Joe Barber’s Column

 

Some 15 years ago I exchanged correspondence with Ariel Crowley about Jabez family history. He was retired at that time and to a large extent winding down the family history research he carried on for many years. At various times since, I had wondered about his status and other have questioned whether he was still living or not. That question was answered in January of this year when my wife and I met his sister Alice Peterson and her husband Eldon at Riverton, Utah where they live. Ariel Crowley is 96 years old, however he is in poor health.

 

Undoubtedly Ariel Crowley put more time and effort into trying to establish the ancestry of our ancestor Jabez than anyone past or present and to recognize the vast amount of research he did I have written about his life and many talents elsewhere in this newsletter.  Ariel’s line of descent from Capt. Jabez Olmsted is Moses (9080) – Gideon (b.1757) – Moses (b.1782) – Daniel Philip (b.1812) – Daniel Philip 11 (b. 1854) – Mary Elizabeth Olmstead (b. 1879) (who married Clarence Edmund Crowley) – Ariel.

 

Many thanks to Alice Peterson who provided me with a copy of an autobiography Ariel wrote in 1983 and the many comments she was able to add.

 

The Olmstead Family Genealogy Forum continues to be a popular place for people to post inquiries with over 1100 messages posted to date. A shortcut to search these entries which someone mentioned a while ago is to go to the “Search this forum” box on the upper left hand side and type in the subjects name you are interested in.  All the inquiries pertaining to that person should be listed. This listing also works for the name of persons submitting messages.

 

In 1995 when Roger Orley Olmsted published the Olmsted Family Journal he indicated that in the 1900 census New York State had by far the highest number of Olmste(a)d residents of any state in the union.  The LDS library in Mesa, AZ have indexes for quite a bit of U.S. census and some time ago I copied the 1850 NY census index of Olmste(a)d entries. This winter I finished recording virtually all the Olmste(a)ds listed on this index. If anyone has a head of family living at that time in NY State, I may have particulars on the rest of the family for you.

 

May you all have a good summer.

 

Joe Barber