The Colorful Cranford Ladies

I wondered about the relationship between Balaam A Carter and Nancy Cranford from the time I saw her residing as a boarder in his home in 1900. The boarder arrangement wasn't an unusual one, but after seeking to find out who Nancy Cranford was, she became a lady cloaked in mystery. Not only Nancy, but also her mother Millie and her daughter Elizabeth.

Nancy Cranford may have been born in Montgomery County, North Carolina. It was a center for local Cranfords and more of the family resided there than in Stanly, although I've been able to determine that several of them seemed to move around quite freely and frequently between Randolph, Davidson, Montgomery and Stanly Counties. She first show up in Stanly County in the above deed. On March 10, 1866, Nancy Cranford for twenty-two dollars and 50 cents, purchases 11 1/4 acres of land neighboring that of E. B. Nash from Richard Carter.

The strange part of this deed is the way it is worded "Between Richard Carter of the County of Stanly and State of North Carolina of the one part and Nancy Cranford and the heirs of her body of the County of Stanly and State of North Carolina of the second part."  The wording "and the heirs of her body", is used twice in this document. Nothing is worded in that way concerning Richard Carter. It seems to imply that he is selling the land to settle a debt to Nancy and her children. And as I can tell, she only had one child, Elizabeth.

This is the second census that Nancy shows up in, in Stanly County:

Name:	Nancy Cranford
Age in 1870:	50
Birth Year:	abt 1820
Birthplace:	North Carolina
Home in 1870:	Albemarle, Stanly, North Carolina
Race:	White
Gender:	Female
Post Office:	Albemarle
Value of real estate:	View image
Household Members:	Name Age Nancy Cranford 50 Elizabeth Cranford 27 Jefferson Cranford 8 Mary Rummage 25 Cornelius Rummage 8/12

From later census records, I know that 27 year old Elizabeth Cranford is her daughter. Mary Rummage, a boarder deserves a post of her own and the infant Cornelius can only be assumed to be the child of Mary Rummage. As seen in earlier posts, the Rummage family had some involvement with the Carters.

The key in this record is the presence of 8 year old Jefferson Cranford. Now, this could have been a different Jefferson Cranford who never grew up. However, an identical Jefferson Cranford is enumerated in Stanly County in 1870.

Name:	Jefferson Cranford
Age in 1870:	9
Birth Year:	abt 1861
Birthplace:	North Carolina
Home in 1870:	Albemarle, Stanly, North Carolina
Race:	White
Gender:	Male
Post Office:	Albemarle
Value of real estate:	View image
Household Members:	Name Age W G Cranford 50 David Cranford 16 Elizabeth Cranford 14 Adolphus Cranford 11 Jefferson Cranford 9 Lee Cranford 5 James Cranford 40

This Jefferson was Jefferson Beauregard Cranford, son of Willis G. Cranford. I have seen during research in other lines, on many different occasions, that people were sometimes enumerated several times, and often in a different location. Unlike modern censuses, wherein the enumerators are to determined who lived in a particular house on a particular day, in censuses past, they counted the persons who were there on that day. I have seen young men counted at home with their parents, and then two months or two weeks later, be counted as a laborer in the home of a farmer whom they were working for at the time. I've seen a young woman counted in her parents home, while obviously visiting, under her maiden name and then also be counted on a different with her husband, whom she had married a year or so prior, and had already bore a child.

I believe this was the case of Jefferson B. Cranford, that there was only one. He was first counted while visiting relatives while still 8 years old, then sometime later in the year, after he had turned 9, the census takers showed up at the home of his parents. This link between Jefferson and the Cranford ladies leads me to suspect a close relation between Willis G. Cranford and Milly and Nancy Cranford.

No proof, but a possibility.

The third census Nancy shows up in is still in Stanly County:

Name:	Nancy Cranford
Age:	56
Birth Year:	abt 1824
Birthplace:	North Carolina
Home in 1880:	Albemarle, Stanly, North Carolina
Race:	White
Gender:	Female
Relation to Head of House:	Self (Head)
Marital Status:	Widowed
Father's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Mother's name:	Milley Cranford
Mother's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Neighbors:	View others on page
Occupation:	Keeping House
Cannot read/write: Blind: Deaf and Dumb: Otherwise disabled: Idiotic or insane:	View image
Household Members:	Name Age Nancy Cranford 56 Lizzie Cranford 35 Milley Cranford 90

This is the one that names Lizzie as her daughter and Milly as her mother. Neighbors in this census are John Russell, shoemaker, his wife Sallie (who was Sarah "Sallie" Carter, daughter of Marcus Princeton Carter) and John's mother, Tempie Russell, all of whom I've covered in previous posts. John was the son of James R. Melton, Albemarle businessman, whom I will cover more when I delve back into my research of the Meltons, who were a very complicated family.

After the Russells' was Winny Poplin, who was Winny Simpson Poplin, who I covered in my posts on the Simpson's to which I will soon be returning. She was a widow at this point.

Then there are the Cranford ladies, after that a farmer, Joseph Wall's family, then Susan Hill, then A. D. Potts, a miner from Mississippi, and after that, the family of F. J Kron, a physcian from France, of whom I've made mention in several past posts. There are no living descendants of Dr. Kron, however, he left indelible marks on the community and his written insights give a great deal of cherished information on early Stanly County.

This also gives us an idea of where the Cranford ladies resided. It was most likely along the market road to Lowder's Ferry and the old town of Tindallsville, that by that time had already been abandoned for the most part.

