Calien Crosby, 1806-1893.  Eliza Crosby, 1815-1908.  Grove Hill Cemetery, Shelbyville, Shelby County, Kentucky.

Calien Crosby and Eliza Mount were married on June 2, 1843, in Oldham County, Kentucky.  Calien was the son of John Uriel Crosby, a veteran of the Revolutionary War, and Nancy Ashby Peters.  Eliza was the daughter of John Mount and Lydia Jennings.  The following license gives much pertinent information.

State of Kentucky

Oldham County Court Clerk’s Office

To any minister of the Gospel, or other person legally authorized to celebrate the rites of Matrimony –

You are hereby authorized to join together in the Holy bond of Matrimony, according to the usages and customs of your church, Mr. Calien Crosby and Miss Eliza Mount, of this county, daughter of John Mount, deceased, she being of lawful age.

The said Calien Crosby having executed Bond with security, in my office, according to law.

Witness my hand as Clerk of said Court, this 29th day of May 1843.

William D. Mitchell, per Brent Hopkins

In 1850 the couple and their children are residing in Shelby County, and that is where they remain for the rest of their lives.  In the 1850 census Calien is 43, a farmer, with parents born in Virginia.  Eliza is 32, her parents also born in Virginia.  Children Mary Frances, 5; Lydia A., 3; and John Mount, 2, are living in the household.  Calien’s parents live with the family, John, 93; and Nancy, 84.

John Uriel Crosby, as mentioned before, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, born in Fauquier County, Virginia, in 1755.  From The History of Shelby County Kentucky, by George L. Willis, Sr., it says that John Crosby and wife, Nancy, were among the thirteen charter members of the Antioch Church, located in Shelby County, about three and one-half miles north of Simpsonville.  John and Nancy are buried in what was called the Crosby Cemetery in that area.  Only two others are buried in this cemetery, son Gnoaeth Crosby, and Andrew Todd.

In the 1860 census there is an additional child, Charles Peters Crosby, who is 5.  In 1870 the two daughters have married, leaving John, 21; and Charles, 15; in the household.

In 1880 Charles, 24, remains with his parents.  Daughter Lydia A. Payne, 32, is also living with them, along with her children – Eliza, 10; Carrie, 8; Lulie, 6; and Robert C., 3.

John Mount Crosby died in 1891, leaving a young wife, Mary.  He is followed two years later by the death of Calien Crosby.

In his will, Calien Crosby left wife Eliza 150 acres and any other land remaining after the children receive their shares.  This included the home residence and outbuildings.  She was also to receive one third of all personal property in addition to 45 head of sheep, 25 head of hogs, 18 head of cattle and 4 head of horses and colts.

Daughter Mary Frances Crosby married Steven Henry McMakin.  She was to receive 101 acres of land to be used by the couple during their natural lives, then return to the original Crosby estate.

Daughter Lydia Payne and her children received 100 acres of land.

The heirs of son John Mount Crosby were to receive 64 acres of land.  This ‘in addition to what I have previously paid for him on his home tract makes him equal with my other children’.  The land will remain in the hands of the executors until the children come of age.

Son Charles Peters Crosby was to receive 115 acres of land, and will be able to purchase the land left to wife Eliza at a private sale after her death.

Son Charles, and son-in-law Steven McMakin, were named executors.  The will was written September 5, 1891, two years before he died.

It was previously mentioned that daughter Lydia, and her children, lived in her parents household during 1880.  She married Jilson H. Payne October 22, 1868.   In the 1910 census she is listed as divorced – perhaps the reason for living with her parents in earlier years.  In 1910 she is 63, living on her own income.  Daughter Eliza is 39, and is a dressmaker.  Son Robert, 32, and brother, Charles Peters Crosby, 54, are both farmers.

Lydia Crosby Payne died September 3, 1923, of tuberculosis.  She was 77 years of age.  Both parents are listed on the death certificate, as well as place of burial, Grove Hill Cemetery.  Son Robert Payne was the informant.  On the death certificate it says she was a widow.

The Crosby family is buried in a beautiful plot in Grove Hill Cemetery.  The trees are tall and old, their branches surrounding part of the gravestone.  Notice the smaller stones in back of the large one – those are for Lydia Crosby Payne, some of her children, and other members of the Crosby family.  With such shade they were too difficult to photograph.