Family photographs shared with the original site by Ellen Grant and others, restored and colourised in 2026.
This site began in 1998, when a group of Crumpler descendants who had met on the internet pooled their research into one place for everyone tracing the Crumpler name. Their work is all still here. Alongside it you will now find new stories from the family’s past, and the whole family tree, searchable online.
From the family’s past
Stories
“Most Nobly Has He Redeemed His Pledge”
Major Thomas N. Crumpler, 1831–1862. The Unionist legislator from Ashe County, North Carolina, who promised in 1861 that if war came he would be found in the front rank, kept his word, and fell leading a cavalry charge at Willis Church. Told from the newspapers of the time.
With thanks to Garth Matthews.
Coming next: a sheriff, a seized mule team and a killing in the street in Andalusia, Alabama, 1888.
Search the family
The family tree
A question DNA could answer
Are the American and Dorset Crumplers one family?
The family records say that Captain William Crumpler, who died in Isle of Wight County, Virginia, in the 1700s, was the William baptised at Winterborne Kingston, Dorset, in 1659. It is very likely, but no document proves it. A Y-DNA test, which follows the father-to-son line, could settle it by comparing one American Crumpler man with one from England.
If you are a Crumpler man willing to test, or have already tested with Ancestry, 23andMe, FamilyTreeDNA or MyHeritage, please write to [email protected].
Preserved as its creators left it
The original site, 1998–2010
Each researcher built and kept their own section, in their own style, and we have left them that way: the records, the wills, the reunions, the photographs and stories, exactly as they were written.
Enter the original site →With gratitude
The researchers
The original site was the shared work of these Crumpler researchers, who gave their findings freely so that others could build on them.
- Gloria Crumpler VesterWebmaster, and keeper of the Crumpler database
- Mary HarperJohn Crumpler and his descendants
- Mary WardSampson County, North Carolina, and connected lines
- Stewart CrumplerThe Sampson County area
- Joan UhlarThe Virginia line through John, Edmund and Matthew
- Kevin CrumplerThe UK Crumplers, and the early US–UK connection
And the many family members who sent photographs and records, among them Ellen Grant and Caryl Graham. Today the work continues with Garth Matthews’ History of American Crumplers.