If you descend from any Criders of Brocks Gap, then Jacob and Magdalene Waggoner Crider are your ancestors. Jacob Crider came to Brocks Gap before 1810 with his parents. In 1828 his father Frederick received 77 acres on Shavers Mountain, Middle Range where he probably spent the rest of his life.
Born about 1786, Jacob Crider was drafted for six months in August 1814 for the War of 1812 and served under Capt. Alexander Campbell in the 106 Regiment Virginia Militia (2 Corps d’elite). He also served 26 days in Capt. William Harrison’s Company. For this service, he received two bounty land grants of 80 acres each and a small pension in his later years.
After his military service, Jacob returned home and married Magdalena Waggoner in December 1815. The daughter of John Waggoner, she was born in 1788 in Bedford County, PA. Jacob and Magdalena had seven children. Christian (married Hanna Ralls), Ephraim (married Sarah Caplinger), Lavina (married Philip Echard), William “Riley” (married Naomi Kesner), John “Frederick” (married Mary M. Lantz). Their sons Henry 1827-1837 and Jonathan 1827-1830 died young and are buried in the Crider family cemetery on Shaver Mountain, Criders, VA, where they have elaborate carved tombstones. Ephraim Crider 1816-1847 is also buried in the Crider cemetery.
In 1819, Jacob received 117 ½ acres “at the foot of South Fork [Shenandoah] mountain on Cold Spring River at the mouth of Locust Hollow and Rudy’s Cow Hollow.” He also owned his father’s 77 acres on Shaver Mountain. Around 1844, he sold both tracts to his son Frederick Crider. In 1853, Jacob, Magdalena, their oldest son Christian and his family moved to his bounty land near Lewistown, Fulton County, Illinois. Jacob and Magdalena are buried on their home farm there but have a large monument to their memory in Lewistown’s Oak Hill cemetery.
Jacob and Magdalena seemed to have been well-to-do. They sent tintype photographs from Illinois to their Virginia children. Their obituaries were in the Lewistown paper when they died, rather unusual for a Brocks Gap family in the 1870s. Hers in the Canton Fulton County Ledger January 12, 1877, says, “Died – Three miles west of Lewistown, Dec. 26, [1876] Mrs. Magdalena Crider, Sr, in the 89th year of her age. Jacob Nagley officiated at the funeral. Deceased was born in Bedford County, PA. In her childhood she moved to Rockingham County, VA where she married Jacob Crider, Jan. 4th 1813. They moved to Fulton County, Illinois in 1853 where they have since resided. They lived as man and wife for nearly 63 years. Her maiden name was Waggoner.”
His obituary in the August 9, 1878 Canton Fulton County Ledger is shorter: “Our old friend, Jacob Krider/Crider, died last Thursday, aged 92 years. He was a soldier of the War of 1812, a lifelong Democrat, and in other particulars also a noble old man.” Jacob still used “Crider” spelling, but his son Christian’s family changed it to “Krider.” In his will, Jacob left $15 to his Virginia children Frederick Crider, William Riley Crider, and Loveanna Eckard, and he left $15 to the children of his deceased son Ephraim Crider. The rest of his estate went to his son Christian Crider, probably for taking care of him and Magdalena in their old age in Illinois.
Lewis Yankey’s The Crider Family of Rockingham County, 1990 has more details on our local Criders. Ephraim Crider died when his six children were under the age of ten. Jacob’s daughter Lavina (Loveanna) married Philip Echard and lived near Mt. Sidney, VA. One of Lavina’s great-granddaughters, Eva Perry Huffman, contacted me in 1990 when she learned I was typing a Crider history. She had inherited a tintype photograph album with pictures of Jacob, Magdalena, and at least three of their children. Unfortunately, not all photos were identified. She also had a rope bed that Jacob Crider had made for his daughter Lavina.
Jacob and Magdalena’s son William “Riley” Crider had a son Frederick Crider 1846-1916 who is my husband’s great-great grandfather. Frederick and his first wife Julia Siever had ten children. You may be old enough to remember some of Frederick’s children: Joseph Albert Crider 1877-1951, Elias Crider 1880-1958, Carrie Ellen “El” Crider Whetzel 1883-1970.
Jacob and Magdalena’s son Frederick Crider ca 1820-1893 married Mary M. Lantz. Their three sons Noah 1846-ca 1909, William “Riley” 1854-1937 and Jacob 1857-1934 remained in Brocks Gap. Criders, Virginia Post Office was founded by William “Riley” Crider 1854-1937 whose son Sam Crider continued as Postmaster of Criders and later Fulks Run.
Lewis Yankey gathered information on the Crider family more than 40 years ago. His book is a good outline of the family, but much more information is now available. If you are interested in updating his book, contact me.
