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John Cromer Letter
(As transcribed by Mike Borchardt,
25 Feb 1997)
(address omitted)
Nov. 23, 1996
Dear Mike,
On Sept. 4 I received a letter from my great nephew, Josh Cromer.
You had written him seeking information on the Cromer family.
Through carelessness I misplaced letter so could not write to you.
Recently Josh found your name on his computer - so here is reply
to your letter.
The first Cromer that I know of is John Cromer - my great, great
grandfather. He was born April 22, 1758 in Warwick Township,
Lancaster, Pa. He served in the Revolutionary War. He later
moved from Lancaster, Pa. to Maryland and on to Rockingham Co.
Virginia. He married Catherine Brubacher. They had at least 4
children. One of them, David Cromer born 1794 was my great
grandfather. John's first wife died and he married Sophia Wiseman.
The first child from this marriage was Joseph Cromer born 1805.
Joseph is the forefather of the Rockcastle County Cromers. In
1832 Joseph moved from Laurel County to Rockcastle Co. and lived
there for the remainder of his life. He lived in the area of
Skagg's Creek.
Joseph married Mary Linville and they had eleven children. One
of these children, David, was born in 1838. David married
Elizabeth Southard. They had nine children. One of them was
Adam born 1863.
I do not know the names of any of Adam's children, but from what
you say in your letter, this information should fill in the
missing link.
Sincerely,
John Cromer
P.S. Joseph had a son named Adam, but he had no children named
William. So the other Adam you are interested in.
Source: Letter from Wanda (Cromer) Hood to her cousin Elmo
Cromer in Ft. Collins, CO.
Wanda Hood Letter
(As transcribed by Mike Borchardt.)
Somerset, Ky.
Jan 6, 1997
Hi, Elmo,
I'm sorry I'm late answering your letter, but I've been busy
with my new grandbaby. She was born Jan. 2. Her name is Kayla
(Lucretia) after my Mom.
I'm happy you're doing a study on our ancestors. It's very
interesting. I'll be glad to tell you all I know.
I never saw any of my grandparents but one, my Mom's mother.
Mom told me about my grandfather, William Bramblet. My parents
kept him until he died.
Mom told me how they stretched a rope from the front porch to
the outhouse so he could follow the rope. She placed his food on
his plate and told him how it was arranged. Say, potatoes at 12
o'clock and so on. This was very heartbreaking since my mother
was also blind before her death, and I remembered this.
William Bramblet died in July, 1932. I was born in 1935, so
I never saw him. He had sisters, Jane, Sydney and Tiller, a
brother Joe. His father was Billy Cromer. Mother was Betsy Ann
Renner.
Grandmother was Armildia Doan. My mother loved this woman.
She had bright red hair. She was good and kind. She had five
brothers, Jim, George, Ike, Joe and Will. Her father was George
Doan. Her mother was Rachael Shiplet. Mom gave me this
information before she died. Had she lived, Mom would be 107
years old.
Dad was a very wonderful man and was greatly loved. He was an
easy-going man but strong and hardworking. He was never rich in
material things, but he was in things that counted. He and mom
had ten children, and either one of them would have gladly laid
down their life for them.
My dad was born Jan 9, 1889 and died Jan 23, 1969. I'll tell
you what I can about my uncles.
James Patton nicknamed Jim Hag. I go to church with two of
his daughters. Twins, Flossie Cottrel and Mossie Denney. He had
a son named Dewey Cromer. Dewey had a store in Mt. Vernon, Ky.
called Cromer's Dollar Store. He died some years ago. Jim Hag
had more kids but these are the ones I know best. William Sampson
- never had children. He had a store in Crab Orchard, Ky. It
was kind of like the old time dry goods store, you know, buy
everything you need at one store. We called him Uncle Willie.
Dad had a sister, Ardilia, early 20s. She was engaged to a
Dr. Owens in Mt. Vernon, Ky. She died of the fever before the
marriage took place.
Ben Oakly - lived in Ohio. Had three children, Dorthy, a son
Shirley and Milt. These were by his first wife. He had two
daughters by a second wife but I never knew them. Uncle Ben's
kids (the first 3) were raised by Milt and Luvainey Payne. Uncle
Ben was sort of a renegade. He liked his liquor and women.
Rachael Ann - I loved Aunt Rachael, as did my mother. She
was like dad, easygoing. I never saw her mad. She was always
laughing. Her husband, Grove Price had a blacksmith shop. They
had four children, Joe, Cassey, Mary Rose and Martha. Mary and
Martha are still alive and live in Ohio.
LaSallie - had no children. He was a legend in Mt. Vernon.
He was a constable there for many years. Sallie was the kind of
man that people would sit around the campfire and tell stories
about. He would go deep into the hills of Ky and sniff out
moonshine stills, and believe me, those folks would shoot first
and ask questions later.
Once he went deep in the hills after a moonshiner and they got
in a shoot out. Uncle Sallie caught a bullet in the stomach that
literally ripped his guts out. He had one bullet left. With
blood gushing, he crawled while holding his guts inside his body
to a small knoll. There he lay, with his gun propped up on his
mule and gave him his head. The mule took him out of those
mountains where some man found him and took him to Mt. Vernon.
The sheriff wanted Uncle Sallie to sign a statement so that he
could prosecute the man. He was this sure Uncle Sallie would die.
Uncle Sallie said, "I don't need to sign a paper. I'll be at that
trial." and he was.
This gallant man left no heirs, but he left me many a memory
to chew while sitting around the fire at night. He died sitting
behind the steering wheel of his car. He was trying to get to
Mt. Vernon, the town he loved and protected most of his life, to
a doctor. His heart just gave out.
Henry Calvin - in his younger days, Uncle Henry made and sold
moonshine. He spent two years in the pen for doing so. The
uncle I remember was not like that. He was devoted to his wife,
Molly. They had no children. Henry also had a store. He lived
at Blue Springs, Ky. He was a Christian.
Luster Venson - the youngest. He lived in Ohio for many years.
Finally, he came back to Ky and lived down the street from me,
where he died about six or seven years ago. He had one daughter
and that's all the ones I know about.
I want to tell you about my brothers and sisters but I'll
have to do that another time. I'll probably have to send this
letter by UPS now.
My youngest brother, Jearl, lives in Ohio. He told me the
other day that we need to come to Colorado this summer and see
our cousins. If this works out we'll need some information about
motels close to everyone so we can visit. We'll see.
Until later,
Your cousin,
Wanda
P.S. Excuse all of these boo-boos. I'm trying to get through so
I can watch the Ky Wildcats play ball, Look out Mississippi!
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