Ambrose Crain

Not the son of William Crain, Sr.

Disambiguation

This is not the same Ambrose Crain that was born in 1734. The Ambrose Crain who was born in 1734 was born in Pennsylvania, not Virginia. The Ambrose Crain who lived in Pennsylvania was a different person.

According to family biographies, this Ambrose Crain was born and married in Virginia, lived in North Carolina - consistent with an Ambrose Crane listed in the Granville Co NC census there in1755 and the Rowan Co NC census in 1768. From there the family is said to have moved to Georgia, where Ambrose is supposed to have died in Wilkes Co abt 1794. I have not found any primary source to document this, though. But it almost certainly wasn't Pennsylvania as stated in the biography here. There is another Ambrose Crain who lived in Pennsylvania.

• Re: William (b.1704) and Jean Crain line
• By genealogy.com user July 13, 2001 at 10:40:40

   In reply to: Re: William (b.1704) and Jean Crain line

   7/12/01

AMBROSE:

From e-mail from Sharon Lamkin (nannysilver@excite.com), 503-606-9931, Monmouth, Oregon:

My name is Sharon Lamkin and my father's mother was Ruth Naomi Crain.She is a direct-line descendent of Ambrose Crain.

Ambrose Crain was the son of William Crain who was born in County Down, Ulster, Ireland in 1704.His mother was Jean who was born in 1695 in the same place.

Ambrose came to America with his family sometime between 1739 when his brother George was born in Ireland and the birthe of his brother Joseph in W. Hanover, Dauphin, PA in 1741.

• The following is from the book "Ten Sons Of Olliver" by Solon P. and Marguerite Starr Crain, published 1974:

Ambrose bought one hundred fifty acres of land from Joseph Bridges in Granville County, NC, in 1752 as recorded CB-2 GRANVILLE COUNTY REEL 29, pages 107-109 North Carolina State Department of Archives and History.This places him there the year of William's birth.It was mandatory for every man to place his name on the militia roll within six days after arriving in the district regardless of his marital status or whether he owned property.These militia rolls provide the most complete census available for Colonial America.There is no John Crain on the rolls for Granville County, but Ambrose's name is on the roll for Colonel William Eaton's District in 1754.

In 1777 Surry County was divided; the western portion was made a new county, and they called it Wilkes.It encompassed the territory in the northwest corner of North Carolina bordered by Virginia on the north and by the present state of Tennessee on the west.The western half of Wilkes lay high in the Blue Ridge mountains which cast their soft blue haze over the foothills rolling eastward.Subsequently, the original Wilkes was divided forming all or part of the following counties:Ashe, Watauga, Alleghany, Alexander, Caldwell, Avery, and Mitchell.Land on the frontier was cheap, one hundred acres for about $6.25.We don't know whether it was this cheap land that drew Ambrose, William and young Joel to Wilkes, or whether it was their inherent love of the frontier.Nor do we know when they moved west. but the earliest record is 1778 when Ambrose bought one hundred acres of land.It was recorded December 22, 1778 Entry No. 602:"Ambrose Crane enters one hundred acres of land in Wilkes County lying on the south fork of Hunting Creek joining John Crane at the lower and running on either side to William Cranes line."

The John mentioned is unidentifiable, but he sold fifty acres on Hunting Creek southeast of Wilkesboro in 1785.He and Ambrose and William were not alone in Wilkes; Philemon Crain died there in 1786, and his will names his wife Elizabeth, and children: Philemon, Aaron, Rachel, William, John, James, Mary.Philemon, Jr. later followed the Crains' trail to Georgia.Aaron Crain from Virginia was in Wilkes in 1787; James sold land on the Yadkin waters in November 1779.He died and his wife Martha was named administrator in 1790.

