Thursday, June 25, 2015

A 1777 tax list of what is now Putnam County, New York, includes several Crosbys. See http://genealogytrails.com/ny//putnam/history/chapter4.html. Presumably one is the father or grandfather of our Elisha Crosby. See J. Kelsey Jones' analysis of many of these men in a post from several years ago. Some Fosters, Conklins and one Garrison are also listed.

Monday, June 15, 2015

On a page entitled "Some Inter-related Families of 18-19th Century Frankfort, Herkimer County, NY" at http://herkimer.nygenweb.net/frankfort/frankfamilies/InterRelatedFamilies.html, I found the following: "David A. [RUSCOE] ... married Mary Crosby FERO (December 11, 1836-March 17, 1923), daughter of Isaac FERO and Philena CROSBY (first-cousin of the well-known blind, hymn writer, Fanny CROSBY) on April 6, 1854. They had ten children, six of whom were born while the family was in New York." I don't think I can trust the relationship statement very much. Everyone seems to want to be related to someone famous. Plus my professional genealogist friend who commented on this line said she thought Fanny's mother was through Isaac Crosby (1718-1815) and her father through Joshua Crosby but it sounds like the lineage isn't definite. Furthermore, Philena was the daughter (or step-daughter) of Theodorus Crosby (c. 1781-1848), son of Obadiah Crosby (b. 1760), so if Philena and Fanny were first cousins, Fanny would have had to have been a granddaughter of Obadiah. Fanny was born in Putnam County in 1820. Obadiah left the Dutchess County area which later became Putnam County in the 1790s and moved west to Chenango and Montgomery Counties. It seems unlikely that Fanny was a granddaughter of Obadiah; the first cousin relationship doesn't seem plausible.