52 Ancestors 52 Weeks -- I'd Like to Meet . . .

 This story is for Amy Johnson Crow's "52 Ancestors 52 Weeks." This is the third or fourth year she's done this. I've always just followed along; this time I'll try to write something at least a few times.

Basically, she gives a broad topic every week, and encourages people to write whatever that brings to mind. There is no "right" or "wrong" way to interpret her suggestions. I've enjoyed reading other people's stories, but have always drawn a blank on how to write my own. The topic this week ("I'd like to meet . . . ") is one I can write about.

This is my first post in this new blog, so it isn't fancy yet. I only have a generic header. I guess the fancy stuff will have to come later. Right now, I just want to get the story (with the few details I have) written.

The ancestor I'd like most to meet (right now) is my great grandfather, John Francis Crosby (1871-1914). He has been a brick wall in my tree ever since I started researching. He is the only one of my great grandparents that I know nothing about. He died 10 years before my mother was born, so she never knew him.

I have been able to find only one record about him prior to his marriage to my great-grandmother, Texas Roseanne (Douglass) Crosby (1870-196). Well, only one record that I can positively connect to him.

Since John was born in 1871, he missed being enumerated in the 1870 Census. I haven't figured out which 1880 Census record belongs to him. (There seem to be a whole bunch of Crosby, and even several "John Crosbys") in Florida about that time; I just haven't figured out which family he belongs to.

The 1890 census was destroyed, so that is no help. 

By 1900, he was married with four children, including my maternal grandmother, Texas Lydian (Crosby) Plyer (1897-1970)

The only marriage record I've found is very sparse in information:

His death record / obituary, gives me even less information. It doesn't even list survivor names.

Apparently there was no funeral. And no one (not even his widow and children?) were at his burial.

I have no idea where that 5th child came from. To my knowledge, he only had four. Was there a "fam1ly secret" I don't know about, or did the newspaper just get their facts wrong? (Based on stories I've heard, the former is not completely out of the question . . . but I haven't been able to document the story I grew up hearing, and most of the evidence I have found seems to disprove it. I thought maybe I had a lead in a DNA match -- but I'm pretty sure I've found where that match goes in my tree, even though the match has not responded to my messages.

I guess, unless / until a DNA half second cousin match shows up who is related to him but not to my great grandmother, it will remain a mystery.

Until just recently, I didn't even know where he was born. In doing some research for a genealogy class I was taking, I discovered (on his youngest child's birth certificate) that he was born in Starke, Bradford County, FL. That's the first (albeit tiny) "crack" in my brick wall. Until I found that, the only location I had for him was Hillsborough County, FL.

He doesn't seem to have owned property -- based on city directories, the family moved around (a lot!) while he was living, always renting. Why did they move so much? Another mystery.

His widow, known to her descendants as "Grandma DD," rarely spoke of her husband to my mom and her two older siblings, even though she raised them from the time Mom (Lydian Allen Plyer [1924-2014]) was 5. And, whatever Grandma DD did say about him was, let's just say, "not flattering or positive," from what I've been told.

Unfortunately, Grandma DD is gone, as is everyone who knew her personally. My mom's brother did a bunch of research on the Douglass branch of the family, but never got around to researching the Crosby side. Oh, well.

• When (and why) did he move from Bradford County to Hillsborough County? (That was a major move for the 1800's.)
  
• Did he move with his parents as a child?
• If so, why did they move?
• Did he move with (or without) his family for a job?
• How was he related to the other Crosbys in Hillsborough County? 
• Did he have any interactions with them? 
• Did my grandmother and her siblings know their paternal grandparents and cousins?
• How much, if any, interactions did they have with their father's family? 

Who knows.