Biography of Thomas Crow
Contributed by Earl S. Elliott ese01@aol.com

Crow, Thomas (1746-1811) Britton, Susanah (1752-1809)
1790's Pickaway Twp Pickaway Co

Thomas Crow (1746-1811) and wife Susanah Britton (1752-1809) are buried in the Salem UM Church Cemetery. The Church is located on the Hayesville Road in the village of Mead. The village lies at the first intersection North of Kingston (about 2 miles) on route 41 (Zanes Trace). Their graves are located in the middle of the cemetery on top of a small knoll. From information on the marker, Thomas died at the age of 65 (15 Jan 1811) indicating that he was born in 1746. His wife Susanah Britton died 8 July 1809, age 63. They were parents of 11 children. On the other side of Thomas is the grave of Elizabeth. However, the stone was difficult to read because of the grass and dirt which covered the writing on the lower part of the headstone. Several other headstones with Crow names were located in the cemetery, but their connection is unknown. (E.S.ELLIOTT, 8/30/94)

THOMAS CROW enlisted in the Sixth Regiment of South Carolina in July, 1777 under Cpt. John Montgomery. In 1777 he was a fifer in the 6th Reg. under Cpt. Geo. Warley. In 1779 he transferred to the First Reg. Thomas was taken prisoner at the fall of Charleston and was placed aboard the Roebuck for 4 months. After being put ashore on a work party, he escaped and joined Col. Roebuck. He was in the battle at Stono, the siege of Savannah and the seige of Charleston. (Moved to Tenn.) NA 246; NH 853; AA 1663; x3460. Listed in the Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution (1983) by B.G. Moss.

In early May, 1777, the 6th Regiment returned to Charlestown under command of Colonel Sumter. Colonel Sumter had moved to Sunbury campaigning toward Satilla until Georgia politics interferred. South Carolinians were not interested in independence. President John Rutledge hoped that the colonies cound settle their quarrel with the mother country and that the colonists would settle back in peace. In the spring of 1778, General Robert Howe began a second campaign to drive the British from Florida. He sent Colonel Charles Coteworth Pinckney and the 1st Regiment of South Carolina marching toward Savannah. Soon afterward he sent Colonel Thomas Sumter and the 6th Regiment trailing Pickney. Fort Howe on the Altamaha was a stopping point, then on south to Old Town on the Satilla. From there he sent Lt Colonel William Henderson and the 6th Regiment to sweep the country down to the St. Mary's River. The campaign ended in a vindictive squable over seniority, military law, state's rights and the rights of the Continental Army. In effect, the Continentals under General Howe were unable to defend Savannah and were outflanked and defeated as they fell back through the town. Howe was replaced by Benjamin Lincoln who assumed command of the remnant of Howe's army at Purrysburg on the Carolina side of the Savannah.

Clinton moved his British army up to Ashley. Lincoln decided to defend Charlestown with 5000 troops in the town and began repairing the defenses. As an impediment he sent Colonel William Henderson and his 6th Regiment up the Ashley River to hold Bacon's Bridge on the Stono. On March 25 Patterson reached the Stono and March 28 reached the Ashley Ferry. They saw the Admiral's flag on board the Roebuck in Five Fathom Hole. By April 1 the British outflanked the Contential defense line. Admiral Arbuthnot sailed his warship past Fort Moultrie, entered Charlestown harbor and turned his cannon on the the defenders.

On May 11, 1780, General Lincoln sought terms for surrender. Major General Benjamin Lincoln of Massachusetts, comander of Continentals in the Southern Department, so mishandled the campaign that he was forced to surrender Charlestown with five thousand troops, the worst American defeat during the Revolution. (pp 170-179)

Seven generals and a multitude of other officers, belonging to ten Continental regiments and three battalions of artillery, which, with the militia and sailors doing duty in the siege, amounted to about six thousand men in arms. (Sir Henry Clinton, Narrative ) After the surrender, prisoners were held on board ship in the harbor. During a work period in the town, some prisoners escaped, including Thomas. (Bass, R.D. Ninety Six, 1978)

