I’ve been very fortunate to have been able to compile an extensive genealogy, but like any researcher I have “brick wall” ancestors. While all ancestral lines eventually end due to lack of records, “brick walls” are those more recent ancestors for whom I cannot identify parents or siblings when records should exist.

One such ancestor is my 3x great-grandmother Elizabeth Ann “Eliza” Crocker. She was born about 1817 in Isle of Wight County, Virginia.[1] On 14 November 1835, Thomas Nicholas Edwards (called Nicholas), age 34 and Eliza Ann Crocker, then 18, obtained a marriage bond in Isle of Wight County and were likely married very soon after.[2] Unfortunately, her parents are not listed.

Her husband Nicholas Edwards, born in 1801, was a son of Thomas D. and Charlotte (Long) Edwards, who died in 1812 and 1815 respectively, leaving a teenaged Nicholas and his siblings orphans.[3] While the marriage took place in Eliza’s native Isle of Wight County, the couple lived in Surry County where Nicholas Edwards was born and resided prior to their marriage.[4] The 1840 federal census lists Thomas N. Edwards living in Surry County, Virginia.[5] While the census only names heads of household, household members are listed by age, gender and race: 

1 white male 40-49 [Thomas Nicholas Edwards]

1 white female 20-29 [Eliza Crocker Edwards]

1 white male 10-14 [unknown – not a child of Nicholas and Eliza – b. bet. 1826-30 – too old]    

1 white female under 5 [probably daughter Mary Anis Edwards b.c. 1836] 

1 white male under 5 [probably son John William Edwards b.c. 1838]

1 free colored male 10-23 [unknown]

The couple would eventually have eight children:

Mary Anis Edwards (1836-betw. 1900-1910) m. (1) James E. Wright, (2) James T. Bailey 

John William Edwards (c.1838-1862) unmarried

Elizabeth Ann Edwards (c.1841-c.1875) m. John W. Warren

Thomas Nicholas Edwards, Jr. (1842-1920) m. Nannie R Berryman

James D. Edwards (c. 1845-1853)

Joseph Wilson Edwards (c.1846-1903) m. Martha Ann Brock

Sidney Baxter Edwards (1850-1920) m. Lucy Rowell Berryman (my 2x great-grandparents)

Cornelius Elliott Edwards (1853-1919) m. Salome Annette Little

The 1850 census lists an expanded family in Southwark Parish, Surry County, Virginia including Nicholas and Eliza as well as all of their children save youngest son Cornelius who was not born until 1853.  Nicholas Edwards was listed as a farmer with real estate valued at $400.[6] In 1853, their son James D. Edwards died – no cause of death is listed.[7] Tragedy soon struck again when on 9 April 1854, ten months after losing her eight-year-old son, her husband 53-year-old Nicholas Edwards died of liver disease.[8] Eliza, now 37, was a widow with seven children ranging in age from 17-1.  

Nicholas Edwards died without making a will, but on 28 May 1856, an inventory and appraisal of his personal property was filed with the Surry County Court.[9]:

Also recorded that day were the “account sales of the chattel estate of Thomas N Edwards decd made the 17^th Novem. 1854 on 6 mos. Time.”[10]

This meant Nicholas Edwards died with debts that his widow could not pay and their personal property was sold at public auction with the buyers having six months to pay. The widow, Eliza Ann (Crocker) Edwards, had to stand in her yard in the November cold with her children while their meager possessions were auctioned to the highest bidder. Eliza could – and did – bid on her own things and managed to purchase some items herself for just over $61:

What did she value most? It’s November 17 and winter is coming. She spent 56% of the total on providing food for her family (35% corn and 21% on livestock). Another 28% went to furniture and 16% to tools (carts and a gun). Among the furniture she kept were the two beds and two chairs they owned – for a family of eight! Gone were the horse, plows, saws, axes, more than half of the livestock and the still. Her Surry neighbors bought the balance of the items and the entire auction produced $184.81.

It is perhaps noteworthy that Nicholas Edwards death at age 53 was attributed to liver disease and his inventory includes an “apple mill and cider barrels” and a “two barrel still, worm & cap and top stack” valued at nearly $40 or 20% of his total estate. In addition to subsistence farming, perhaps Nicholas was a distiller. One wonders if his death from liver disease was related.      

