Benjamin Crouse
& Wady Cheek

Benjamin Crouse, son of Adam & Elizabeth CROUSE, was born 1800 in Ashe Co., NC, and died Apr. 6, 1891, in Alleghany Co., NC. He married Wady Cheek, daughter of Richard CHEEK & Jane "Jennie" ANDREWS, about 1826. She was born 1807 in Orange Co., NC, and died Oct. 11, 1865, in Alleghany Co., NC. Benjamin and Wady (Cheek) Crouse are buried at the Henderson Crouse Cemetery, located at the Doughton Park Campground, Road 1131, Alleghany Co., NC.

Children of Benjamin Crouse & Wady Cheek:

1. +Jane "Jennie" Crouse, b. Oct. 27, 1827, Ashe Co., NC; d. Mar. 10, 1911, Alleghany Co., NC; m. Ezekiel JOINES, son of Thomas JOINES, Jr., & Lydia HOPPERS, Apr. 6, 1842, in Ashe Co., NC (b. May 9, 1824; d. Mar. 7, 1904); bur. Ezekiel Joines Cemetery, Alleghany Co., NC.
2. Unknown son, b. 1831-1835. Maybe +Benjamin Crouse, b. abt. 1831; d. Sept. 30, 1864, Fort Harrison, VA (Civil War); m. Araminta "Minty" EVANS, possibly the daughter of James EVANS & Margaret A. PUGH, abt. 1849 (b. Mar. 4, 1826; d. Jan. 27, 1910).
3. +Elizabeth Crouse, b. Mar. 26, 1832, Ashe Co., NC; d. Jan. 3, 1912, Alleghany Co., NC; m. Franklin J. HOPPERS, son of William & Catherine HOPPERS, abt. 1852 (b. Jan. 16, 1833; d. Jan. 15, 1918); bur. Henderson Crouse Cemetery, Alleghany Co., NC.
4. +Henderson Crouse, b. June 15, 1835, Ashe Co., NC; d. July 8, 1913, Alleghany Co., NC; m. Mary Ann HOWELL, Mar. 4, 1856, Ashe Co., NC (b. Sept. 7, 1837; d. Dec. 6, 1912); bur. Henderson Crouse Cemetery, Alleghany Co., NC. Child: John Wesley (c.1857).
5. +Sarah Crouse, b. Jan 1840, Ashe Co., NC; d. aft. 1920, Carroll Co., VA; m. (1) Wesley GILHAM, son of David GILHAM & Mary HOWELL, Dec. 28, 1857, Ashe Co., NC (b. May 23, 1836; d. July 17, 1911) (divorced before 1870); m. (2) Anderson BAUGUS, son of Osborn BAUGUS & Frances ROBERTS, Mar. 21, 1870, Alleghany Co., NC (b. abt. 1848; d. aft. 1880 in Carroll Co., VA).

Notes

enjamin Crouse and Wady Cheek probably married around 1826, based on the ages of their children.  Benjamin was the son of Adam and Elizabeth CROUSE of Ashe/Alleghany County, also spelled Crows, Crowse, or Krowse.  The Crouses of Alleghany County were a very large and extended family.   They are believed to be the descendants of German settlers named Kraus who came to North Carolina from Pennsylvania in the late 1700's.

Wady Cheek, born in 1807, was the oldest daughter of Richard & Jennie Cheek.  How she got her unusual name is unknown.  "Wady" was sometimes used as a nickname for the Puritan name "Waitstill," which has an old-fashioned feel even in 1807.  The Cheeks must have liked creative names.  In an era when it sometimes seems like every other woman was named Mary or Elizabeth, Richard and his wife called their daughters Wady, Pinkey, and Gilley!

According to Alleghany County Heritage (Alleghany Co. Hist.-Gen. Society, 1983), p.153, article No. 239 by Wilma Crouse, "Bennie and Wadie Crouse" lived in the Airbellows section of Alleghany County, in the heart of the Blue Ridge, near where the Blue Ridge Parkway was built many years later.  They were neighbors of the Brinegar family who built the Brinegar Cabin, now a historic site in Doughton Park.

Benjamin first appears in the records of Ashe County in 1824 when he witnessed two deeds involving the heirs of Daniel HOPPERS.  He obtained a land grant in 1838 and is listed in the census from 1840 through 1880.  Wady died in 1865; Benjamin in 1891.  No will or estate files have been located at the NC Archives.  They are buried at the Henderson Crouse Cemetery, located at the Doughton Park Campground, Road 1131, Alleghany Co., NC.  (Alleghany Cemeteries Through 1986, pub. by the Alleghany Co. Hist.-Gen. Society.)

Records

1830 Census, Ashe Co., NC, p.29: BENJAMIN KROUCE

1 w/m 20-29	1 w/f 10-14
	1 w/f 40-49

1840 Census, Ashe Co., NC, p.10: BENJAMIN CROUSE

1 w/m 5-9	1 w/f 5-9
1 w/m 30-39	1 w/f 10-14
	1 w/f 30-39

1850 Census, Ashe Co., NC, p.240 (HH#35):
BENJAMIN CRAWS, 46, farmer, $500, NC

-- Wada, 43, b. in NC
-- Elizabeth, 18, NC
-- Henderson, 15, NC
-- Sarah, 9, NC

1860 Census, Alleghany Co., NC, Gap Civil Twp., p.357/p.179 (HH#37):
BENJAMIN KROWS, 55, farmer, $300, $200, NC

-- Wady, 55, NC

Dec. 27, 1864. Wady CROWSE is named in her father Richard Cheek's will (Alleghany WB 1, p.19).

1870 Census: not listed

May 29, 1875. Alleghany Co., NC. Benjamin CROUSE was a witness in a boundary dispute between his wife's brother-in-law Alexander RICHARDSON and Lydia JOINES. (Alleghany DB 3:376.)

1880 Census, Alleghany Co., NC, Gap Civil Twp. (Ezekiel Joines, HH#223):
Benjamin CROUSE, 70, father-in-law, NC NC NC

Deed Abstracts