Subject: James Crews (1758–1841) of Buckingham County, VA, and Knox County, TN
Author: Tod Marshall
Published: todmar.net/ancestry - August 2, 2026
Target Ancestors: Joseph Crew (c. 1698–1759) and Massie Johnson (c. 1705–1759)
Methodology: Integrated Genealogist's Evidence Model (Paper Trail + yDNA + Autosomal Triangulation)
Reconstructing 18th-century lineage in Virginia presents a notorious obstacle: courthouse fires. In 1869, a fire destroyed the Buckingham County Courthouse, wiping out decades of primary birth, death, and probate records.
While family tradition long held that James Crews (1758–1841)—husband of Lucinda Hood—belonged to the prominent Quaker Crew family of Henrico and Hanover counties, direct primary proof of his exact parentage was lost in the 1869 fire.
To bridge this gap, my research integrated three independent streams of evidence: historical paper records, direct paternal yDNA testing, and autosomal DNA triangulation.
While direct birth records are missing, indirect evidence ties James directly to the Quaker Crew circle in Virginia and Tennessee:
Quaker Meeting Disownment Notices: Joseph Crew and Massie Johnson were foundational members of the Hanover/Henrico Quaker Monthly Meetings. Records show that James Crews and his brother Gideon Crews (c. 1752–1824) were formally "read out of unity" (disowned) for taking up arms during the American Revolution—a fate shared by several members of this pacifist family.
Buckingham County Tax Lists (1788–1792): Extant Virginia tax rolls record joint transactions between James Crews, his brother Gideon, and an elder Walter Crew (b. ca. 1735). Walter—a documented son of Joseph Crew and Massie Johnson—is the leading candidate for James and Gideon’s father.
Revolutionary War Pensions: In joint pension applications (S39387 and S37371), James and Gideon testify to enlisting together in Buckingham County on May 9, 1776, under Captain Thomas Patterson in the 6th Virginia Regiment.
Parallel Migration: Around 1796, James and Gideon migrated together from Buckingham County to Stock Creek in Knox County, Tennessee, alongside allied Quaker families (Hoods, Childresses, Kirbys).
To confirm that the Knox County, Tennessee "Crews / Cruze" family wasn't an unrelated line with a shared surname, direct male descendants of James Crews underwent yDNA testing.
Result: Direct male descendants share a distinct, matching STR/SNP haplogroup profile with proven descendants of John Crew Sr. (c. 1632–1680), the 17th-century English immigrant to Virginia.
Significance: yDNA provides 100% biological proof that James Crews belongs to the direct paternal lineage of John Crew Sr. and his son Joseph Crew (c. 1698–1759) through the I-Y15575 haplogroup. In addition, 2 testers from the James Crews/Rhoda McMulin branch are part of a I-FT71868 mutation under the I-Y15575 group as verified with Big Y-700 testing.
Orthographic Confirmation: This testing also verified that family branches adopting the alternative spelling Cruze in Tennessee share identical yDNA with traditional Crews / Crew lines.
While yDNA proves the broad paternal lineage, autosomal DNA provides the specific cross-branch triangulation needed to confirm Joseph Crew & Massie Johnson as the common ancestral couple.
Because two same-named individuals were frequently confused in online trees—Gideon Crews (1752–1824), brother of James, vs. Gideon Crews, Sr. (1730–1815) of North Carolina, son of Joseph & Massie—autosomal DNA was key to resolving the generation gap.
Joseph Crew (c. 1698–1759)
m. Massie Johnson
│
┌─────────────────┴─────────────────┐
│ │
Caleb Crews (c. 1738–1814) Walter Crew (c. 1735)
m. Ailsey / Alice [Probable Father]
│ │
Meredith Crews (1783–1869) James Crews (1758–1841)
m. Jesse Kirby m. Lucinda Hood
│ │
[8 Generations] [Lineage to Test]
│ │
laneyb5 Tester
(10 cM Match) │
│ [7 Generations]
Son of laneyb5 │
(9 cM Match) Tester's Dad
laneyb5 & her son
The Genetic Match:
laneyb5
shares a 10 cM
autosomal match with our line. Her son shares a
9 cM match with
my father.
Phasing & Segment Validation: Having a verified match across two consecutive generations (mother and son) proves the shared segment is genuine Identical by Descent (IBD)—not a statistical fluke or reading artifact.
The Ancestral Anchor:
laneyb5
descends directly from
Meredith Crews (1783–1869), daughter of
Gideon Crews, Sr.
(1730–1815) and Jemima Wicker.
The Triangulation:
Because Gideon Crews Sr. is a documented son of Joseph Crew and Massie
Johnson, laneyb5's
branch connects to ours at the
Joseph Crew & Massie
Johnson node.
Matching
laneyb5 and
Jason—alongside a surrounding cluster of shared Crews matches—provides autosomal
confirmation anchoring our line directly to
Joseph Crew & Massie Johnson
as 6th/7th great-grandparents.
When courthouse fires destroy direct birth and probate records, modern genealogy requires a multi-faceted approach.
By combining
Quaker disownment records,
joint Revolutionary War
pensions, paternal yDNA
testing, and autosomal
multi-generational triangulation (laneyb5
/ son), we can confidently assert that
James Crews (1758–1841)
originates from the 18th-century Virginia Quaker line of
Joseph Crew and Massie
Johnson.
Research Note / Disclaimer: While the paternal line and common ancestor couple (Joseph Crew & Massie Johnson) are biologically and documentarily proven, the exact father of James Crews (1758) is designated as Walter Crew based on Buckingham County land/tax proximity and chronological alignment.