Staggs Family History

My ancestors in the United States

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      William Crow (1772–1845)

      BIRTH:  1772, Massachusetts, USA
      DEATH: 20 Feb 1845, Montgomery, Hampden, Massachusetts, USA
      FATHER: David Crowe (1744–1817)
      MOTHER: Huldah Button (1752–1809)
      SPOUSE: Abigail Avery (1779–1863)

      When William Crow was born in 1772 in Montgomery, Massachusetts, his father, David, was 28 and his mother, Huldah, was 20. He married Abigail Avery on December 25, 1801, in his hometown. They had seven children during their marriage. He died on February 20, 1845, in Montgomery, Massachusetts, at the age of 73, and was buried there.

      The Life of William Crow

      William Crow was born in 1772, in the final years of colonial America, when Massachusetts was still under British rule and the tensions that would ignite the Revolution were beginning to simmer. His parents were David Crowe (1744–1817) and Huldah (Button) Crowe (1752–1809), a family rooted in the rural communities of western Massachusetts and northern Connecticut. William grew up in a world of small farms, meetinghouses, and the steady rhythms of early New England life.

      By the time he reached adulthood, the Revolution had reshaped the world around him. The new nation was young, its future uncertain, but the Crow family remained anchored in the hill towns of western Massachusetts. Sometime in the late 1790s, William settled in Montgomery, a small community perched on the Berkshire foothills. Montgomery was a place of stone walls, narrow roads, and scattered farms — a town where families worked the land, attended the meetinghouse, and relied on one another through long winters.

      On 25 December 1801, William married Abigail Avery, a young woman from one of the oldest and most respected New England families. The Avery line traced back to Christopher Avery (1590) and Captain James Avery (1620–1700) of Groton, Connecticut — a lineage of early settlers, soldiers, and landowners. Their marriage was recorded simply in the Montgomery town books: “William and Abigail Avery, Dec. 25, 1801.”

      William and Abigail began their married life in Montgomery, and their children soon followed. Their second-born, Horatio, arrived in early 1804, but tragedy struck quickly. The little boy died on 5 April 1805, only fifteen months old. His small gravestone still stands in Montgomery, carved with the simple words: “In memory of Horatio, son of William & Abigail Crow, who died April 5, 1805, aged 15 months.”

      The loss of a child was heartbreakingly common in early New England, but the Crows continued to build their family. Over the next decade, they welcomed:

      • Henry Crow (born 1802)
      • David Crow (born 1805)
      • Louisa Crow (born 1807)
      • William Crow Jr. (born 1808)
      • Massillon Crow (born 20 May 1810), who would carry the family line westward
      • Horatio Crow (second of the name) (born 7 January 1812), named in remembrance of the child they had lost

      These births appear in the Avery genealogy, which tracks Abigail’s descendants and confirms the Crow children as part of the extended Avery family network.

      William worked as a farmer, like most men of Montgomery. The land was rocky and demanding, but it sustained the family. His life was shaped by the rhythms of rural New England: planting in spring, haying in summer, harvest in autumn, and the long winters that defined the region. He lived through the War of 1812, the rise of the early republic, and the first great wave of westward migration — a movement his own children would eventually join.

      By the 1830s and 1840s, Montgomery was changing. Younger families were leaving for New York, Ohio, and Indiana, where land was cheaper and opportunities greater. William, however, remained in the town where he had married, raised his children, and buried his second born son.

      He died in 1845, at about 73 years of age, leaving behind a family that would soon scatter across the expanding nation. His widow, Abigail, lived until 1851. Their son Massillon would carry the Crow name westward to Indiana, where the family would take root for generations.

      William Crow rests in the soil of Hampden County, remembered through the records he left behind and the descendants who carried his name into new states and new eras.

      Legacy of William Crow

      • He anchored the Crow family in Montgomery, Massachusetts. William’s marriage, the births of his children, and the burial of his first son all appear in Montgomery’s early records, placing the Crow family firmly within the town’s founding generations.
      • He linked the Crow line to the Avery line. Through his marriage to Abigail Avery, William connected his descendants to one of the most thoroughly documented colonial families in New England — a lineage stretching back to the 1600s.
      • He raised a generation that would carry the family westward. His son Massillon Crow became the bridge between New England and the Midwest, migrating to Indiana and establishing the Crow line that would eventually lead to: Wharton Massillon Crow → Alice Geraldine Crowe → Ella Blanche Wareham → Harold Wareham Staggs → Steven Barry Staggs.
      • He preserved the New England naming traditions. The reuse of the name Horatio after the death of the first child reflects the deep cultural patterns of early New England families.
      • His life reflects the quiet strength of early American farmers. William Crow was not a public figure, but his steady labor, his family, and his presence in the records of Montgomery form the foundation of a lineage that continues more than two centuries later.

      Parents

      FATHER: David Crowe (1744–1817)
      MOTHER: Huldah Button (1752–1809)

      Married

      Abigail Avery (1779–1863)

      Children

      • Henry Crow (1802–?) married Thankful Wheeler (1807–?)
      • Horatio Crow (1804–1805)
      • David Crow (1805–?)
      • Louisa Crow (1807–1885) married Thomas Bill Avery (1798–1861)
      • William Crow Jr (1808–?) married Rachel —-
      • Massillon Crow (1810–1874) married Betsey Bosworth (1812–1892)
      • Horatio Crow (1812–1891) married Miriam Ellis Chaffee (1808–1895)

      Documents

      Relation of William Crow to Steven Barry Staggs: 4th great-grandfather

      Page last updated June 24, 2026

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