From an earlier time

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. Luquillo, PR. 19 Feb 2022.

Parker v Baxter

 

FamilySearch. Davidson County, TN. 1875.

The chancery case files involving the estate of Thomas Crutcher is the case that keeps giving. In October 1874, more heirs descending from Elizabeth Curtis Crutcher, sister-in-law of Thomas through his brother Anthony, filed a petition in the chancery court in Nashville. These documents fill in the gaps on the extended family. The first group of pages are a set of depositions with Virginia Earhart Taylor, daughter of Elizabeth Crutcher Earhart. She provides testimony on the whereabouts of her cousins. She says Elizabeth Virginia Maxey left one son, Albert R. Munn, who died in Coles County, Illinois. She had no living children in 1874. Munn was to receive $978.00.

The 1874 petition was filed on behalf of Frances Parker and cousins against the clerk of court Baxter, 30 years after the death of Thomas Crutcher. Once again, FamilySearch Full Text Search was the key to locating this file. Frances Parker stated that the share owed to Mary Crutcher Maxey was still in the hands of the clerk of court, Mary was deceased, and so her share should pass to the other heirs.

According to the petition, Frances was owed one fourth of the share. Mary Maxey's heirs were owed a fourth, The heirs of Martha Osborne were due to split one fourth, the heirs of Elizabeth Earhart were due one fourth, and Sarah Rogers was due one fourth.

Washington and Sarah

 

FamilySearch. Barren County, KY. 23 Dec 1824.

Sarah Crutcher and Washington Rogers were married in Barren County, Kentucky in 1824. They moved to Boone County, Missouri about 1831, and can be found in several land deeds in Pike County and Boone County. The family is listed in the 1850 US Census in Boone.

Ancestry. 1850 US Census. Boone County, MO.

They appear again in the 1860 US Census in Boone County.

Washington Rogers died in 1867. Sarah is listed in the 1870 and 1880 US Census in the household of her daughter Mary Elizabeth Williams in neighboring Audrain County. Sarah died there in 1886.

In the matter of guardianship

 

FamilySearch. Clinton County, IL. 15 Sept 1851.

Thanks once again to FamilySearch Full Text Search, I've been able to continue along the path of records for the estate of Thomas Crutcher to Clinton County, Illinois. The snapshot above names David Earhart, John Albert Earhart, Elijah Earhart, and Virginia Thomas Earhart as orphan minors due proceeds from the estate of Thomas Crutcher. The same page shows Elizabeth and Thomas Perry Maxey named as orphan minors also due proceeds from the Crutcher estate. Elizabeth and Thomas were children of Mary Ann Crutcher Maxey, a daughter of Elizabeth Curtis.

FamilySearch. Clinton County, IL.

The next two records from 1854 show guardian bonds for the minor children of Elizabeth Earhart, naming them grandchildren of Anthony Crutcher of Montgomery County, Tennessee, brother of Thomas Crutcher late of Davidson County, Tennessee. The record says the children were entitled to a portion of Thomas' estate according to the Chancery Court in Nashville.

FamilySearch. Clinton County, IL. 1854.

The adjoining page shows a guardian bond filed on behalf of Elizabeth V. Maxey and her brother Thomas P. Maxey, orphan minor children of A. G. Maxey and Mary Ann Crutcher Maxey. Yet another guardian bond identifies another female descendant from Elizabeth Crutcher Earhart. Her daughter Eliza Ann Earhart married Elijah Bail. She died in January 1850, and had children Mary Ann and William Riley Bail. They're also listed as entitled to a portion of Thomas Crutcher's estate.

FamilySearch. Clinton County, IL. 5 July 1853.

These names point us back to the chancery files in Davidson County, as some of the descendants of Elizabeth Earhart were still seeking funds from the estate in 1874. According to the file, Virginia Earhart married James F. Taylor, and moved from Illinois to Montana, and later to Ogden, Utah.

The trail of maternal line descendants from Frances Carter Curtis shifts to Sarah Crutcher Rogers, who moved with her family to Missouri. I'll pick this up in the next post.

Champions

 

Indiana University. 19 Jan 2026.

The Indiana University football team completed a historic run last night, beating the Miami Hurricanes 27-21 for the school's first college football national championship. The team finished the season unbeaten, 16-0. This was a miracle finish long suffering Hoosier fans could never have imagined a few years ago.