 Martin Van Buren Crouch, Stephen Douglas Crouch, and Richard Johnson Crouch This picture was provided by Martin's great-great granddaughter - Cindy Chabolla She got her copy from Martin's granddaughter Devola Moore Haag The brothers are also pictured in the 1913 Reunion Photograph
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Hi Larry, These look great. It's amazing the way you have merged the pictures of the twins together to make the one. For the benefit of the others that are cc's on this email, here's a little background on these pictures. My mother and I came across these while going through the pictures that had come from my grandmother Amy's home after she died. The pictures of the twins were clearly originally one. They match together just like two puzzle pieces. They are each large about 10" x 15" or so. Their names are written on the back in my grandmother's handwriting. We can only think that possibly they were to be framed separately. The picture of Georgia is really very precious because it's the only known picture to my knowledge. We found it along with the above mentioned pictures of the twins with my grandmother's things. Again in my grandmother's handwriting is that she was told that she looked most like Georgia. Cindy Chabolla
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Martin Van Buren CROUCH b: 26 Mar 1840 in Willisburg, Washington, Kentucky d: 30 Oct 1927 in , Washington, Kentucky +Georgia Ann STAPP b: 8 May 1849 in Willisburg, Washington, Kentucky m: 4 Oct 1864 in , Washington, Kentucky d: 7 Apr 1879 in Willisburg, Washington, Kentucky son - James Barbour CROUCH b: 6 May 1868 in Willisburg, Washington, Kentucky d: 23 Oct 1950 in Decatur, Macon, Illinois son - Richard Johnson CROUCH b: 22 Apr 1870 in Willisburg, Washington, Kentucky d: 10 May 1959 in Shelbyville, Shelby, Illinois son - Stapp CROUCH b: 22 Jul 1878 in Willisburg, Washington, Kentucky d: 18 Apr 1879 in Willisburg, Washington, Kentucky
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A lot we don't know about this. Circled on the left are Richard Johnson Crouch and family - Laura wife and son Zack and daughter Verla. Verla was born in 1902, so we date this prior to 1910. Martin van Buren Crouch centers the picture. The man with the beard is Armstrong Young who married Dilla Crouch - Martin's cousin - who I believe sits to his right. The rest of them should be relatives, but we can't id them.
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Larry, The picture you inquired about was made at my grandmother Ollie Crouch Moore`s homeplace on Polin Road about two miles west of Willisburg. Pictured are Papa Crouch(Martin Van Buren) and his wife, Elizabeth. Standing is Ollie`s oldest daughter, Elizabeth Van Moore born March 27, 1914. She married Cecil Kays and she is an active 93 years young, living in Harrodsburg, Ky. Seated in the baby buggy is Ollie and W.R. Moore`s second child, Corinne bornAugust 16,1915. She married Marshall Ryan. Corinne lived at Willisburg and died in 1987. The land on which the house that is pictured sits is part of the large plot of land originally owned by Ambrose Crouch. The original Crouch homesite is a few miles south of this location. Martin`s sons, Richard and Barbour lived and owned property across the road (Polin Rd) before they relocated to Illinois. According to my mother,Devola Moore Haag, Papa Crouch built the house on Polin Road soon after his marriage to Elizabeth . His son Barbour was eleven years old at the time which would put the building date to 1879. I have heard my grandmother tell the story about her brother, Edwin, removing the mantel from the old homeplace and moving it by wagon to the Polin road site. The mantel was built by Jesse Head, a cabinetmaker for the Lincoln family who lived not far from the original Crouch homestead. The Polin road house was sold after my grandmother`s death in 1980 and has since been torn away and replaced with a new house. Fortunately, I was able to purchase the mantel from the new owner and my sister incorporated it into a new home she was building at the time. Larry, this is a quite long response to your question regarding id of the picture, but I thought you`d like to know. More to follow! Gwinn Gwinn Hahn
Jesse Head is more than a cabinetmaker. He was also the minister who married Lincoln's parents.
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| Versions of this story
have been told to me all my life. Usually it was to permit one brother to
get home for spring planting. Frequently the stories were further enhanced
by a claim that the brothers fought for different sides. What a relief to
find a perfectly believable story of an incident that must have happened.
The twins are pictured in the
Crouch Family Reunion
Picture
There is also considerable information about these men and their families in the Jonathan Crouch History
I cannot give a source for where the article was published. From the collection of Myra Dickson. This article eventually attracted a descendant of Martin van Buren Crouch - I believe I am a relative of yours. I am a decedent of Martin Crouch (one
of the twins and brother to Stephen). One of Martin's sons is my
great-grandfather. Cindy had considerable information about a picture I had posted on the site titled Crouch Reunion Illinois 1930's.
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This letter to the
newspaper is also from the Myra collection.
A.D. Young is Armstrong D. Young (husband of Dilla Ann Crouch) He and Dilla are also pictured in the Family Reunion Picture These details about the brothers come from the Jonathan Crouch history Another brother, Ambrose Crouch, raised a large family in Washington County, Kentucky, Martin VanBuren Crouch, or Mart as he was called, enlisted in Co. D 10 Ky. Inf. He served through the war of the Rebellion. He lived and died in Washington County, Kentucky, He told me that he has taught one Sunday School Class for 43 years. Of his family I know very little. One son, Barbour, went from Kentucky to Decatur, Ill. I learned he has several sons who are very prominent men in their county. Richard J. Crouch, a twin brother off Mart’s, was raised in Kentucky. He was always called Dick. He married a Miss Laura Logan, who passed away leaving two daughters. The youngest one Martha, married in Kentucky to R. A. Breckenridge of a very prominent family in Kentucky. He is a successful farmer and lives near Morrisonville, Ill. They have quite a family. Dick visited our home in Ill. in early life. He was a quiet bashful boy and when we were called on the carpet for any mischief we had been caught in, we’d always tell our stories so as to bring Dick into it. My mother would say "You boys needn’t try to bring Richard into this, he doesn’t engage in any such mischief." MY ANGEL MOTHER HAS LONG SINCE GONE TO HER REWARD. |
| From our perspective these are very important
historical events going on at this time. The Battle at Perryville was to be
the largest battle of the war fought in Kentucky and pretty much the last
one. It wasn't a Confederate defeat. On the contrary, almost every
Confederate attack succeeded, but when it was over the Union army was still
in place and the Confederates had to withdraw. As a result the state of
Kentucky was firmly controlled by the Union and never challenged again.
Lincoln certainly understood the significance of the event. He used the
relative good news of this event and the subsequent victory at Stone's River
as the impetus to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.
Unfortunately for the Crouch family and a good many other men, the march from Kentucky into Tennessee finally came to the banks of the Chickamauga River outside Chattanooga. The 10th Kentucky inf. under Thomas was part of the army that held the field after the rout of one-third of the Union army. The final retreat was not pretty and it ended up the single bloodiest day of the war. We know Martin's cousin, James P. Crouch was captured here. He ended up in Andersonville prison where he died. The 10th fought in many more major battles and finally followed Sherman to Atlanta. At Atlanta, they split from Sherman and followed the Confederates under Hood north while Sherman went to the sea. The Confederate army under Hood was finally smashed at Franklin (an unnecessary slaughter) and Nashville (a complete rout), which ended the Southern army in the West, and I believe the war for the men of the 10th. |