The Widow Edwards

Eliza (Crocker) Edwards never remarried. She is found as head of household in Surry County in 1860 with six of her seven children still at home. [11] The Civil War soon began and the two of Eliza’s sons that were old enough went to war. Her eldest son, John William Edwards enlisted on 21 November 1861 as a private in the Surry Light Artillery. On 29 June 1862, at 24 years old, he died of measles at Petersburg, Virginia.[12] He next oldest son Thomas Nicholas Edwards, Jr. age, 20, enlisted on 26 January 1862 as a private in Co. I, 3^rd Regiment, Virginia Infantry, but later moved to Captain Hankins Company, Virginia Light Artillery (Surry Light Artillery) and served for the duration of the war.[13]   

In 1870, most of Eliza’s surviving children had married and only her sons Thomas, 24 and Cornelius, 17 were living with her. Also with her were two black domestic servants named Urania Blizzard, 17 and Mary Wright, 30.[14] In both censuses, Eliza is listed as having real estate valued at $300 and $400 respectively, which means she managed to keep her land all those years. In 1880, only Eliza’s son Cornelius, 28, his wife Selena, 23 and their son John, 1, were living with her. The census record indicates she was renting part of her farmland to two black families including Junius George, 29, his wife Ella, 27 and their son Junius, 6 months and William Baird, 45, and his wife Matilda, 30.[15]              

Eliza Ann (Crocker) Edwards is not listed in the 1900 census so she likely died before then. All of her surviving children were living locally in 1900 so it’s likely she died and is buried in Surry County. While Virginia began requiring birth and death records be kept by county beginning in 1853, there was a period from 1896 to 1912 when that requirement was not in effect. Perhaps Eliza died between 1896-99 when she would have been 79-81. A death record might include parents’ names.

Searching for her Crocker family

Crocker is a common and abundant last name in Isle of Wight County, Virginia. Most of them likely descend from the Anthony Crocker who died in Isle of Wight County about 1693. I have been working through them try and find her parents by process of elimination, but it is slow going.                 

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[1] Death certificate of her son Sidney Baxter Edwards lists his parents and states that she was born in Isle of Wight County, Virginia. Sidney’s wife Lucy Rowell (Berryman) Edwards was the informant. Virginia, Death Records, 1912-2014; Virginia Department of Health; Richmond, Virginia; Virginia Deaths, 1912-2014; Ancestry.com, 2015.

[2] Virginia, Select Marriages, 1785-1940, Ancestry.com, 2014

[3] Subject of a future blog post.

[4] 1830 United States Federal Census; Residence place: Surry, Virginia, United States; 1830 United States Federal Census – Ancestry.com; accessed 10 January 2023

[5] 1840 census

[6] 1850 United States Federal Census; Year: 1850; Census Place: Southwark Parish, Surry, Virginia; Roll: M432_978; Page: 96; Image: 186; 1850 United States Federal Census – Ancestry.com; accessed 10 January 2023

[7] Virginia, Deaths and Burials Index, 1853-1917; Ancestry.com; Virginia, U.S., Deaths and Burials Index, 1853-1917 – Ancestry.com; accessed 10 January 2023

[8] Virginia, U.S., Death Registers, 1853-1911; Library of Virginia; Richmond, Virginia; Virginia Deaths and Burials, 1853-1912; https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:2:4BZ8-56HV; accessed 10 January 2023

[9] Surry County, Virginia Wills, Etc., No. 10, 1852-1863, p. 248-9; Wills and deeds (Surry County, Virginia), 1652-1907 (familysearch.org) ; accessed 6 January 2023

[10] Surry County, Virginia Wills, Etc., No. 10, 1852-1863, p. 249-50; Wills and deeds (Surry County, Virginia), 1652-1907 (familysearch.org); accessed 6 January 2023

[11] 1860 United States Federal Census; Year: 1860; Census Place: , Surry, Virginia; Roll: M653_1379; Page: 911; Image: 584.; Ancestry.com

[12] U.S. Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles; Historical Data Systems, Inc.; Duxbury, MA 02331; American Civil War Research Database; Ancestry.com

[13] U.S. Civil War Soldiers, 1861-1865; National Park Service; Ancestry.com

[14] 1870 United States Federal Census; Residence; Blackwater, Surry, Virginia; Residence Post Office: Surry Court House; Ancestry.com

[15] 1880 United States Federal Census; Year: 1880; Census Place: Blackwater, Surry, Virginia; Roll: T9_1392; Family History Film: 1255392; Page: 5.1000; Enumeration District: 106; Ancestry.com

• Surry County Connections