Table 6
Land Warrants and Grants based on Headrights made to Effingham County Crawfords

       Crawford   Size in    Date of           Date of
Source   Name      Acres     Warrant           Grant

69   Alexander    unknown    28 February 1792   not granted
2    James        200         5 November 1798    5 December 1804
3                 100         2 March 1807      14 January 1808
4                 300         4 December 1810   15 November 1811
4                 200         6 May 1811        15 November 1811
66   John         200           December 1784   not granted
1                 300         5 June 1797       31 July 1799
3                 200         5 November 1798   17 November 1809
5                 200         2 October 1809    19 November 1812
8    Mary         200        23 April 1794       2 February 1797
7                 200*        2 March 1795      21 September 1796
6    William      100         4 April 1785      24 January 1787
66                100        30 November 1791   not granted
7                 300*        3 February 1794    2 February 1797

* All land mentioned was in Effingham County, except for these parcels 
marked with asterisks[*], which were in Screven County.


James Crawford first claimed 200 acres in 1798, although the land was not granted until 1804 [2]. He next claimed 100 acres in 1807, which was granted in 1808 [3]. He then claimed 300 acres in 1810 [4] and 200 acres in 1811 [4], and both claims were granted in 1811. This pattern of claims and grants suggests that James married between 1798 and about 1804, and had eleven children by 1811. This hypothesis suggests that James was younger than his brother John, or at least he married later, and that he had no children before about 1798. This latter point argues against James as the father of the seven Crawford brothers. Grants to Alexander, Mary[widow of Alexander], and William Crawford also were made and are shown in Table 6. This information is consistent with what is known of these individuals. The only new information here is additional support for the hypothesis that William was probably older than John and James, since he received grants earlier than either John or James.

An Hypothesis about the Parents of Gideon Crawford

One further piece of evidence provides important information about the parents of the seven brothers. John Crawford had three sons -- Ruebin, William, and Thomas -- who survived until the 1880 census, which was the first census to include data on the place of birth of parents. All three sons list Georgia as the place of birth of their parents -- Ruebin [56], William [57], and Thomas [55]. The three sons were all of an advanced age, and may not have remembered correctly, or even known with certainty, the place of birth of their parents. On the other hand, the fact that all three, living apart, answered with the identical answer suggests that their information was correct. Furthermore, since Thomas was living in Florida at the time of the 1880 census, his identification of Georgia as his father's birthplace has somewhat more credibility. It seems reasonable that the census enumerator would be less likely to have assumed an answer and more likely to have asked a direct question since the response indicated a place of birth outside the state. There is additional evidence identifying Civility Crawford as a daughter, and suggesting the existence of several other daughters. The author accepts John and Priscilla Crawford as the parents of the seven brothers, Civility, and four other sisters. The offspring of John and Priscilla Crawford is shown in Table 7.
Table 7
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