Tom Crow's Memories  
Henry D Crow Obituary  
Henry D Crow's Siblings  

COMING SOON:
William Henry Crow 
Louisa Barnett 
Joseph D Crow 
Mary Jane Whittinghill 
William Barnett 
Nancy E. Voyles 
William Whittinghill 
Sarah Kelley 
AND 
The ancestors of
Mary Elliott Bales
born December 5, 1888
Labette County, KS
Wife of Henry D Crow

Henry D Crow was born and raised on a small farm (20 to 30 acres) near Fordsville, Kentucky. His father’s name was William Henry Crow, and his mother’s first name was Louisa (with a long i). 

These pages were updated January 19, 2010. 

This web site will include information on the ancestors of Henry D Crow, along with the evidence, both documentary and anecdotal, and the family stories as we remember them. Updates will be made as information comes to us. Anyone having additions, corrections, comments, or questions should e-mail me: 

[email protected] 

Excerpts from the Typewritten Autobiography and Family History written by Thomas D. Crow, youngest son of Henry D Crow, in 1971 and 1982 

Henry D Crow was born and raised on a small farm (20 to 30 acres) near Fordsville, Kentucky. His father’s name was William Henry Crow, and his mother’s first name was Louisa (with a long i). I never knew my Grandfather Crow, and saw my Grandmother Crow only a few times. 

I know very little of my Dad’s family, except some sketchy things I heard from my Mom over the years. My brother Bill was named for his two Grandfathers, William Crow and Taylor Bales. I was named for my Uncle Mary Thomas Crow, I guess Grandma and Grandpa didn’t think they would have any daughters, so they hung the "Mary" on him. Uncle "Monk" (William Arthur Crow) was my "drinkin" uncle. He lived in Coffeyville [Montgomery County, Kansas] for a few years and he and Dad worked for the Union Traction Co. (street cars). His drinking was a constant source of worry to my folks, but he had moved to San Antonio Texas, I think before I came along in 1923. 

Mom and Dad were married about 1910, and at the time, Dad owned half-interest in a plumbing shop. His partner, Barney Braswell, was a good workman, I’ve been told, but was addicted to strong drink and poker, which eventually lost the business for them. Virgil was born in 1911 (July, I think) and Bill about two years later, in 1913, so my big brothers were "Big Brothers" to me and at that time, I was never very close to them. My family lived at 1117 West Ninth in Coffeyville by then (1923) and when I was born Virgil was 12 and Bill was 10. My earliest memories are our 1923 Model T Ford touring car, which Mom drove a lot. Virgil and Bill working on their old Model T in the yard. Taking goat’s milk to Grandma Bales’s house, running off to Aunt Ola’s at 808 Gilliam to bum a piece of candy or some brown sugar, a rare bob sled ride around town, towed by Dad with the Model T, Virgil playing popular songs on the piano while I perched on the bench beside him and bugged him by singing along. Virgil was an excellent student, always reading, and Bill was always in trouble with Dad for skipping school. Then in the summer of 1928, I think, the folks bought 20 acres, 3 1/2 miles out of town near Cedar Bluff, and we moved there. 

Dad worked at the National Refining Company as an air brake technician (tank cars), and ran the 20-acre small farm evenings and Saturdays. In 1929, 30, and 31 the industrial workday was usually 10 hours, so Dad put in mighty long hours. My Mom had many misgivings about him pushing himself so hard, and the only time I ever heard a cross word pass between them was a heated discussion I wasn’t supposed to hear. I was about seven at the time and I remember Mom saying "Henry, you’re killing yourself," that plus their voices being louder than I had ever heard them scared hell out of me. As this continues, you’ll see that she was not so far off the mark. 

I started school at Cedar Bluff School in September of 1929, and after Bill bought some overalls for me (so Mom would quit sending me to school in those "sissy short pants"), I loved going to school. The social life in the country was mostly PTA meetings, ice cream socials, Christmas programs, box suppers, pie suppers, etc. My Dad had a rich baritone voice and was always in demand to sing at many of these affairs. My favorite he sang was "Kentucky Babe," Mom had two favorites, "Love’s Old Sweet Song" and "Whispering Hope." During our first summer on the farm, Virgil was notified he’d won a Summerfield Scholarship to K.U. So Virgil went off to Lawrence in late summer, Bill was still in High School. 

