Cornelius Dowd McCrimmon

File contributed for use at the Bibb County, AL website by: Ralph Ervin Williamson  and father John Conwell Williamson, December 31, 2004

Bibb Co., Ala., Probate Court Records
Certificate No.: "McRimmon" Marriage Book "E" 1850-1969, 1861

CORNELIUS DOWD McCRIMMON, also known as C.D. McCRIMMON, was born 22 March 1824 in Moore County, North Carolina, and d. 17 Sept. 1879 in Texas. One of his daughters was "Josie" JOSEPHINE ALBENA (ALBINA?) McCRIMMON (CONWELL), who in 1866 m. JOHN C. CONWELL or CONWILL of the Randolph community in Bibb Co., Ala. JOSEPHINE McCRIMMON & JOHN CONWELL left Bibb Co. westwardly after John Cicero Conwell had fought at Gettysburg, and numerous other battles in the eastern theater, and had even stacked arms at Appamattox. Josephine McCRIMMON & husband JOHN CONWELL or CONWILL("Maw Conny" & "Paw Conny"), after much meandering through Oklahoma and Texas, eventually settled and are buried in Thomaston, near Cuero, near Victoria, Texas. Children of Josephine McCrimmon Conwell & John Conwell included AUGIE CONWELL (Augustus? Augustine?), a frontier physician last known to have practised medicine in Regina, New Mexico; RUBY RAE CONWELL (WILLIAMSON), Mrs. ERVIN WILLIAMSON of the Wulfforth near Lubbock, Texas, area, Ruby the mother of John Conwell Williamson, 1912- 2001, of Midland, Texas, & of an older son Sie Williamson who m. Cornelia ___ but died young without issue; HOWARD CONWELL (buried Thomaston, Texas, near Victoria); ERNEST CONWELL (buried Thomaston, Texas, near Victoria); and another son, Everett CONWELL who was the father of John CONWILL of Aransas Pass, Texas.

The following 1861 document authorizes CORNELIUS DOWD McCRIMMON to celebrate marriages in the State of Alabama, this document being located in Marriage Record Book "E" 1850-1868, Probate Court, Bibb Co., Alabama, dated 1861: "The State of Alabama))Bibb County)) This day came CORNELIUS D. McCRIMMON and provided to the undersigned Judge of the Probate Court of Said County and State his Credentials as a regular ordained and licensed Minister of the Gospel of Good Standing and full fellowship of the Baptist Church of Christ. Therefore the said CORNELIUS D. McRIMMON is hereby authorized to celebrate the rites of marriage and [is] by law authorized to intermarry.[new paragraph]IN WITNESS WHEREOF I the said JACKSON ?GUNUNER? Judge of the Probate Court of Bibb County have hereunto set my hand this 27th day of May A[nno]D[omini]1861. [signed] Jackson ?Gunaner?, Judge of Probate." [end of document]

An old book lying on a shelf in the Bibb County courthouse about early area Baptist Churches lists CORNELIUS D. McCRIMMON as a minister of Rehobeth Baptist Church; also recorded are, inter alia, these members' names: DANIEL McCRIMMON, who was Cornelius Dowd McCrimmon's father; ELIZABETH McCRIMMON [presumably Elizabeth LAWHON McCRIMMON, the wife of Rev. C.D. McCrimmon]; DANIEL McCRIMMON (b.1826 Moore Co., NC-d.Lauderdale Co., Miss, 1853, buried Rehobeth Baptist Cemetery, Bibb Co., Ala.), this Daniel having been another son of the Daniel McCrimmon of 1784-1873; the older Daniel McCrimmon's son-in-law NATHAN WALLACE and Nathan's wife, daughter MARY McCRIMMON WALLACE. DANIEL McCRIMMON (1784-1873) had been a Presbyterian but joined Rehobeth Baptist Church in Bibb County in 1856 as "McRIMMON."

DANIEL McCRIMMON (1784-1873) appears in the 1850 Perry Co., ALA, census and in the 1860 Bibb Co., ALA, census. The elder DANIEL McCRIMMON 1st m. HANNAH JANE DUNLAP, d. 1822, then 2nd her sister MARY DUNLAP, each wife a daughter of JOHN DUNLAP & wife SARAH OVERTON (DUNLAP). Circa 1824 the local Presbyterian church found DANIEL McCRIMMON, then a ruling-elder, guilty of incest, but while his case was on appeal to the wider Presbytery he joined REHOBETH BAPTIST CHURCH in Bibb County.

Additional Comments:

CORNELIUS D. McCRIMMON was a son of DANIEL McCRIMMON (1784-1873), the father having been born 1784 in Moore County, North Carolina, moved to Bibb Co., Ala, where Daniel McCrimmon became a substantial landowner, and Daniel McCrimmon died aged 89 while visiting some of his children who had moved to Texas, principally Cherokee County, Texas, near or in what is now Sherman, Texas. The elderly father DANIEL McCRIMMON is listed in the 1870 Texas census with daughter MARY McCRIMMON (WALLACE)(Mrs. NATHAN WALLACE) & NATHAN WALLACE. DANIEL McCRIMMON is believed to be buried in the Ponta Community of Cherokee County, Texas, in the Myrtle Springs Cemetery.

Bibb Co., ALA, Marriage Record Book "E" 1850-1868, page 399 Parents of John Cicero Conwell: Stanmore CONWELL (variously spelled "CONWiLL") (or variously Stansmore or Standmore Conwell) of Bibb Co., Ala, and wife __________. Parents of Josephine McCrimmon (Conwell): CORNELIUS DOWD McCRIMMON, Baptist minister at Rehobeth Baptist Church, married (in Bibb Co., Ala.) ELIZABETH LAWHON (McCRIMMON).