Forever Family

I would like to introduce my family! Front row: Frankie Craig, Dean Craig, and Charlie Craig (my father) Second Row: Joe Craig, Charles Pleasant, Thelma Craig Pleasant, Dorothy Craig, Margie Craig and                          Herman Craig Back Row: (My grandparents) Sam Craig and Eva Gertrude Rivers Craig holding the youngest child Jerry Craig I know that it isn't the best photo in the world...but it's the only one I have with all of the family. Grandma and grandpa got married in the early 20's. Their oldest child, my aunt Thelma was born in 1923 and the youngest son was born in 1947.  They would go on to have a total of four daughters and six boys.Nine of the children reached adulthood, a little girl died at the age of three. The oldest two daughters would grow up and leave the small town where they were raised. The oldest sister raised her family in Norfolk, Virginia and the middle sister would end up in California, far from the piney woods of Louisiana. The yo

I grew up in a small town in northwest Louisiana. The community is heavily populated with descendants of Spanish soldiers and the Native American women who married them. Common surnames for the area include Rivers (del Rio), Manshack (Manchacha), Ebarb (Ybarbo), Sepulvado, Remedies (Ramirez), Garcie (Garcia), etc…I think you can get the picture! My maiden name is Craig and for as long as I could remember, I wanted to know where we came from. So, on that first trip to the library I searched books for possible Craigs that were in the area. I found a few, but I was new and at that moment I couldn’t connect them to my dad and my grandfather. Then it was onto the census records! I worked backwards searching for my grandfather’s family. Once I found his parents I was able to continue searching until I found my 3 rd great grandfather James Craig Sr. James Craig was my first ancestor to live in Sabine Parish, Louisiana. I found him on the 1840, 1850, 1860 and 1870 census records.