Crail. His parents are given as James B. Crail and Mary A. Jones on his death certificate. The information [siblings, children] given on George had been shaky. I cannot tie him to my three Crail brothers in any record. The best that can be said is that he does not appear in census records until 1880, missing 1850, 1860 and 1870 - the same three as James and Mary.

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