Dad, Virgil, and Bill worked the 10 or 12 tillable acres with one horse, a buckskin mare called "Buck," that was either borrowed or leased. I only know that we didn’t own her. Lots of tomatoes, sweet corn, kafir corn, navy beans, cantelopes, watermelons, etc., plus some hogs. In cold winter, a couple of hogs were butchered out by the barn for our own use. Dad did the smoking of our hams and bacon. When Virgil was in the third year at K.U. and Bill was in Coffeyville Junior College, Dec. 1931, Dad became very ill with pneumonia, a frightening thing in those days, and he was awfully sick, delirious part of the time, with high fever for days. We had special nurses at the farmhouse to take care of him night and day. Grandma Crow came from Kentucky and Virgil came home from Lawrence. After about 10 or 12 days, Dad had passed the “crisis” and appeared to be on his way back to health. Then, quite unexpectedly, at 5 a.m. on December 20, 1931, Grandma Crow woke me and told me that Dad had died. The doctor believed his condition in general and the high fever had damaged his heart, and that it had failed. 

National Refinery Employee Passes After Two Weeks’ Illness of Pneumonia; Funeral Tomorrow 

Henry D. Crow, 44, employed in the car department at the National refinery, died at 5:55 o’clock yesterday morning at his home at Indian Village, northwest of Coffeyville, where the family had moved from this city about two years ago. He had been ill of pneumonia for the past two weeks. 

Mr. Crow was born October 1, 1887, at Fordsville, Ky., and came to Coffeyville from there in 1906. Previous to entering the National’s employ, Mr. Crow had been employed by the Union Traction company, working both in the shops and as a motorman. He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Mary Crow; three sons, Virgil, a student in the University of Kansas at Lawrence, and William and Thomas, at home; his mother, Mrs. Eliza Crow of Fordsville, Ky.; a sister, Mrs. Robert Rusher of Fordsville; and two brothers, Arthur Crow of Fordsville and Joe Crow of San Antonio, Tex. Mrs. Eliza Crow had been at her son’s bedside since last Monday, while his son, Virgil, was called here from Lawrence December 11. 

Funeral services, in charge of Rev. Joseph D. Boyd, pastor of the First Christian church, will be held at 2:30 o’clock tomorrow afternoon at the Carl V. Cash funeral home. Interment will be in Fairview cemetery. 

Henry D Crow (no period after the D -- it was not an initial, it was his middle name) was one of eight sons and one daughter born to William Henry Crow and his wife Louisa Barnett. According to the daughter, Aunt Bertha Crow Rusher, "My father Henry and mother were married Jan. 1, 1880. They had 8 boys and 1 girl, me. Two babies died when they were young. The other names were Jesse, Sam, Henry D, Joe, Arthur, Tom, and Bertha was me."  

Jesse W. Crow was born November 1, 1880. According to Bertha Crow Rusher, he married Martha Cagle, and they had 2 boys and 2 girls: Louise, Lotta, Cagle, and Glenn. Bill Crow (Henry D’s middle son) said that Uncle Jesse Crow went to San Antonio ca. 1908, was a mechanic, and served on an early library board [altho I could find no evidence of that at the San Antonio Library]. Bill gave the children’s names as J.C. (or Jesse Cagle), Glenn, Louise (m. Henry Mangham), and Lottie (m. Reuben Brown). Louise was a schoolteacher in the Floresville, TX area. Virgil Crow (oldest son of Henry D) said that Jesse’s sons were named Cagle and Glenn Cagle and that Uncle Jesse had been heard to say that if he had any more sons he would name them all Cagle. 

Hardin B. Crow was born October 21, 1882 and died December 10, 1882. 

Samuel H. Crow was born November 19, 1883. According to Aunt Bertha, “Sam married Tola Hedden. They had 6 children, one girl and five boys. Sam died with TB in 1918. Tola went to Arkansas and married again.” The marriage index for Ohio County, KY shows Samuel H. Crow and Tola Headen, September 30, 1904. At the Macedonia Cemetery in Breckinridge County, KY, we found a marker for Samuel H. Crow, Nov 19 1883, Mar 20 1918. On an adjoining side of the marker is carved "Helen A. / His Wife / Sept 19 1888." We have discovered that Helen's full name was Helen Attolla Heddon. After Samuel's death she did move to Arkansas, where she eventually married again. She is buried in Arkansas. 

Frank T. Crow was born March 15, 1886 and died November 12, 1886. 

Henry D Crow was born October 1, 1887, married Mary Elliott Bales in 1910 in Kansas, and died December 20, 1931. His sister Bertha wrote in 1978: "He was a cut up, fun for everything. He and your Grandma lived at on Daddy’s farm one year when he was disabled to work at his job in Coffeyville, we all had a great time. My brother Joe and Rose lived in the house with us, I was 15." 

