CROCKER-L Archives

From: "Andrea Leonard" <>
Subject: [CROCKER-L] Southern Crockers (5-3-98)
Date: Sun, 3 May 1998 08:28:05 -0400

Hello Sara =

Your posting of your family is helpful, and once I get to the point of
organizing as much of the Crocker data as I can, I will analyze the results
and determine whether there is enough dependable data to warrant preparing
a manuscript for my publisher in Maryland. Until I have -- not only the
names and dates of birth, marriages, and deaths, names of wives, husbands,
and parents of the parties involved, but the SOURCES from which these have
been taken, I cannot prepare a definitive document that would be of real
value to the many southern Crockers who are interested in their family
background.

If you were to see the work I did in "A Crocker Genealogy," Vol. I, you
would better appreciate what is involved. And even though I did give names
of people who had given me information, I was criticized by some
"professional" genealogists because I did not give a citation for every
entry. And the professionals were CORRECT. I'm NOT a professional, and I
have done the Crocker books for my own satisfaction, and to help future
generations get a handle on who they are, where they came from and who
their relatives may be... (many a closet door is opened when we do a search
like this!)

You may be able to get a copy of my books through your library loan. They
are in the DAR library in Washington, DC., and in other libraries around
the country. I AM NOT INFALLIBLE! My sources, although good and acceptable
ones, have also made mistakes. Genealogy is not an exact science!

Perhaps one or more of the so-called southern Crockers would prepare a
manuscript that could be published and I could continue to concentrate on
the descendants of William Crocker of Barnstable who seems to be totally
unrelated to the progenitor of the southern branches. Or if they ARE
related, the proof lies somewhere (probably Devon) in England, and no one
has yet determined exactly where.
There are guesses, searches that have led to probabilities, but no provable
facts yet. The search goes on, and may never be positively proven.

One thing we all know, Sara, is that there are thousands of Crockers in
this country -- and in other English-speaking countries on the planet. And
they all seem to come from a center near Exeter in England. That they have
spread out over the English countryside is clear, because we are finding
them also in Somerset and Cornwall. That they have spread out over this
nation is also clear, because we have them in all 50 states (except Alaska)
-- and I would not be surprised to find them there. Just last night Les
Beecher of New Zealand posted his new-found connection in Taunton and
Barnstaple. How did his branch get to New Zealand? I don't yet know.
Someday maybe he will tell us...

Meanwhile, I'm keeping a file of the postings from the southern Crockers,
and will try to put them together and come up with something that is more
than a jumble of data. Genealogy is like a picture puzzle... until you have
all the pieces and have fit them together, you just have a heap of pieces.
The problem with family histories is that you don't even start out with a
complete set of pieces, so you will always have holes in the finished
picture.

If you would like to provide the missing pieces of your own family, please
follow a pattern that I can follow: (Full name) of earliest Crocker you
know about, born (date) at (place), died (date) at (place), son of
(mother's full name including maiden) & (father's full name), married
(date) at (place) _(full nameof spouse) __, born (date) at (place), died
(date) at (place, daughter of (name of parents and place they were from).
In many instances you will not know the information requested. If you
cannot find that, just leave it blank. You can set up a form on your
computer, and just fill in the blanks with the information you have. If
possible, please indicate where you found the details (i.e., family bible,
census of place and date), deed recorded at (place), will of (name)
probated at (name of place) etc. Once you have this information and send it
to me, I can use it when getting the manuscript organized and typed for the
publisher. Once that is done, I must proofread and index the entire
document, then print it and mail it.

This takes a couple of years -- then the publisher takes several months to
produce the book itself.

I hope all Crockers will follow these guidelines before posting any more
data and before sending me queries about their family. I am spending all my
time answering queries. I want to help everyone, but I'm not getting my
work done!! I'm 75 years old, my mother is 99 and still living at home. She
needs many hours of daily help and attention. I'm her only daughter. Need I
say more?

With kindest regards,Andrea

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• [CROCKER-L] Southern Crockers (5-3-98) by "Andrea Leonard" <>