Dear Listers, My biggest brickwall is with my own last name. LOL. Not a living relative exists besides my father. So here is my quandry. My great grandfather was Harry Edward Crowe, (maybe his real first name, maybe not) born in Virginia abt 1890. He had a brother (maybe a cousin) Joseph. He and Joseph moved to Ohio and Harry married my great grandmother Emma C. Ahlers b abt 1889. There was a story that he was head of the Ohio numbers racket for the Detroit mob & that he got killed/commited suicide somewhere around 1949. This is told to me by my father, however, I cannot find a single death for him, I have tried every variation of Harry & have even tried using the name of Edward as a possible first name. My father also doesn't know if he really died at that time because he didn't go to a funeral. He was just told that he died and was found in the house. The only place I can find him existing, is on the census' for 1920 & 1930 in Dayton, Montgomery Co, Ohio. "Harry" had two step ! children Leona & Elmer (Ahlers) Crowe, and two biological children Ralph Edward Crowe & Thelma Crowe. I can find information on Joseph, I have his death record, it shows his parents as being Samuel Crowe & Ida Gardner. Though on the 1900 census they show up in Rockingham County, VA w/Joseph but not Harry. Ancestry doesn't let you view this census as a picture, just as the names that appear on there (one by one). The "e" is not present on their name at this time. I know they are from the same family because of the page, roll, & line numbers given for the individual. If any of this sounds familiar to anyone, I would greatly appreciate the help. My father thinks they might have been from the Roanoke/Rockingham areas of Virginia as he did go to visit relatives there often. Thank you kindly, Erin T. Crowe

Here are two useful Rockingham Co VA sites you'll want to check out: http://www.rootsweb.com/~varockin/HRHS/Sur_Index.htm http://www.rootsweb.com/~varockin/tombstones/photos.htm The first is a list of names from tombstones in Rockingham Co. The historical society has been working to survey all the cemeteries in the county; Lois Emswiler has been heading this project. The second site is photos of tombstones. The photos have been taken by many individuals and posted by Robert Crawford. Deb Wake Richmond, VA At 03:19 PM 1/4/2004, you wrote: >Dear Listers, >My biggest brickwall is with my own last name. LOL. Not a living relative >exists besides my father. So here is my quandry. My great grandfather >was Harry Edward Crowe, (maybe his real first name, maybe not) born in >Virginia abt 1890. He had a brother (maybe a cousin) Joseph. He and >Joseph moved to Ohio and Harry married my great grandmother Emma C. Ahlers >b abt 1889. There was a story that he was head of the Ohio numbers racket >for the Detroit mob & that he got killed/commited suicide somewhere around >1949. This is told to me by my father, however, I cannot find a single >death for him, I have tried every variation of Harry & have even tried >using the name of Edward as a possible first name. My father also doesn't >know if he really died at that time because he didn't go to a funeral. He >was just told that he died and was found in the house. The only place I >can find him existing, is on the census' for 1920 & 1930 in Dayton, >Montgomery Co, Ohio. "Harry" had two step ! >children Leona & Elmer (Ahlers) Crowe, and two biological children Ralph >Edward Crowe & Thelma Crowe. I can find information on Joseph, I have his >death record, it shows his parents as being Samuel Crowe & Ida >Gardner. Though on the 1900 census they show up in Rockingham County, VA >w/Joseph but not Harry. Ancestry doesn't let you view this census as a >picture, just as the names that appear on there (one by one). The "e" is >not present on their name at this time. I know they are from the same >family because of the page, roll, & line numbers given for the >individual. If any of this sounds familiar to anyone, I would greatly >appreciate the help. My father thinks they might have been from the >Roanoke/Rockingham areas of Virginia as he did go to visit relatives there >often. >Thank you kindly, >Erin T. Crowe > > >============================== >Gain access to over two billion names including the new Immigration >Collection with an Ancestry.com free trial. Click to learn more. >http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=4930&sourceid=1237

try the city directories for Dayton, and then see if you can visit the address where he lived in the 1940s. Someoine may well remember him, especially if he died as stated. Try the Dayton Daily News papers archives and vital statistics?? ....My father also doesn't >know if he really died at that time because he didn't go to a funeral. He >was just told that he died and was found in the house. The only place I >can find him existing, is on the census' for 1920 & 1930 in Dayton, >Montgomery Co, Ohio. "Harry" had two step ! >children Leona & Elmer (Ahlers) Crowe, and two biological children Ralph >Edward Crowe & Thelma Crowe. I can find information on Joseph, I have his >death record, it shows his parents as being Samuel Crowe & Ida >Gardner. Though on the 1900 census they show up in Rockingham County, VA >w/Joseph but not Harry.....