From Lizard Creek To the Susquehanna Valley: Joseph and Catherine (Heimbach) Crossley
After the turmoil of the Revolution was ended, George and Rachel (Thomas) Crossley settled into improving the 193 acre portion of the property confiscated from the Loyalist Thomas family. In 1787, the same year that the U.S. Constitution was completed, they welcomed their fourth child, Joseph, into the world. Census records indicate that the Crossley’s remained in the Lizard Creek vicinity until at least 1800. It is unclear as to where George and Rachel Crossley are Buried. Graves can be lost for several reasons, one being that some people were buried in small family cemeteries on their farms and are subsequently lost as the generations wear on. Another reason is that gravestones at traditional church cemeteries can break, weather beyond legibility, or even sink into the ground completely out of sight. The final resting place of George and Rachel remains a mystery.[1]
At some point in the early nineteenth century, the Crossley family with their sons, Joseph and his brothers James and Ezekiel made their way to the Montour/Columbia County area, where they settled on the southern slopes of the ridge to the north of the current route 80.[2] Ezekiel moved on and ended up settling in the east Lycoming County area near Sullivan County. Joseph and James continued farming in Valley Township. Besides farming, Joseph and James became plasterers and masons. According to the Biographical Annals, Joseph helped build the stone mill for Phillip Maus near what is now Mausdale.
Our uncle James Crossley, Joseph’s brother, also appears to have farmed and been a stone mason. He was born in 1779 and died in 1830. He is buried beneath a beautiful slate tombstone in Columbia Hill Cemetery. According to the blurb on Findagrave, he was married to Christianna Sidler and had the following children: Joseph, George, James, John, Mary, William Thomas, Maria Catherine, Rachel, Sarah Jane, Charles P., Elizabeth, David, and Hannah.”
Joseph lived in a homestead which may no longer exist somewhere in the vicinity of Trump Road between Columbia Hill Road and 642. It is also possible that the farm still stands if it is the same one his son Reuben owned in the Cummings map of Columbia and Montour Counties published in 1860. If that is the case, then the original homestead is probably the farm right next to where Kase Run flows under Route 80. Their lane is bisected by the “Short Way.”
Joseph Crossley (1787-1863) married Catherine Heimbach (1791-1858) and had the following children:
- Joseph H. Crossley, moved to St. Joseph’s County Michigan
- Catherine, married a Koup
- Elizabeth, married Joshua Stettler
- Peter Crossley (1819-1892), married Mary Mausteller
- Margaret, married George Budman and moved to Michigan
- Rachel, married a Rishel
- Reuban Crossley (1823-1876) married Martha Wilson (1826-1903)
- Benjamin, married Martha Schultz, moved to Michigan
- Mary, married (1827-1905), married John Faux
- Harriet, married Benjamin Kramer
- Thomas Crossley (1830-1908) Married Harriet Lazarus (Who was one of Edna Styer’s great aunts)
- Jane (1836-1906), married Andrew Emmet
Joseph and Catherine are buried with many other members of the Crossley clan in Straub’s Lutheran Cemetery in Kaseville.
Next time on “Meet the Family” We will move to Reuben Crossley and his wife Martha Wilson, where we will discover a stone farmhouse and more Quaker heritage!
[1] What makes all of this worse and even more confusing is that the Biographical Annals of Columbia and Montour County claims that Joseph and his brothers George and James, were the son of a John Crossley, a brother of George Crossley, who both came to the Danville area together. Dani Crossley’s work asserts that Joseph, James, and George (moved to Ohio) were the sons of George Crossley and Rachel Thomas. The BA of C&MC and works like it have been known to rely entirely on memories and oral histories and not necessarily on records, so I am going with Dani Crossley’s research on this one.
[2] Again, records get sketchy. George and Rachel (Thomas) Crossley’s graves are lost to us. They may have lived the rest of their lives in Lizard Creek. However, the Historical and Biographical Annals of Columbia and Montour Counties says one of the earliest settlers of West Hemlock Township was George Crossley whose family had since left the area. Rather than George Sr., we may look to George Jr. as this historical figure. Dani Crossley’s book mentions that George Crossley Jr. died in Hancock County, Ohio, so it is likely that he moved to Montour County before the rest of his brothers.
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