Wilkesboro was a tiny settlement, but it was the county seat and a few miles away was another settlement, Purlear; that is where William Crain lived.[crain699.GED]

Ambrose and Elizabeth Crain went from VA to NC, where they remained until after the Rev. War. They had 7 sons who were all soldiers.Ambrose and Elizabeth moved from NC to GA soon after the Revolution and remained there until their deaths.They both signed a deed in GA in 1798

• Residence: PA, United States
  • Reference: MyHeritage Family Trees - SmartCopy: Aug 9 2021, 1:46:05 UTC

Ambrose Crain of Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Genealogies, a book by William Henry Egle, states the following: “Ambrose Crain, the son of William and Jean Crain, of Down Province, Ulster Ireland, was born in 1734, Hanover Township, in what is now, Dauphin County, PA. At the onset of the Revolutionary War he enlisted as a private in Captain John Marshall’s Company, March 25, 1776 and was promoted quartermaster, following that joined Colonel Samuel Miles' battalion of the Pennsylvania Line, July 15, 1776. At the expiration of his term of service, he returned home, became lieutenant, and subsequently captain of a company of Associates, and was in active service during the inroads of the British, Tories, and their Indian allies, in the closing years of the war for independence. Captain Crain removed to Loudoun County, in the Valley of Virginia, in 1793 or 1794, and died there a few years subsequent.” The following records of Ambrose Crain of Pennsylvania are as well found: Marriage Records of Rev. John Casper Stover: Lancaster County www.pa-roots.com/church/stover/stovemarriage.html 1767 05 12 Crain, Ambrose (Lebanon) Cunningham, Sarah (Hanover) Kings Tax List 1775, Drumore Township: Lancaster County – Southern Lancaster County Historical Society. Page 3 www.pa-roots.com/lancaster/court/tax/1775drun.txt Freeman: Ambrose Crain Alphabetical List of Officers of the Continental Army Page 176 Fifteenth Virginia Crain, Ambrose (Pa). 2d Lieutenant Pennsylvania State Regiment, 17th April 1777; cashiered 20th August 1777. (Name also spelled Crane.) Dauphin County, PA 1780 U.S. Census (microfilm) Hanover Assessment - 1782 Capt. William Allen, Joseph Allen, James Andrew, Widow Andrew, Francis Alberthal, Nicholas Alberthal, Michael Boughman, John Brown, Sr., William Brown, Esq., Samuel Bell, Widow Baird, William Brown, Samuel Brown, Jr., Phillip Brand, John Brown, Joseph Barnet, William Branden, Jacob Bowen, Andrew Brown, George Brouse, Michael Brown, Philip Bomgartner, Peter Bridbile, John Bridbile, Capt. Daniel Bradley, Balzer Bomgartner, John Bear, Robert Bell, John Backer, John Bomgartner, David Caldwell, Jacob Cook, Esq., Andrew Cooper, James Calhoon, Richard Crawford, John Cooper, Widow Crawford, Joseph Crain, William Cathcart, George Crain, Patrick Cunningham, Capt. Ambrose Crain, Widow Campbell, Dauphin County, PA 1790 U.S. Census (microfilm) Page 51 Ambrose Crain including his family. 2-1-4 – 16 yrs and older/under 16/females Ambrose Crain State: PA Year: 1790 County: Dauphin Roll: M637_8 Township: Unknown Township Page:96 Image: 0396 I have yet to find any records of this Ambrose in the State of Virginia although the above biography states he died there. I have not been able to find any proof of the names of his children although in the 1790 Census he had them in his household. There are files that state this Ambrose married an Elizabeth Head also, again no one can offer any tangible proof of this marriage such as a marriage license or bond. These files usually list the children that should belong to Ambrose and Elizabeth of Georgia.

https://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/crain/1110/

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Crain-275

https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/family/GM8S-WRN

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.el... Page 148

• Residence:

                           Edgefield, South Carolina, United States - 1820                        

• Reference: MyHeritage Family Trees - SmartCopy: Jul 28 2024, 21:53:53 UTC