John Jeter Crosby Jr was born about 1785 in Camden, Kershaw County, South Carolina. His parents are John Crosby and Sarah Sally Jeter.
He married Elizabeth Glen Coleman. John was from an old South Carolina family and Elizabeth was from an old Virginia family. Their parents and grandparents served in the Revolutionary War. Elizabeth’s parents moved from Virginia and settled in Union, South Carolina. John and Elizabeth settled in Indiana after they were married. They had six children.
William Crosby was born on September 19, 1808 in Knox County, Indiana Territory.
John served in the US Army between September 19, 1811 and November 19, 1811. He joined in Vincennes, Knox County, Indiana. He was in the Battle of Tiipecannoe fought on November 7, 1811 in Lafayette, Indiana. He served in Captain Benjamin Parke's Company of LIght Dragoons, commanded by Major J.H. Daviess.
The family histories note that they had a hard time adjusting to life without slaves after they moved to Indiana, where slavery was not legal. As a result, John and Elizabeth, and other members of the Crosby family, moved south to former Choctaw lands in Monroe County, Mississippi where they owned a slave plantation.
Many members of the Crosby families joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Mississippi. They belonged to the Tombigbee Branch in Mississippi. They were converted through the efforts of John Brown, who then married John's daughter, Elizabeth.
John Crosby passed away on August 18, 1840 in Monroe County.
After he died, his slaves were divided between his wife and children. In 1847, two of the Crosby family slaves, Hark and Oscar, went with the first pioneer company with Brigham Young to the Salt Lake Valley in what would become the Utah Territory. His daughter Ann later took two of the slaves, Philemon and Tennessee, to Utah. Many more of his slaves, about forty, eventually came to Utah. Records indicate that about two-thirds of the slaves listed in the 1850 Utah Territorial Census were owned by the Crosby family.
Slaves
Inherited by wife Elizabeth Crosby, who brought them to Utah with the Mormons.
Edy
Mary
unnamed
Inherited by son William Crosby, who brought them to Utah with the Mormons.
George
Grief Embers
Henderson
Martha (Crosby Flake)
Mary
Nancy
Nelson.
Oscar, who was sent with the first pioneer company to Utah with Brigham Young.
Rose
Samuel
Vilate, mother of Hark Lay, Oscar, and Martha Crosby Flake
Inherited by daughter Ann Elizabeth (Thomas), who brought them to Utah with the Mormons
Philemon, who was called a breeding "buck" slave
Tennessee
Toby, who was brought to San Bernardino, California when the Mormons settled there. Since slavery was illigal in California, he became free and most likely stayed in San Bernardino or Los Angeles when the Mormons went back to Utah.
Inherited by daughter Sytha Solena (Lay), who brought them to Utah with the Mormons.
Hark , who was sent with the first pioneer company to Utah with Brigham Young. He was called a breeding "buck" slave. He is buried in the Union Cemetery in Salt Lake County, Utah.
Thompson
Harriett
Knelt
Lucy
Inherited by daughter Elizabeth (Brown), who brought them to Utah with the Mormons
Betsy or Betty (Crosby Brown Flewellen)
Henry, who died on the way to Utah.
Inherited by daughter Nancy Coleman (Bankhead), or owned by her husband's family, all but one (Jacob) were brought to Utah with the Mormons.
Alexander Bankhead, who was sold to Abraham Owen Smoot in Provo, Utah, and he was probably freed during the war. Alex was described as being of middle height, a kindly man, and a hard worker. He lived in Spanish Fork, Utah and married Marinda, another slave who had become free in Utah. They both became members of the Mormon church. He is buried in the Spanish Fork Cemetery. His parents and Nathan and Nancy, also owned by the Bankheads.
Dan
Dan Freeman
George He is buried in the Union Cemetery in Salt Lake County, Utah.
George Nathan
Howard
Ike Valentine
Jacob He is buried in the Mormon Pioneer (Winter Quarters) Cemetery in Doublas County, Nebraska.
John Priestly
Lewis
Miriam
Nathan
Nancy She is buried in the Union Cemetery in Salt Lake County, Utah.
Rolly
Rose
Sam He may be buried in the Union Cemetery in Salt Lake County, Utah.
Susan
Thomas
unnamed man who died on the way to Utah.
Other enslaved people:
Hardy, who was called a breeding "buck" slave
Osea/Hosea, who was called a breeding "buck" slave
Research Notes
Currently his siblings are incorrect. Most or even all of them belong to a different John Crosby who married a Susan.
Sources
↑ "Utah Death Certificates, 1904-1965," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XZGZ-2M7 : 3 March 2021), John Crosby in entry for Nancy Crosby Bankhead, 26 Feb 1915; citing Wellsville, Cache, Utah, United States, certificate 48, series 81448; Utah State Archives Research Center, Salt Lake City, Utah; FHL microfilm.
"United States Census, 1820," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHG4-HJQ : accessed 18 October 2020), John Crosby, Washington, Knox, Indiana, United States; citing p. 89, NARA microfilm publication M33, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 14; FHL microfilm 205,608. Notes: 1 free white male age 10-16 (son William), 1 free white male age 16-26 (John Crosby), 3 white females under age 10 (daughters Ann, Susan, Scyntha), 1 free white female age 26-45 (widowed mother Sarah Crosby).
"United States Census, 1830," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHPN-M9N : 29 July 2017), John Crosby, Monroe, Mississippi, United States; citing 132, NARA microfilm publication M19, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 71; FHL microfilm 14,839.
"United States Census, 1840," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHTX-JLY : 19 May 2020), John Crosby, Monroe, Mississippi, United States; citing p. 71, NARA microfilm publication , (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll ; FHL microfilm .
"Mississippi Probate Records, 1781-1930," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9Q6-TD2H?cc=2036959&wc=M7MB-6M9%3A344538101%2C345783501 : 21 May 2014), Monroe > Wills 1835-1851 > image 112 of 175; county courthouses and public libraries, Mississippi, January 26, 1841. Note: This is his father's will. John Crosby of South Carolina Pinkny? district and Chester County. Mentions sons John and Leonard; daughters Hannah, Margaret, Mary, Rhoda; wife Sarah Jeter. Original will dated 9 February 1797, recorded in Monroe County, Mississippie during the probate for his son John Jeter Crosby.
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DNA Connections
It may be possible to confirm family relationships with John by comparing test results with other carriers of his Y-chromosome or his mother's mitochondrial DNA.
However, there are no known yDNA or mtDNA test-takers in his direct paternal or maternal line.
It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with John: