52 Ancestors: Same Name

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When I was in high school, my grandma recruited me to go on a day-long genealogy road trip. She wanted to visit a small town named Crow, Oregon, where she believed her family came from, as Crowe was her maiden name. (Same name, see what I did there?)

 

Veva Eby Obituary
My paternal grandma, Veva Loene (Crowe) Eby.

 

Our first stop was a small diner outside of town (which does not seem to exist anymore, according to a quick internet search). My grandma was always really friendly, and began talking to the waitress about our trip. And it turns out this waitress knew a lot about our family, including that they were not from Crow, but from the small town of Lorane, located less than 15 miles south.

So we headed to Lorane, where it turns out two generations of my family had been born, and three had died there. We made another stop (my recollection is a little fuzzy about where), and my grandma was told about a cousin who lived in Arizona and who was the family historian. They corresponded for many years, and from him our family gained an extensive family tree.

My great-grandfather (my grandma’s dad) Chester was born in Lorane in 1895. His father Benjamin was born there in 1867. It appears Benjamin was the one to add the “e” to Crow.

Benjamin Crow
Benjamin Grant Crowe.

Benjamin’s father Richard Crow was born in Missouri in 1833, and his father John was born in Kentucky in 1796. John arrived in 1853 and Richard the following year, when it was still the Oregon Territory. Both Richard and John are listed in the Early Oregonian Index as farmers.

John Crow and Mary (Polly) Kent
John and Mary Crow.

So the moral of this post is you never know where you can find genealogy information! By opening up to someone at a diner, my grandma was able to uncover a great deal of information and pass it down.

You can find the rest of my 52 Ancestors posts my clicking the tag at the top of the post.

And you can follow along on Instagram as well: @familyhistoryfood.

Until next time,

Meredith