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Archiver > TXHARRISON > 2005-01 > 1105418583


From:
Subject: Some Available Records of Harrison Co., TX
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2005 23:43:06 EST


I am NOT going to be able to solve your Crain problem [look for Crane also]
through examining the censuses alone.

However, I am taking a flying leap at the first census abstract you give.

I am wondering whether the wife Mary might not be the mother of the Houtton
[variant spellings] children . Had she been a widow when she married Crain?
Also, it is conceivalbe these Houtton children could be siblings of Mary.
Puzzle!!!

I have some wonderful early PROBATE records for Harrison Co., and I am
wondering whether there might be some guardianship papers (on film) which could lead
you to the identity of the children--and thus to the identieis of the Crain
*parents*

I have found on films, on loan through the LDS Family History Library,
marriages of Harrison Co., probate records, etc. Are you near an LDS center? If
so, do some online searching of the FHL catalog on www.familysearch.org for
Harrison Co. and see what interests you. I personally would advise looking at
Probate records and vital records, and if available, tax records, and, in the
event Crain was a slaveholder, a reading of the slave censuses.

If Crain is the stepfather of these children, in some court, somewhere--but
where?--there may be some guardianship records. The courts did not care about
the physical care of the children--just their property rights!!! Frequently,
stepfathers or guardians had to give accounts to the courts for money spent on
the children, and sometimes these are in court minutes (but unlikely to be in
District court records). The deceased parents' estate would then be billed
for that amount--assuming there was any money or property left.

Happy hunting. By the way, marriage records are listed in the LDS catalog as
Vital Records.

E.W.Wallace

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