Last updated: November 2, 2021
Person
Frank Crittenden
Quick Facts
Significance:
Alabama Homesteader
Place of Birth:
Dale County, Alabama
Date of Birth:
July 1848
Date of Death:
Before 1920
Frank Crittenden settled on his land located in Dale County, Alabama on December 21, 1887. He submitted homestead application #22012 on December 4, 1888 for 80 acres of land located on Section 1 – Township 4N – Range 23E.
Per the Homestead application, Frank signed his name with the mark of an “X”. His Final Proof testimony stated that he had a wife and five children. He also stated that he had lived on the land since 1888 and cleared 30 acres for cultivation. He claimed he built a “log dwelling, corn crib, and smoke house". His witnesses were Jackson Snipes and Judge Dean. Both Snipes and Dean concurred in their statements regarding 30 acres of improved land and a dwelling house, corn crib and smoke house. Frank received Homestead Patent #12971 on January 4, 1894 for 80 acres.
Frank was born July 1848 in Sumter County Georgia to Charles and Flaywilla Crittenden who had eleven other children, Allie Crittenden-Gilmore born 1836 in Talbot County, Georgia; James “Jim” Crittenden born 1838 Talbot County, Georgia and died May 1912 in Coffee County, Alabama; Adam Crittenden born 1839 in Talbot County, Georgia; Gilbert Crittenden born 1844 in Talbot County, Georgia and died January 1928 in Dale County, Alabama; Isaiah Crittenden born 1844 in Schley County, Georgia and died August 1912 in Dale County, Alabama; Adeline Crittenden born 1845 in Schley County, Georgia; Ammon Crittenden born 1846 in Schley County, Georgia and died 1918 in Dale Couty, Alabama; Lydia Crittenden born 1848 in Schley County, Georgia; Eliza born 1848 in Schley County, Georgia; Andrew Crittenden born 1850 in Schley County, Georgia and died 1936 in Dale County, Alabama; and Jonas Crittenden born 1855 Sumter County, Georgia.
Frank and his parents and siblings were enslaved to Judge Cincinattus Decatur Crittenden, son of Robert Greene Crittenden and Nancy Mahone. Robert G. Crittenden was the son of Frederick Greene and Fances M. Crittenden. Robert’s parents died when he was young and he was raised by his uncle Robert Crittenden. Robert Crittenden’s maternal grandfather was Henry Crittenden of Essex County, VA.
Frank Crittenden along with his father and siblings are listed on a Freedmen’s Bureau record for a labor contract with C. D. Crittenden in Dale County, Alabama dated June 1, 1865.
Per the 1880 and 1900 Dale County, Alabama censuses, Frank’s family at the time of the 1888 homestead application was he, his wife Dicey, and their five children - Richard born 1867; Ammie born 1873; Etta born 1884; Cincey born 1885; and Erastus born 1887.
In addition to the standard resources used to verify the lives of Frank Crittenden and his family, a bible record maintained by Judge CD Crittenden provided the names and births of those he had enslaved.
The lives of Frank and his brothers are documented in primary source documents that include newspaper accounts from the late 19th century in Dale County, Alabama. Frank and his brothers and brother-in-law John Gilmore (husband of Allie Crittenden) were skilled artisans, primarily working as blacksmiths. Frank’s brother Jim Crittenden was a “body servant” to Colonel Robert F. Crittenden during the U.S. Civil War. One brother, Adam Crittenden moved back to Sumter County, Georgia after the war where he and his family lived out their lives.
Through the use of DNA technology, descendants of Allie Crittenden-Gilmore; Adam Crittenden (through his son Marshall Crittenden); Frank Crittenden; and Andrew Crittenden show a genetic connection leading back to the common ancestors of Charles and Flaywilla Crittenden. Additionally the name Flaywilla is very unusual however when researching names found within West African societies it is a name that means “flower”, [Newbell Niles Puckett, Black Names in America: Origins and Usage, ed., Murray Heller, Boston: G.K. Hall and Co., 1975]. There are two other descendants of Flaywilla Crittenden that carry this name, Flaywilla Gilmore (daughter of Allie Crittenden-Gilmore) and Flaywilla Byrd, grand daughter of Ammon Crittenden.
~ Contributed by Lyle Gibson, descendant
Photo of contributor Lyle Gibson.
Photo Credit: Tati Zalozh
About the contributor: Lyle Gibson is the 2nd great grand nephew of Frank Crittenden. Gibson’s 2nd great grandmother Allie Crittenden-Gilmore, was the sister of Frank Crittenden. A genealogist with thirty-one years of experience and a historian with over twenty years teaching experience, Lyle developed an interest in history and genealogy while serving in the Air Force stationed in Greece. Lyle holds memberships in the SAR and local genealogical societies. Gibson authored a book about a multiracial American family from the time span of the colonial period to the early twentieth century entitled Black Tie White Tie. He also adapted and produced a historical documentary that shares the same title. Gibson has also worked on the award winning documentary series An American Story. And Lyle founded The Elijah Adkins Reed Historical Preservation Society, a non-profit organization geared towards preserving America’s history through film.