BIRTH: 9 May 1812, Massachusetts, USA
DEATH: 29 Jan 1892, Porter County, Indiana, USA
FATHER: Raymond Bosworth (1772-1835)
MOTHER: Rachel Hinkston (1774-1836)
SPOUSE: Massillon Crow (1810-1874)
When Betsey Bosworth was born on May 9, 1812, in Massachusetts, her father, Raymond, was 40, and her mother, Rachel, was 37. She married Massillon Crow on January 29, 1837, in Montgomery, Massachusetts. They had three children in 11 years. She died on January 29, 1892, in Porter, Indiana, having lived a long life of 79 years, and was buried in Valparaiso, Indiana.
The Life of Betsey Bosworth
Betsey Bosworth was born in 1812, in the hill country of western Massachusetts, the daughter of Raymond Bosworth (1772–1835) and Rachel Hinkston (1774–1836). The Bosworths were an old New England family, woven into the fabric of Hampden County since the late 1700s. Her mother, Rachel, came from the Hinkston line — a family of frontier New Englanders who knew the rhythms of hard work, close communities, and the constant pull of the western frontier.
Betsey grew up in Montgomery, Massachusetts, a small town perched on the Berkshire foothills. Life there was simple but demanding: long winters, short summers, and a community where everyone knew one another. She learned early the skills that defined New England womanhood — keeping a home, tending a garden, spinning, sewing, and the quiet endurance that marked her generation.
On 29 January 1837, in Montgomery, Betsey married Massillon Crow, a young farmer from the same town. Their marriage was recorded in the Montgomery town books, the same volumes that had recorded her own birth and the births of her siblings. Together they began their life in the familiar hills of Hampden County.
Their children came quickly: Henriette G. Crow (born 1838), Jane E. Crow (born 1840) and Wharton Massillon Crow (born 1846), who would carry the family line forward
Betsey’s early married years were spent in the same town where she had been raised. The 1850 census shows her there, a 29‑year‑old mother with three children, living in a modest household with her husband, who worked the rocky Massachusetts soil.
But like so many New England families of the mid‑19th century, the Crows felt the pull of the West. Land was cheaper, winters were milder, and the promise of opportunity lay beyond the Appalachians. Sometime in the mid‑1850s, Betsey and Massillon packed their household and joined the wave of migration heading toward the Midwest.
By 1860, the family had settled in Center Township, Porter County, Indiana, near Valparaiso. Betsey was now in her late forties, raising her youngest child in a new landscape of open fields and prairie winds. The move had been a bold one, but it placed her children in a region of growth and opportunity.
The 1870 census shows Betsey at the heart of a multigenerational household. Her son Wharton had married Elnora Adelaide Keen, and the young couple — along with their daughters Alice Geraldine and Emma — lived with Betsey and Massillon. It was a full, bustling home, the kind that reflected the strength of family ties and the practical necessity of shared labor on a Midwestern farm.
Betsey outlived her husband by nearly two decades. After Massillon’s death in 1874, she remained in Porter County, living with her children as they established their own families. She spent her final years in the home of her daughter Harriet, surrounded by the descendants of the family she had carried from Massachusetts to Indiana.
On Friday, 29 January 1892, Betsey died at the age of 81, one of the oldest settlers of Porter County. Her obituary in The Tribune of Chesterton recorded her passing with the quiet respect reserved for the county’s pioneers:
“Betsey Crow, one of the oldest settlers of this county, died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Wm. Davidson, Friday, aged 81 years. The funeral was held Sunday, services being conducted at St. Clair’s school house and the remains interred in Kimball’s cemetery.”
She was laid to rest in Kimball Cemetery, among the early families who had carved a community out of the Indiana frontier.
Legacy of Betsey Bosworth
- She bridged two worlds — New England and the Midwest. Born in the hills of Massachusetts, Betsey lived long enough to see her children and grandchildren rooted in Indiana soil. Her life mirrors the great American migration of the 19th century.
- She carried forward the Bosworth and Hinkston lines. Through her, two old New England families — the Bosworths and the Hinkstons — became part of the developing Midwest.
- She was the matriarch of a multigenerational household. Her home in 1870 held three generations: Betsey and Massillon, Their son Wharton and his wife Elnora, their grandchildren Alice and Emma. this household preserved the Crow family through a period of transition and movement.
- Her granddaughter, Alice Geraldine Crowe, carried her line into our family. Through Alice, Betsey’s legacy flows directly into: Ella Blanche Wareham → Harold Wareham Staggs → Steven Barry Staggs.
- She is remembered as one of Porter County’s earliest settlers. Her obituary recognized her as a pioneer — a woman who helped shape the community where her descendants would live for generations.
Parents
FATHER: Raymond Bosworth (1772-1835)
MOTHER: Rachel Hinkston (1774-1836)
Married
Married Massillon Crow (1810-1874), January 29, 1837, in Montgomery, Massachusetts
Children
- Harriet Crow (1835-1904) married William Lake Davidson (1826-1911)
- Jane Crow (1840-1911) married Jerome B. Wheeler (1824-1899)
- Wharton Massillon Crowe (1846-1886) married 1st Elnora Adelaide Keen (1846-1880), 2nd Emma Keene (1856-1940)
Documents
- Birth Records
- Massachusetts, U.S., Town Birth Records, 1620-1850 Name: Betsey Bozworth; Birth Date: May 9, 1812; Birth Place: Montgomery; Father’s First Name: Raymond; Mother’s First Name: Rachel; Gender: Female; Source: Vital Records of Montgomery
- Mayflower Births and Deaths, Vol. 1 and 2 > Howland > Betsey Bozworth, b. 9 May 1812
- Find a Grave Birth Date: 9 May 1812
- Marriage Records
- North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000 > Name: Betsey Bosworth; Gender: Female; Spouse: Massilon Crowe
- Massachusetts, U.S., Town Marriage Records, 1620-1850, Name: Betsey BOSWORTH; Spouse: Massillon Crow; Marriage Date: January 29, 1837; Marriage Place: Montgomery; Source: Vital Records of Montgomery: Full text: Betsey and Massillon Crow, Jan. 29, 1837. Intention also recorded.
- Massachusetts, U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1633-1850 > Name: Betsey Bosworth; Gender: Female; Marriage Date: 29 Jan 1837; Place: Montgomery, Hampden, Massachusetts; Spouse: Massillon Crow
- Death records
- Died: 29 January 1892, at the home of her daughter Mary Crow Davidson in Porter County, Indiana. Burial: Kimball Cemetery, Valparaiso, Indiana
- Find a Grave Death Date: 29 Jan 1892
- Burial: Kimball Cemetery, Valparaiso, Porter County, Indiana, USA
- Census Records
- 1850 United States Federal Census > Massachusetts > Hampden > Montgomery > Betsey Crow (39) with husband Marsalon Crow (farmer, 40) and children Henriette G Crow (12), Jane E Crow (10), and Warton M Crow (3)
- 1860 United States Federal Census > Indiana > Porter > Center > Betsey Crow (49), with husband Marsalon Crow (farmer, 50) and Warton M Crow (13)
- 1870 United States Federal Census > Indiana > Porter > Center > Betsey Crow (keeping house, 59) with husband Marsalon Crow (farmer, 60), son Whorton Crow (farmer, 22), Whorton’s wife Elnora (keeping house, 22) and children Alice (4) and Emma (1)
Relation of Betsey Bosworth to Steven Barry Staggs: 3rd great-grandmother
Page last updated June 24,2026
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