Crawford-Knapp Families

The Crawford family came to Liberty Township, Henry County in 1863-64, being led by the family matriarch Elizabeth (Moses) Crawford. Elizabeth, daughter of John Moses, was born in Marion County, Ohio on October 13, 1820. Her grandfather, Jacob Moses, of Bedford Co., Pennsylvania, had served as a ranger on the frontier during the Revolutionary War and Elizabeth's father, John Moses, brought his family to southern Ohio in the spring of 1801. John Moses settled in Marlborough Twp., Delaware County, Ohio (now Waldo Twp., Marion County) in about 1817. Here Elizabeth lived until her marriage on February 22, 1839 to Calvin C. Crawford. He was born in 1818 in Marion County, Ohio. Shortly after their marriage, they moved from Waldo Township, Marion County to a farm in Troy Township, Delaware County, Ohio. They remained there until 1849 when Calvin took his family to Brown County, Illinois. Calvin Crawford died suddenly in May, 1850 and left his widow with the care and raising of seven small children. Elizabeth remained in Brown County until 1858 when she returned to Waldo Township, Marion County, Ohio. About this time her father had died at an advanced age. During the midst of the Civil War she joined her son John M. Crawford and daughter Dorcas Martin in Liberty Township, Henry County, Ohio. They settled on new farms and had to clear the land to prepare it for crops. There in Liberty Township, Elizabeth Crawford married John Knapp, a widower, on June 27, 1869.

John Knapp was a pioneer settler of Liberty Township. He was born on Sept. 9, 1814 in Seneca County, Ohio, the son of Samuel and Jessie (McIntyre) Knapp. John Knapp married Harriet Babcock and they With their parents moved to Henry County, Ohio residing there since 1835. The Knapps lived for awhile in Fulton County, Ohio but they returned to Liberty Township, Henry County where Harriet Knapp died on Aug. 29, 1868. She was buried in Morrison Cemetery. John and Harriet Knapp were the parents of four sons and three daughters, among them were: Nancy Jane (Mrs. Ellenwood), Hiram, Lorenzo, Amanda M. (Mrs. Gibson), and Albert Knapp. The old Knapp homestead was in section 32 of Liberty Township and the district school was known as the Knapp School. John Knapp had been converted to the Baptist Church in his boyhood but in his later years he joined the Christian Union church at Olive Chapel. On Feb. 19, 1901, John Knapp died at the age of 86 years. Despite the hardships of her early life, Elizabeth Knapp lived until the ripe old age of 88 years. She died on January 25, 1909 at Liberty township. John and Elizabeth Knapp were buried in Morrison Cemetery. Elizabeth Knapp was a frontier woman who was remembered for her smoking of a corn cob pipe.

By her marriage to Calvin Crawford, Elizabeth had the following children: Dorcas, born Aug. 25, 1840 and married Dr. Elton T. Martin; John M., born on Nov. 2, 1841 and married Sarah A. Martin, sister of Dr. Martin; William H. born in about 1843 and died at St. Louis, Mo. after serving in

the cavalry during the Civil War; Dewitt Clinton, born Dec. 13, 1845; Alletta M., born August 25, 1847 and married William H. Russell; Lawrence Lyman, born on Dec. 9, 1848 and he later became a doctor; and Calvin, born in 1850 and who died in infancy along with another sister.

Submitted by: Robert Barnes