Matching Tombstones - Weldon

Marshall C. Weldon

1896 - 1935

Beulah M. His Wife

1896 - 1958

Clarence E. Weldon

1870 - 1929

Addie C. His Wife

1863 - 1950

Buried Mapleview Cemetery, Marion, Crittenden County, Kentucky. Tombstones photographed 19 July 2018.

Marshall C. Weldon was born 14 December 1896 Fulton, Kentucky[1] and died  in Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee 26 May 1935. His parents were listed as C.E. Weldon and Addie Crawford.[2]  Mrs. Beulah Weldon was born in Arkansas 7 August 1896 and died in Memphis 10 June 1958.[3] Her parents were listed as Samuel T. Morris and Icos Weathersby.

The 1900 Fulton County, Kentucky census lists Clarence Weldon, born October 1870 Illinois. In his household were his wife, Addie, born October 1868 Kentucky and Marshall Weldon, born December 1896 Kentucky.[4] Clarence was listed as a China merch [merchant?]. Clarence E. Weldon married Miss Addie Crawford in Crittenden County, Kentucky 20 July  1892.[5]

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[1] U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards 1917-1918, Marshall C. Weldon, registered in Little Rock, Arkansas, nearest relative, father, who was living in Little Rock, Ancestry.com.

[2] Tennessee Death Records 1908 - 1958, citing certificate of death  #11784 Marshall C. Weldon, Ancestry.com.

[3] Tennessee Death Records 1908 - 1958, citing certificate of death #58-16288, Beulah Weldon, Ancestry.com.

[4] 1900 Fulton County, Kentucky census,

[5] Brenda Joyce Jerome. Crittenden County, Kentucky Marriages 1887-1899, Vol. III (Evansville, IN: Evansville Bindery, 1993) 59.

Published 16 October 2018, Western Kentucky Genealogy Blog,  http://wkygenealogy.blogspot.com/

Short Marriage of Young Couple 1846

He was 22 and she was 15 - young by today's standards, but within marrying age in 1846. Because she was not legally old enough to marry (21 or older), her father personally gave his consent to the county clerk.

Marriage Bond and License[1]

Wm. H. Crawford and Polly Ann Green

Who were they? William H. Crawford and Polly Ann Green.  Unfortunately, their marriage would last less than three years. Polly Ann died in 1849, perhaps in childbirth or perhaps of a disease with no known cure at that time. Polly Ann  was buried in Piney Fork Cemetery, which tradition says was the site of the last Indian battle in western Kentucky. Her parents, George and Polly Green,  both outlived their daughter and are buried next to her.  Nearby is Piney Fork Cumberland Presbyterian Church, organized in 1812, the same year church members  "erected a log church on the knoll in what is now the cemetery."[2] Polly, indeed, rests in hallowed ground.

  Tombstone of Polly Ann Green Crawford  [3]

William H. Crawford was a widower less than two years and then married Sarah J. Dollins in Caldwell County 3 December 1850.[4] He and Sarah made their home in Livingston County and are buried in Hopewell Cemetery in that county.     

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[1] Original marriage bond and license 1846, Crittenden County, Kentucky Clerk's Office, Marion, Kentucky.

[2] Piney Fork Church Historical Committee. The Second History of Piney Fork Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Crittenden Co., Kentucky 1812 - 1992, (n.p., 1992) 2.

[3] Tombstone of Polly Ann Green Crawford, Piney Fork Cemetery, Crittenden County, Kentucky; photographed 25 January 2017.

[4] Brenda Joyce Jerome. Caldwell County, Kentucky Marriages 1833 - 1853, (Evansville, IN: Evansville Bindery, 1997) 137.

Published 31 Jan 2017, Western Kentucky Genealogy Blog, http://wkygenealogy.blogspot.com/

Follow-Up on 1866 Livingston County Apprenticeships

The following response to the recent post on Indentures of Apprenticeship - Livingston County, Kentucky 1866 has been provided by Janet Hawkins (hawkinsjk1@gmail.com). Information about the Coker family appears in her master's thesis, Slavery, Emancipation, and Afterward.  A Chronicle of the African Americans of Crittenden and Livingston Counties, Kentucky, to 1939, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, 2004.

Ties between white slave-owners and former slaves often endured generations after Emancipation, especially in cases involving mixed-race children.   A Livingston County, Kentucky Court Order Book M  (see 28 August 2014 post) entry illustrates the complexity of race relations in post-Civil War Kentucky: 

Adeline, a free Mulatto, bound as an apprentice to Ann E. Coker until 6 March 1874, when Adeline will be 18 years old, to learn the art & mystery of a spinster. [Bk M:132, 4 June 1866]

Adeline Coker (7 March 1854 - 2 October 1944) was the daughter of Daniel Coker, a Caucasian slave-owner and the husband of the Ann E. Coker mentioned above, and Manda Coker, an enslaved black woman.  The 1860 U.S. Population Census, Slave Schedule, for Livingston County lists Daniel Coker as the owner of a 22-year-old black female, a 6-year-old mulatto female, and a 2-year-old black  male.

Adeline Coker married Edward Crawford at Mrs. Coker's house on 26 December 1879, five years after her apprenticeship had ended.(2) 

According to Addie Bell Crawford(3), Adeline Coker’s granddaughter, Daniel Coker made provisions for Adeline to receive a portion of his Salem property after he died.  Addie Bell inherited this land from her father, James Crawford, in 1961(4), and lived on this land her entire life.

Addie Bell also stated that Adeline’s white half-brother, Charlie Coker, occasionally paid social visits to his half-sister and her family.

Whether Manda Coker remained in contact with Daniel or Ann Coker after Emancipation is currently unknown.  Prior to 1870, she married a black Civil War veteran named Jordan Caldwell and resided in Smithland, Livingston County, in 1880.(5)

(1) Death Certificate, Adeline Crawford, Livingston Co., KY. 

(2) Livingston County, KY Marriage Bonds:  Negroes and Mulattoes, Microfilm #997708.

(3) Personal Interview with Addie Bell Crawford, 2002.

(4) Livingston County, KY Will Book D, Microfilm #997691, 581.

(5) U.S. Population Census, 1870 and 1880.


Published 11 September 2014, Western Kentucky Genealogy Blog, http://wkygenealogy.blogspot.com/

Tombstone Tuesday - George and Virginia Crawford

When Dr. George L. Crawford and Virginia Throop married, the following article appeared first in the Smithland Banner and later in the 20 June 1903 issue of the Paducah Sun:

"A pretty affair, last night, was the marriage of Dr. G.L. Crawford and Miss Virginia L. Troop. The marriage was celebrated in the presence of only a few friends at her home, with Dr. J. Frank Crawford, of Hampton, best man and Miss Mary D. Throop, bride's maid. A delightful luncheon was served, after which the bridal party retired to the Webb house, where rice and the most profuse congratulations were showered upon them by numerous friends."

Both Dr. Crawford and Virginia Throop Crawford are buried in Smithland Cemetery, Livingston County. The photographs of their tombstones were made 12 December 2011. Note the Woodmen of the World Memorial on Dr. Crawford's tombstone.

George Lee Crawford D.D.S.
Mar. 1, 1868
Oct. 25, 1934
An honest man is the noblest work of God.

Virginia Throop
Wife of G.L. Crawford
Born Dec. 7, 1878
Died Apr. 5, 1907

Copyright on text and photographs
by Brenda Joyce Jerome, CG
Western Kentucky Genealogy Blog