The Madisonian. (Richmond, Ky.) 1913-1914, 1913-09-09
Pioneer Family

1 he QdIIlc III sAIOOhS 10 OiIC
well and favorably known in Ken
lucky with whose history it has
been identified since the year
1889. 1t was then that Major
John Crooke, one of the most
able and active men of his day,
emigrated from Virginia to Ken
lucky and took up his residence
in Madison county. He was a
doughty pioneer; a citizen held in
high regard in the community in
which he made his home for
many years; active in the many
sided life of the new settlement;
holder of the very important office
of county surveyor. 1t came to
be almost an unwritten law that
some member of the Crooke fam
! lily should be county surveyor, and
for the eighty-Six years preceding
(! 1900, some member of the family
held this office, namely: Major
John Crooke, Kiah Crooke and
Benjamin F. Crooke, the latter
one of Madison county's most
highly esteemed citizens. 1t can
not be otherwise than appropriate
that man who had a part as inn
portant in the development of the
state as Major Crooke and whose
present descendants are held in
as high regard as his, should have
some mention in a volume devot-
ed to representative men and
women of the Blue Grass State.
Although more than sixty years
have elapsed since he was gather
ed to his fathers, there are still
remaining d very few of the most
venerable members of the COM
munity who retain some memory
of that energetic, magnetic man.
The first of the Crookes to
cross the Atlantic and to take up
their residence in the new land
which offered so much of freedom
and independence, was one John
Crooke, the grandfather of the
major. He was a native of Ire
land and reared in England. In
1870, he and his son, Ozids, father
of Major John, crossed to America
and took up their residence in the
state of Maryland. They became
prominent in the locality and
there in due course of time, Ozias
married and the birth of the Ma
jor occurred February 10, 1766, in
St. Mary's county. His early
youth was passed in the stormy
days of the Revolution, and al
though he was very young, a.
while before its triumphant con-
clusion he decided that he was of
sufficient years to take up arms
against British injustice. He had
the happiness to be in the army
! of the great Washington and he
was present at the surrender of
CORVALLIS at Yorktown in 1882.
On the 9Th of January, 1876,
Major John Crooke assumed the
dignity and responsibility of a
married man, Ann Reeves, a
young Maryland woman, becom-
ing his wife. Their union was
blessed by family of typical
pioneer proportions, thirteen sons
and daughters finding a shelter
beneath their roof-tree. The
names of the family were as fol
lows: Lydia, Jabez, Sally, Polly,
Betsy, John R., Oily, Kiah, Ozias,
and Asa, twins, William, Frank
lin and Eli. With the exception
of two members the entire famify
removed to Indiana at an early
day. Jabez, however, settled in
/ Garrard county, Kentucky, and
Kiah, father of B. F. Crooke,
chose Madison county as his per
manent abiding place.
Nearly all the children were
born in Kentucky, the emigration
having been made only a year OF
two after the marriage of the
major and his wife. At that time
many surveyors were in the state
which was then a part of Vir
ginia, surveying out the claims OF
N IL d