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 I don't even really remember how I first became interested in researching my family history. I do remember that I decided to try searching the "Crownover" name because at that point I didn't know much about Grandpa "Russell's" background, and "Smith" (my maiden name), and "Gray" (daddy's mother's maiden name) were too common. Crownover was unual enough, I thought, that I ought to be able to find something about them. I had several conversations with Aunt Callie Newby about the family and she gave me a copy of a little notebook in which, as she remembered it, "Uncle Lee" Crownover, one of Grandma Russell's brothers, had jotted down some things about the family. It was quite hard to read, but really had a wealth of information, and that's what got me started. I remember that the first real "record" of any kind I found was Marion Crownover's Civil War records and you would have thought I'd struck GOLD!! Now, after working on it off and on for some 30 years, I've ferreted out not only the Crownovers and their origins, but the Castleman, and Whistler families. The Crownovers and Castlemans were original settlers in Texas, having been part of Stephen F. Austin's "Old 300". Grandma Russell's grandmother was Jane Whistler Moore and she was a first cousin to James Abbot McNeill Whistler who painted "Whistler's Mother". All of this will be in the pages to follow. I know a lot of you share my love of our family heritage -- my cousin Louise Russell Smith, for one. She gave me a box of old, old pictures several years ago, and a couple of pages on which she had noted some family history. Louise has passed on and I miss her, so "Thanks" Louise! Even some of the in-laws have gotten involved! -- Jovonne Newby, cousin Russell Newby's wife, has done a lot of searching as well. This has been a labor of love and it is and always will be a work in progress -- As is this web page! But I did have enough that I wanted some way to share it, and so I decided this was the best route to take to do that. In order to do this web page, I've had to learn HTML and the coding, etc.-- which ain't easy for an old dog!! A lot of the pages are posted; however, I still have quite a few still to do. Please bear with me! I hope you enjoy browsing what is available, and please feel free to E-mail me (you can use the link below) with your comments, changes, disagreements, suggestions, whatever!! And, please, don't forget to sign my guestbook! Thanks for visiting! Myra Smith Wade If you click on the Family Directory button below it will take you to that page -- and so your journey begins!
Click here to view some of my family pictures.
Created on ... May 08, 2003 
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