Drew Cilla

I have a story in mind about two of our Drusilla Crafts and explaining which one was married to Joe Hall. It got me to thinking about how many Drusillas there are in the family and where the name came from in the Craft family. I did a search and there are 20 Drusillas out of the 17,256 individuals that I have input into the family tree so far. Six of them are Crafts.

The earliest Craft I have in my family tree is Henry Craft. He was born in England. His son James Craft was born in North Carolina and married Sarah Hammons. His son Archelaus Craft was also born in North Carolina and married Elizabeth "Betsy" Adams.

Archelaus & Betsy had a son name James Washington Craft. He married Drusilla Hammons. She is the first Drusilla I have in the family. It is a Hammons name that has been passed down. James and Drusilla had 7 children: Archelous Columbus, Joseph B. Mahala, Sarah "Sally", Elizabeth, Benjamin and Nehemiah. Five of the seven children named a daughter Drusilla. Archelous Columbus named his first daughter Druscilla. Joseph names his second daughter for his mother. His first daughter was named Sarah after his wife's mother, Sarah Waltrip Bates who is my G-G-G grandmother. Mahala named her second daughter Drucilla. Elizabeth named her third daughter Drucilla. I don't think I have done enough work on Benjamin and Nemiah Craft. It may turn out that they had Druscillas, too.

It was custom at that time to name your children for your parents and your siblings. That's why it gets hard trying to figure out who people are when all the siblings are marrying at roughly the same time and they begin having children with the same names born at the same time or very close to each other. That's why you get all the nicknames, people going by their middle name or even a Junior when the father is another name but the child was named after an uncle who lives near to him.

Archelous Columbus Craft married Lettie Webb. They had nine children. Two of them, Nelson and Enoch Arden "Chunk" Craft both had daughters named Druscilla.





Nelson's Druscilla was born December 19, 1861. Chunk's Druscilla B. Craft was also born in December on the 4th in 1874. These girls were first cousins. On September 12, 1878 when Druscilla B. was only 4 years old, Nelson's Druscilla married Miles Mayo Adams. They had two daughters, Eliza Jane and Lettie Adams.



Chunk's Druscilla didn't marry until August 4th, 1893. She married Ison Sergent. Together they had nine children: Enoch Andrew, Sarah Elizabeth, Samuel Calvin, Benjamin Emory, Archie Columbus, William Hiram, Joseph, an unknown baby, and a month before Isom died their last child Isom Sergent, Jr.

1880 Census



Nelson's Drusilla is with Miles M Adams as follows: Miles 24 works on a farm, Drusiler 19 is keeping house and Louisa J is 9 months old born in September 1879.

They are living next door to her grandparents Arch & Letty Webb Craft. Arch & Letty's son, Wiley is listed as 24 and married, but in their household. I noticed, too, that he dies five years later so now I will be hunting to see what happened to him. A few houses down is another Druscilla Craft. This one is the daughter of Arch & Letty Craft who has married Ephraim Thomas Hammons. She is a sister to both Nelson and Chunk Craft.















Meanwhile, just down a few more houses in Chunk's household it reads: Enoch A. 38, Polly Ann 33, Rachel 12, Arch 10, Lettie 9 (our grandmother Lettie Craft who married Joe Hall), Drusilla 5, Watson G. 3 and Benjamin 7 months born in September 1879.

Since the 1890 census was destroyed by fire, we have to move 20 years ahead to 1900.

1900 Census

Nelson's Druscilla has moved to Rockhouse. Druscilla has had a second child, a girl named Letty in 1881. Neither child is living in their household in 1900. It is only Miles Adams 45 and Drewcilla 31.



The Sergents are also in Rockhouse. Isham Sergent 36 married 6 years, Drewciller 22 has had 3 children all three living, Enoch A. 4, Sarah J. 3 and Samuel C. 3 months.









Druscilla Craft Sergent's sister, Lettie Craft has married a widower, Joe Hall, and is found in the census as Joseph Hall 36, Lettie E. 28. His children by Sarah Caudill listed as: Minnie 18, Anzie 16, Isabella 14 and Alven 12. Then their children are listed as Polly A. 9, Leonard B. 8, Rachel V. 5, Enoch M. 3, and our grandmother Nancy A. 1.

Joe Hall and Lettie Craft

Miles Mayo Adams dies in 1905.





Lettie Craft Hall dies on March 27, 1905.



1910 Census



Joe Hall has married his wife's cousin, Druscilla Craft Adams, the widow of Miles Mayo Adams.

Joe Hall & Drusilla "Siller" Craft Adams

They are living in Camp Branch, Letcher County, Kentucky. It shows Joe Hall married a second time this one five years (though we know it is Joe's third marriage). Cillar is also shown in a second marriage and that she has had two children, both living. (Remember how many children Druscilla and Isom Sergent had?) Living with them are Joe's children Enoch Maylen 13, Nancy Alice 11 and Basil 8.



Lettie Craft Hall's sister, Druscilla, who married Isom Sergent is listed as: Isom Sergent 45, married 17 years, Drew Cilla 36, had six children all six living. Enoch Andrew 15, Sarah Elizabeth 13, Samuel 10, Bennie 8, Archie 5, and William 2.



We know that Joe was a marrying man. Sarah and Lettie, his first two wives, both die. But after that his wives outlive him.







1920 Census







Isom Sergent, 56 with Drusciller 46, Samuel C. 19, Benjamin 16, Archie 14, Willie 12 and Joseph 8.





Living with Chunk and Polly Ann is his sister, Druscilla Craft Hammons (Picture 1 above). Next door to Chunk and Polly is a widow, Druscilla Adams, age 58. This is Chunk's niece, the daughter of Nelson Craft.







Joe Hall has married Dianah Webb in 1916, Martha Tackett in 1918, and remarried Dianah in 1919.







The census that year was taken in January. Isom Sergent has a son, Isom born in April of that year and a month later, father Isom dies of pneumonia. Isom's widow, Druscilla Craft, daugher of Chunk & Polly Craft and sister to Lettie Craft, never remarries. In 1930 she is living next door to Chunk and Polly.

Druscilla Craft Sergent and her son, Isom.

Druscilla Craft Adams Hall remains alone, too. Though she went by the Adams name in 1920, she goes to her grave as Siller Hall.













Joe Hall did marry a relative of Lettie Craft, but it was not her sister. It was her first cousin.