Notice that Milly was missing in the 1870 census from Nancy and her household. Instead, she was to be found in this household:

ame:	Milly Crawford
Age in 1870:	80
Birth Year:	abt 1790
Birthplace:	North Carolina
Home in 1870:	Albemarle, Stanly, North Carolina
Race:	White
Gender:	Female
Post Office:	Albemarle
Value of real estate:	View image
Household Members:	Name Age Ben Maulden 35 Ann Maulden 33 Frances Maulden 3 Hettie Maulden 2 Milly Crawford 80

Ben Mauldin was the son of James O Mauldin and Mary Ann Smith Mauldin. I see no possible relationship there. His wife Ann was the former Margaret Ann Rummage, daughter of Nelson Rummage and Christine Cranford Rummage. There is the Rummage connection again, along with another Cranford.

Millie also appears in the 1830 census of Montgomery County.

Name:	Milly Cranford [Milly Crawford]
Home in 1830 (City, County, State):	East of Pee Dee and Yadkin River, Montgomery, North Carolina
Free White Persons - Males - Under 5:	1
Free White Persons - Males - 5 thru 9:	1
Free White Persons - Females - Under 5:	1
Free White Persons - Females - 40 thru 49:	1
Free White Persons - Under 20:	3
Free White Persons - 20 thru 49:	1
Total Free White Persons:	4

She is head of a household with 3 children, a girl born between 1825 and 1830, a boy born between 1825 and 1830, and a boy born between 1820 and 1824.

Nancy Cranford, her known daughter, was born between 1820 and 1835, depending on which census you are looking at. Women often lied about their ages, especially when in Nancy's situation.

So, who were her sons?

There appears in Montgomery County, this gentleman:

Name:	Leonard Cranford
Age:	24
Birth Year:	abt 1826
Birthplace:	North Carolina
Home in 1850:	Montgomery, North Carolina
Gender:	Male
Family Number:	375
Household Members:	Name Age A H Sanders 47 Rebecca Sanders 36 Jessee A Sanders 18 Martha Jane Sanders 16 R F Sanders 5 Aaron T Sanders 3 Cerona D Sanders 1 Leonard Cranford 24 Tillman Whillington 12 Wiley Hudson 21

Leonard Cranford, living with a Sanders family. Also of interest is Wiley Hudson.

He ends up marrying a Mary J Russell and in 1910 is living in this family setting:

Name:	Leonard Cranford
Age in 1910:	83
Birth Year:	abt 1827
Birthplace:	North Carolina
Home in 1910:	El Dorado, Montgomery, North Carolina
Race:	White
Gender:	Male
Relation to Head of House:	Hired Man
Marital Status:	Single
Father's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Mother's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Neighbors:	View others on page
Household Members:	Name Age Nelson Russell 70 Della Russell 59 James Kelly 23 Leonard Cranford 83 Nancy Woodell 64 Amy Saunders 60

Name:	Leanord Cranford
Gender:	Male
Race:	White
Birth Date:	14 Feb 1918
Birth Place:	Montgomery
Death Date:	9 Feb 1915
Death Location:	Eldorado, Montgomery
Father's Name:	Leanord Chanfordy
Mother's name:	Millie Saunders

Leonard Cranford, son of Leonard Cranford and Millie Saunders. Could this be the same Millie and would he be Nancy Cranford's brother?

And then this deed from 1898, wherein Nancy sells her property to Balaam Carter for $25 and support for the rest of her life. What is her connection to the Carters? And was her acquaintance with Balaam more than just one of knowing him or neighbors? Was there a family connection? Could Balaam's mother Mary have been a Cranford or a Saunders?


Or was the relationship due to his marriage to Elizabeth "Bettie" Rummage? Bettie's mother was Beadie Fanny Cranford who married David Rummage. She was the daughter of Nathan Christopher "Kid" Cranford and Sarah Elizabeth "Sacky" Coggins Cranford. Kid Cranford's parents are recorded as being a Leonard Cranford and wife Mary Hopkins Cranford. There has to be a connection, but what?

And then Nancy's last census is the one in which she appears in the household with Balaam, his daughter, son-in-law and grandson.

Name:	Nancy Crawford [Nancy Cranford]
Age:	65
Birth Date:	Feb 1835
Birthplace:	North Carolina
Home in 1900:	Albemarle, Stanly, North Carolina
Race:	White
Gender:	Female
Relation to Head of House:	Boarder
Marital Status:	Single
Father's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Mother's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Occupation:	View on Image
Neighbors:	View others on page
Household Members:	Name Age Balaam A Carter 68 John F Russell 22 Anna L Russell 22 Geo C Russell 4/12 Nancy Crawford 65

Transcribers often mistook the surnames Cranford and Crawford, but this was Nancy.

But recall, I started the post with the 1870 census and stated that it was the second census that Nancy appeared in. The first was in 1860, and it raises more flags and question marks than any other.

In it, the three generations of Cranford women are listed, and the ages are probably the most accurate ones.

Milly, 65, Nancy 44, Lizzie 21.  Immediate neighbors are households headed by women, Jerusha Hudson, Betsy Hathcock, Elizabeth Hinson, afterwhich, the neighbors become the Coley families of Isham and William Jr. , followed by J P Tolbert and Thomas Poplin.

But it is the occupation given Milly and her offspring that colors the page. While the list goes down alternately between "Farmer" and "Day Labor", Milly has acquired a unique title. For the life of me, I can't make anything out of that word except "Prostitutes". I've zero in on it and magnified it and it still says "Prostitutes", not just in the singular, but in plural.


Was this occupation genuine, or were the Cranford women the victims of a bitter census taker for whatever reason?

Sometimes, looking to solve one mystery can lead to discovering many others. Hopefully, more information on these three ladies and the Cranford family, that will solve more of this puzzle.