Person:John Crouch (24)

John Crouch was one of the Early Settlers of Augusta County, Virginia

Contents 1 Early Land Acquisition in Augusta County, VA 2 Records in Augusta County, VA 3 Information on John Crouch		Welcome to Old Augusta Early Settlers Beverley Manor Borden's Grant Register Data Maps Places Library History Index
	……………………..The Tapestry Families Old Chester OldAugusta Germanna New River SWVP Cumberland Carolina Cradle The Smokies Old Kentucky

__________________________

Early Land Acquisition in Augusta County, VA

Acquisition of Land from Chalkley's:

• Vol. 2 - 1750-51, February 22d--John Croutch, 200 acres, joining to, or near, James and Edward Williams' entries; bought by Even McDonald, and is to live there next fall. Christian Clayman, vid. Thos. Turk. Robert Caldwell, vid. John McGreery. (Note: other records indicate that this land was located on the North Fork of the South Branch of the Potomac River).

Records in Augusta County, VA

From Chalkley's Augusta County Records: (unless otherwise listed)

• Soldiers and Public Service in Dunmore's War 1775, "Virginia citizens or soldiers from the counties of Augusta, Bedford, Botetourt, Culpeper, and Fincastle who were compensated in 1775 for supplies or service during Dunmore's Expedition in 1774."

Claims, Augusta County

George Shaver

John Warwick

John Everman

Isabella Stewart

Danial McLean

Ephraim Richardson

William Westfall

John Crouch

Conrade Goode

Charles Fornelson (paid John Fornelson)

Richard Elliot

David Haddon

[Source: http://lvaimage.lib.va.us/Microfilm/DW/001/00233.tif]

• Vol. 2 - 1750-51, February 22d--Even McDonald bought six entries on North Fork Potomac from James, Edward, and Philip Williams, Jno. Croutch, Jno. Turner, and Michael Severe; see these names.

• Page 97.--8th December, 1778. Ephraim Richardson's estate sold at vendue, to, viz: Aron Richardson, Anthony Smith, Rachel Richardson, James Lackey, Joseph Pancake, Eliah Fornelson, John Crouch, John Fornelson.

Information on John Crouch

John Crouch, Sr. was born circa 1720s and died circa January 1800 in Ross County, Ohio. He is said to have married Mary (possibly Mary Ashby) and they had at least seven children. Mary was born after 1720 and died after 1800. John Crouch came to Virginia 1749-1750, listed in First Families of America. (1) There are three seminal documents giving information on the Crouch family in Virginia, Origins of the Warwick Family, (2) an interview with John Sr.’s son David Crouch, (3) and the online article, John Crouch, Sr., of Tygart Valley (W) VA & Bourbon Co. KY, (4) the work of a Crouch researcher.

Researcher Ms. Stalnaker has stated that John Crouch Sr. was born in 1728, Somerset, Maryland. From David Crouch’s interview, David’s wife stated that John Crouch Sr. was born on the Eastern Shores of Maryland. This means that earlier histories that stated he was one of three brothers that came from Wales were incorrect. Ms. Stalnaker: “We have narrowed our search down to Somerset County, MD, and surrounding counties, which is where we have traced John Crouch Sr., and some of the Crouch associated families, such as Fornelson, Wamsley, Delay, among others.” There were a number of Crouch families in Somerset County, Maryland, but no connection with our John Crouch Sr. has been found. The parents of John Sr. remain a mystery. In Virginia, the family of John Sr. was connected with the Warwick family, among others.

Exactly when, or why, John Crouch Sr. again moved is not known, but according to his son David, the family was at Tygart Valley by circa 1770. David described his father as living “on the gun and the range. As soon as the range was gone he wanted to move.” However, John Sr. was at Tygart Valley seventeen years before moving on to Kentucky. Moving another forty miles into the mountains, John Sr. settled on 400 acres lying on both sides of the Tygart River, just below the present site of Mill Creek. He was granted this land by right of settlement in 1784, when he also had an adjoing 142 acres surveyed but apparently sold before the grant was issued. His youngest three children, Sarah, Jonathan and David, were probably still at home. Four of his children were now or soon to be married and start families of their own – Joseph, Andrew, Elizabeth and John Jr. According to the History of Tucker County West Virginia, Tygart Valley was thirty miles long and five miles wide – one of the choicest regions in the state due to its expanse of level land and the abundance of wild game, a hunter’s paradise. According to son David, the Crouchs were not farmers, living mostly by hunting and apparently raising stock on the range – what we would later call ranchers in the far west.

The earliest record for the family in Tygart Valley is a land grant of 1,000 acres surveyed on March 6, 1774. This land was divided between John Sr.’s sons Joseph and Andrew, his son John Jr.’s father-in-law Charles Fornelson, and a James Lackey. Serving in Ralph Stewart’s Tygart Valley men during Dunsmore’s War in 1774 were Ensign Joseph Crouch, Sergeant Henry DeLay, Private Andrew Crouch, Private John Crouch.

Source: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~hutch/PURGETT/Crouch.htm

The CROUCH brothers - John, Andrew and James had moved to America from Wales in the late 1740's. They are first found in Virginia in 1750 and settled on the North Branch of the Potomac River in far North Western Augusta County. The French and Indian War forced them to retire westward to the Pastures, where James and Elizabeth met and married. After the Treaty of 1764 the CROUCH's again headed west. settling this time in Tygart's Valley. The settlement had been founded in 1754 by David TYGART and Robert FOYLE on a branch of the Monongalia River that now bears the former's name - Tygart Valley River.

Source: http://thor.genserv.com/sub/look-gen/mb5a/note_32.htm