School Research Project Becomes Book

School Research Project Becomes Book

Couple’s painstaking research provides profile of a town and it people

 

Cliffside—A prodigious history of Cliffside residents in 1910 came about because young Scott Crow needed his family history for a seventh-grade class report.

His father, Judson, knew little of the genealogy, but began a research in 1978 which still continues.

Since 1989, when he retired, he and his wife, Jeri, have worked on it together. “We’ve been in hundreds of homes, courthouses, and cemeteries. I don’t golf, she doesn’t play bridge, so this is our hobby,” Judson said.

They prove their love for it—they’re active in eight genealogical societies, have ridden many miles and talked to hundreds of people.

Crow was born in Cliffside and lived there until 1950, when he joined the Air Force during the Korean War. Afterwards he worked for Duke Power Co.

His ancestors are wholly Rutherford County people, with names like Long, McCurry, Melton.

“I identified Abraham Crow, who was born if 1763 in Prince George County, Va., and moved here in 1784,” said Crow. “He was a justice of the peace, county ranger, and Representative to the State House of Commons. He also taught school and kept organs, then began preaching in early Baptist churches, including First Broad and Sandy Run.”

Crow identified his ancestor through Benjamin Crow’s Revolutionary war pension.

The addition of the letter “e” to the name came recently and was used by Judson Crow’s brother, James, a three-term mayor of Forest City.

Discoveries of family history—and legend—made history come alive for him. “Some of my family lived in Golden Valley, had gold mines there, and owned slaves.”

Another, Abraham, Jr., was said to have left his wife, Martha, after she killed his hunting dogs, either by hanging them or chopping off their heads. She, in turn, sued for divorce, which she was granted because he was, court records show, “an habitual drunkard and spendthrift.”

Crow laughs about the fact that no more was heard from that male ancestor.

His interest in Cliffside came from his family’s residence there. “I learned that migration was away from over-populated farms and some families left for the mills.”

After he and his wife began copying the census records of 1910 for Cliffside, “I began to see a profile emerging and Jeri and I decided to do an analysis.”

Both had computers and worked side-by-side, a task involving six months of hard work.

“But we enjoyed it,” he said. “I guess we’re the only people who read books backward. But this is our hobby and we hope that other people will be interested enough to do the other townships.”

Besides the pleasure they received, “we’re leavng something for the county. When we leave this life, everyone needs to leave more than we’ve consumed.”

Reprinted with permission from The Daily Courier. Copyright owned by The Daily Courier.