The Crail Condundrum

My Crail Family research has a major stumbling block, James and Mary [Jones] Crail went into hiding from census takers during the 1850, 1860 and 1870 enumerations. I have record of them in Shelby Co., IN in 1851 and 1854. The next appearance is 1875, when the widowed Mary is listed in the Indianapolis City Directory. From there, I can track Mary until her death. Sons Sylvester, John and Aaron are missing from the 1850 census, but marry during the decade. I have them well documented. There may be a son George, but I can't place him with the rest of the family, although George is missing from 1850-1870 as well. I am going to present the "known" data, then offer what may be the Crail lineage, IF I can document George as family, beyong his death certificate.

First Generation

1.  James Crail^1–4 was born (date unknown).  At this point, little is known about James Crail and his wife Mary A. Jones. The family has not turned up in the 1850 census. They had at least three sons born in Ohio. It is not yet known if there were other children.
It would appear that the Crails were in Shelby Co., Indiana by 1851. In a deed dated 20 September 1851, Alexander Miller sold lot number six in the town of Marietta to Mary Ann Crail for $60. [Rec'd 13 January 1854.] On 5 March 1853 James Basemore and Hester, his wife, sold lot number five in the town of Marietta to Mary Ann Crail for the sum of $20. On 13 October 1854, James B. Crail and Mary Ann, his wife, sold lots five and six in the town of Marietta to John Bensheimer for $70.

There was a James B. Crail residing in Bartholomew Co., Indiana in 1860 and Brown Co., Indiana in 1870, who may have been the father of James Crail. The were several other Crails in Shelby Co. during the time in question.

It has yet to be determined which James B. Crail [elder or younger] is the one named in the following tax lists.

(Assessed Taxpayers of Shelby Co., Indiana 1828, 1842, 1847, 1866 [Shelbyville - Shelby Co. Library - Genealogy Div.])

1842:
Crail, Absalom - poll tax - Addison Twp., $50 assessment.
Crail, Absalom - Liberty Twp. - $150 assessment
Crail, F.P. - poll tax - Liberty Twp. - 160 acres - $1050 assessment
Crail, J.B. & son - poll tax - Addison Twp. - 240 acres - $1262 assessment
Crail, W.S. - poll tax - Liberty Twp. - Cynthiana lots - $250 assessment

1847: Absolom, George B., & James B. Crail [Addison Twp.]; Absolom, Milton, Samuel, & William C. Crail [Liberty Twp.]

[Shelby Co. 1844 Tax Duplicate, Robert T. Gordon, 1981, Shelbyville - Shelby Co. Library - Genealogy Div.]

1844: Samuel P. Crail, Milton Crail [Liberty Twp.]; James Crail & son, Robert Crail [Addison Twp.]; William Crail's estate [Union Twp.]

From Shelby County, Indiana Miscellaneous Recods 1834 - 1874 [Maurice Holmes, March 1986, p. 60]: Moved or Deceased Taxpayers -
Crail, James - 1862 - Noble Twp. - left county

[The author has received Descendancy reports on James B. Crail and Mary A. Jones adding an addition son to the group of Sylvester, John, and Aaron, George Berry Crail. George was born 19 February 1843 in Miami Co., Indiana and died 28 December 1923 in Indianapolis, Marion Co., Indiana. James Crail [born Ohio] and Mary Ann Jones [born Ohio] were named as his parents on his death certificate. [Indiana State Board of Health, Certificate #39687] Family sources have no recollection of any George Crail. George, if a brother, was not called upon to provide affadavits for the pension applications of Sylvester or Emma Crail, John or Melissa Crail, or Catherine Crail. No othe documentation has been uncovered linking George to his three alleged brothers. He does not appear in census records until 1880. If George was indeed a brother, then the Crail ancestry can be taken back several more generations with origins in Scotland.]

James Crail and Mary A. Jones were married before 1834 in Ohio.¹ Mary A. Jones^1,5, daughter of T. Jones, was born about 1811 in Ohio.^5–6 She died on 11 Aug 1887 at the age of 76 in Indianapolis, Marion Co., Indiana.^5–7 She was buried on 12 Aug 1887 in Crown Hill Cemetery, Indianapolis, Marion Co., Indiana.⁸ Crown Hill Records show burial as 5-31-1887. Mary was also known as Mary A. Crail.¹ Mary was born in Ohio about 1811. She died in Indianapolis in 1887 and was buried at Crown Hill Cemetery. Mary appears in the 1875 Indianapolis City Directory [Swartz and Tedrowe, p. 108: FHL #1376925] For most of the remaining twelve years of her life, Mary resided with son John.
Other that the three Shelby Co. deeds of 1851-54, neither Mary or husband James have turned up in searched records.

A deed dated 7 April 1857 in Hamilton Co., Indiana shows Abraham and Sarah Nickleson selling 40 acres [SW 1/4 of the SW 1/4 of Section 1 in Twp. 18, N of Range 5 E] to a Mary Ann Crill for $1200. [Hamilton Co. Deed Book V: March 1857 - February 1858, p. 131]

Was this actually Mary Ann Crail? Two of Mary Ann's sons, Sylvester and John Crail, resided in Township 18 in 1860.

James Crail and Mary A. Jones had the following children:

              2              i.   Sylvester B. Crail, born 20 Jan 1835, Hamilton Co., Ohio; married Amanda Custinger, 9 Mar 1854, Shelby Co., Indiana; married Mary A. Lewis, 13 May 1856, Johnson Co., Indiana; married Emma Miller, 15 Mar 1888, Marion Co., Indiana; died 17 Jan 1898, Indiana State Soldiers' Home, Lafayette, Tippecanoe Co., Indiana.

              3             ii.   John V. Crail, born 30 May 1837, Hamilton Co., Ohio; married Melissa Jane Richardson, 29 Aug 1859, Marion Co., Indiana; died 23 Nov 1907, Indianapolis, Marion Co., Indiana.

              4            iii.   Aaron S. Crail, born 16 Nov 1839, Marion Co., Ohio; married Catherine O'Neil, 9 Jun 1857, Indianapolis, Marion Co., Indiana; died 25 Mar 1868, Delaware Twp., Hamilton Co., Indiana.