Thomas rejoined the Colonials selling a cow and calf to the Milita in 1783. 4 Aug '86, Thomas Crow was on military duty in Roebucks regiment, since the fall of Charleston in Andersons retuna. Payment (due) in the amount of Seven Pounds, Fourteen Shillings, and Three Pences.

page: Mr. Thomas Crow's account of a cow and calf supplied the Milita in 1783 and charged currency L 15.00 & L2.2.10 Two pounds, two shiling and two pence farthings sterling. Mr Theaniper does not say in what capacity he acted. not attested. E. (initialed by several people)

Attested in another note: the price of MS re: Thomas Crow bore cow and calf to pay in part the company under my direction. Agreeable to an order from General Perkens for that purpose. Samuel Earle

Reproduced from Microfilm located in The South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbus, S.C. : from Order #2334 , Accounts Audited #1663 (Claims from Revolutionary War) Frames 204-207, 1663 Thomas Crow roll #AA29.

page: From his military record, Thomas served as a fifer with Capt. George Warley's Co. in the 6th Regiment of South Carolina Continental Troops, commanded by Col. William Henderson during the American Revolution (19 JUL 1777-1 JUL 1781). He was transfered as a fifer to the 1st CO., 1st Regiment in Feb 1780. The 1st was in garrison at the Siege of Charleston.

Thomas served a total of 44 months & 12 days. For his service, he received a settlement over ten years later in pursuiance of an Act of the First Session of the Second Congress of the United States passed the 27th of March 1792. (Copied from the original rolls in the Office of Army Accounts under the Paymaster General, U.S.A.)

After completing his military service, Thomas gathered his family and moved west. Thomas and his family probably moved to Ohio through Tennessee. They followed the Cherokee Path west to the Tennessee River, then north through Kentucky by wagon or less likely, down the Tennessee by raft to the Ohio River and the Northwest Territory arriving in the early 1800's. Late in their lives, they claimed a land grant set aside for veterans of the Continetal Army. They settled on Zane's Trace about 15 miles Southwest of Zanesville, Ohio. In the 1790's, the Harrison, Washburn and Davis families came from N. Carolina to Ursla, Ill., Hancock County.

Bowers & Short, Gateway to the West, Vol. 2, pp 390 reported his will registered in Pickaway County, Ohio in following abstract:

CROW, Thomas - Will Book 1, page 14 - dated 1-24-1812- Wife: Elizabeth - sons: Joseph, David, John, Robert, Samuel, Thomas and William - Daughters: Susannah wife of Charles Fielder; Mary Rush wife of Runnel Rush to have large Bible - Mentions wife Elizabeth Crow's children but does not name - Gives several Land descriptions - Executors; wife, Mary and friend, Samuel Harvey - Signed: Thomas Crow - Witnesses: David Kinnear, Henry Haller and Daniel Smith.

The grave of Thomas Crow was marked by the DAR May 8, 1934 and reported by the Pickaway Plains chapter. The cemetery is located in Meade Township, Pickaway County, Ohio. ( Soldiers of the American Revolution, 1788-To the Pioneers of the Ohio Country -1938, pp. 109 )

The North Carolina Genealogical Society has no record of the Thomas Crow family descendents and their deeds, as previsiouly indicated by E.C. Elliott 1950). (E.S. Elliott, as indicated in a letter the the N.C. Genealogical Society, 12/23/94 with reply 1/13/95 )

The Basco, Illinois Crow family held reunions in the 1920's. The Second Annual Reuion (1928) was photographed and names of descendents attending were written on the back of the picture. Some 250 people attended. (See picture rolled in long tube.)

The Ohio Genealogical Society (1/13/94) cited the location of Thomas Crow's Congressional land grant as: Range No 21, Township No 10S Section 35, NW 160 Acres (28 Dec, 1805). The land is located in Pickaway Township, Pickaway Co. which borders on Green Twp, Sect 2 Ross Co. From AAA road map, the land appears to be located near Kingston, Ross County, just North over the County line.