PART I - Searching for Dayton and Mary Crider

PART I covers finding Dayton and Mary Emerson Crider.

We first went to Hannibal, which is in NE Missouri on the Mississippi River, and was the home of Mark Twain and the setting for “Huckleberry Finn”. Hannibal is about 20 miles north of Louisiana MO which was the location of a number of old photos depicting Mary Corley Crider and family. These old photos provided us some clues into the search for the family history. At the library in Hannibal, we found two books that provided invaluable information:

“The Mudd Family of the United States”, Richard D. Mudd, AB., MA., PhD., M.D. (Samuel Mudd was the doctor implicated in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln). From census records we knew that Ann Marie Mudd was the second wife of Dayton Crider, which took us to this book. There we found numerous connections between the Crider and the Mudd families, as well as the Corley and the Mudd families. The following citations provided information on the location of Dayton Crider’s grave. From page 98: “The old Crider home where Francis Sylvester Mudd and Julia Annie Crider (who was the daughter of Dayton and Mary Crider) was situated at Rock Point three miles down the river from Louisiana, Mo. Both parents of Julia Annie Crider Mudd were buried at “Buffalo Knot” (should read Knob) which is near the old Crider home.”

We looked in a number of books with cemetery listings and tried to find Buffalo Knob on the map; there was in fact a cemetery at Buffalo Knob but it was inland about 12 miles and did not fit the description as being three miles downriver from Louisiana so we had to keep looking.

We found the book “Pike County, Missouri – People Places & Pikers” Compiled and edited by Karen Schwadron, under the auspices of the Pike County Historical Society. From page 12:

“In a lovely cemetery on the southern slope of the bluff known as Buffalo Knob overlooking the Mississippi south of Louisiana, is buried a relative of the American poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Just below this burial ground was once a thriving wharf with pens for the livestock and sacked grain waiting for the packet boats to ship them down the river to St. Louis. This wharf was known as “Crider Steamboat Landing”. In 1981 the Hercules, Inc. plant occupies part of this area.”

These two citations provided important clues for our discoveries.

We also found references in “People, Places and Pikers” to Ann Marie Crider giving land to St Joseph’s Catholic church. From page 253, “…in 1861 Archbishop Kenrick purchased the Ann Mary Crider property about two and one-half miles south of town for a cemetery. In 1878 this property was sold back to Ann Mary Crider. The Archbishop reserved the graves that were in place on this property at that time….”

So we set out on a search to find the property fitting the above descriptions. South of Louisiana about 3 miles we found an island marked on the current County map by the name of Crider Island. We drove down Hwy 79 south from Louisiana to see if we found land fitting the above description. We did find the Hercules plant, and south of it only one location that looked like it could be what was then known as Buffalo Knob. There was a long driveway leading up a hill to a home at the top of the hill. The location certainly did look like what was described as “the southern slope of the bluff known as Buffalo Knob overlooking the Mississippi south of Louisiana”. It also had a location that would have been perfect for boarding livestock at a landing. We were hopeful that this might be the place; however, we did not find anyone at home. Here is a view of the "southern slope of the bluff overlooking the Mississippi".

We spent time in Louisiana MO which was the location of pictures taken of Mary Corley as well as several others (the information about the town and studio where pictures were taken was on the back of the original photos that we have). Based on the name and address of the photography studio (photo taken in Louisiana MO, S.A. rice & Bro’s, Photograph & Portrait Gallery, N.W. Cor. Third & Georgia Sts) we found the location of the building in Louisiana. It was thrilling to know that the very streets we walked on had been visited by these relatives in the 1860s/1870s/1880s.

We spent the night in Bowling Green MO, Pike County seat. We found several interesting documents there, among them Dayton Crider’s probate papers, and confirming that he indeed was the Crider of Crider Landing, and some deed information showing property transfers. In addition, we were able to locate a survey map of this area as the land was laid out in 1837. On this map we found land bordering the Mississippi River belonging to D. Crider and Mrs. Crider. We decided to drive the 15 miles back to Louisiana and again try to find if anyone was home at the spot we thought would have been Buffalo Knob.

When we drove up to the house, we found that the owners home and they came out to greet us. We told them we were Tom and Shirley Crider and they greeted us as if they knew who we were! We had actually FOUND the very small cemetery where Dayton and his first wife Mary Emerson were buried. The property belonged now to Ann and Jerry Narramore who had purchased the property in the 1970s. They were so hospitable and showed us about 6 graves that were still located there very close to their home among a stand of trees. Apparently St Joseph’s church had moved all but Crider family graves to the cemetery that is now located in the town of Louisiana. We found Mary Emerson Crider’s gravestone (died in 1852) that was in good shape, but Dayton Crider’s stone was broken in a number of pieces by a huge tree that had displaced his stone (he died in 1867).

This was such a thrill to actually find these long-lost graves and we enjoyed very much the visit with Ann and Jerry who helped clean off and decipher some of the inscriptions on the stones. They had never found any evidence of the “old Crider home” but it must have been close in the area. In 1866 this land owned by Dayton was transferred to his second wife (they married in 1854) (I have copies of several deed transactions). It turns out that when we had stood the previous day looking down the slope that we thought perfect for a cemetery, we were only about 50 feet from the actual graves that were actually at a little higher elevation on the slope. We were the first people to come searching for these graves and it gave us a great deal of satisfaction to actually solve the mystery.

There has been confusion over the spelling of Mary Emerson's name and ancestry. On their marriage certificate, it says "Polly Emison" married Dayton Crider. I had found on ancestry.com the ancestry of Mary "Polly Emison" who is listed on several family charts as the wife of Dayton Crider. However, the information on the tombstone is different and identifies Mary as the daughter of E. D. Emerson. It says she was born on Dec 11, 1811. So the information I previously found on ancestry.com for Mary Emerson is incorrect, as it showed she was born in 1805. However, I feel the information on the gravestone to be the accurate information and have corrected the information in my genealogy chart.