Joe Wesley Crow was born January 9, 1890. According to Aunt Bertha, "Joe married Rose Mason. They had 3 girls, Clara Mae, Marjorie, and Thelma." 

William Arthur "Monk" Crow was born July 23, 1891 and died in March 1934 at Fordsville, KY. According to his daughter, Juanita Calvin Crow, in a 1978 letter, he had two sons by his first wife Ethel Coppage: John Henry Crow and one deceased. With his second wife Dora Clark he had three daughters, Juanita, Louise, and one deceased, and a son, Arthur Clark Crow. The index for the Macedonia Cemetery in Breckinridge County shows "CROW, Ethel, wife of William Arthur, 4-13-1890 -- 11-9-1923." Aunt Bertha said "Arthur married Ethyl Sandusky. They had a boy John Henry. Ethyl died with TB, he then married Dora Clark. They had three children, Jauneita, Louise, and Clark." Aunt Bertha said that Arthur, his first wife, and a baby were all buried at Macedonia Cemetery, but we did not find either an index listing or a stone for him. We did find a listing for Vesta M. Crow 1930-1933, who could be the deceased daughter. 

Bill Crow, Henry D Crow's middle son, told a story about the days when Monk was working for Henry D at the plumbing shop in Coffeyville. Monk stuttered, and one day an old man who stuttered came into the shop, and Monk thought he was making fun of him. By the time Henry got to them, Monk had his knife out. 

Mary Thomas Crow, a son, was born September 29, 1894. The story is that his mother had always wanted a daughter to name Mary (which was pronounced May-ree) and finally decided, with the birth of her eighth son, that she would never have the opportunity to name a daughter. The family seems to have called him "Tom," but Virgil D Crow, oldest son of Henry D, recalled hearing his grandmother Louisa calling Tom in from the field for dinner: "May-ree! May-ree Thomas!" The index to the Macedonia Cemetery in Breckinridge County lists him as "daughter of W.H. and L.A." but his stone says clearly "Mary Tom son of W.H. & L.A. Crow Sept. 29 1894 Feb 24 1918." Aunt Bertha said "Tom died when he was 24 with TB. He never married." 

Bertha Kathryn Crow was born February 19, 1898 and died December 14, 1987. She wrote in 1978: "Now comes me your old Aunt Bertha. I am now 80 yrs old last Feb. 19. I married when I was 16 yrs old to a handsome black haired tall man, he was a school teacher, but in 1927 he went on a rural mail route. We had 57 years happy married life. We had twelve children, 6 boys and 6 girls. One boy died when he was 35 years old, eleven are still living." Bertha and her husband Robert A. Rusher (1892-1968) are buried in the Fordsville Cemetery at Fordsville, KY. Visiting the Fordsville Cemetery in 1999, we also found the graves of Jesse T. "Tom" Rusher (1926-1990), Christa L. Rusher (1917-1992), and Willard R. Rusher (1924-1959), three of Aunt Bertha's children. 

When the land that had belonged to William Henry Crow was sold, some years after his death, Virgil D Crow, Henry D's oldest son, made a handwritten copy of the list of the heirs. Here is the list, with Virgil's notes in square brackets:

Bertha Rusher
Robert Rusher
[Bertha and her husband]

Martha Crow, a widow, San Antonio

Louise Mangham
Henry Mangham

Lottie Brown
Reuben Brown

Cagle Crow
Edna Crow

Glenn Crow
Lorene Crow

[Jesse's widow, children and spouses]

Delie Williams
Alfred Williams
Palestine, Arkansas

Joe Crow
Louise Crow
Mississippi

Hardin Crow
Texarkana, Arkansas

[Sam's children or grandchildren?]

Mary Crow

Virgil Crow
Harriett Crow

William Crow
Stella Irene Crow

Thomas Crow
Normagene Crow

[Henry D's widow, sons and spouses]

Rosalie Crow
San Antonio

Clara Mae Crow Davis
a widow, San Antonio

Marjorie Spinks
Harvey Spinks

Thelma Portner
Archie Portner

[Joe Wesley's widow, daughters and spouses]

Dora Crow Chancellor
a widow, Bryan, Ohio

John Henry Crow
Winnie Crow

Juanita Crow

Louise Hahn
Lou Hahn

Clark Crow, California

[William Arthur's widow, children and spouses]