JOHN WESLEY CRIM

The following bio was taken from page 166 of the book entitled "Rusk County History" compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

Transcribed by Shirley Koym

Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Rusk County TX Coordinator

In tracing this family through the generations, the present family members have found the name spelled Crim, Grim, or sometimes Grimm. Originating in Germany, the Crim family has been in America for eight generations. The first to come to America was Peter Crim, son of John. He emigrated from Oberscheldrin, Germany, and his ancestry has been traced through his grandparents, Christian and Elizabeth Spilman Crim, to his great-grandfather, John, who was born in Germany in 1640.

Another John, named for his grandfathers, was born to Peter and Rachel Duke Crim of Kershaw, South Carolina, in 1780. John and his wife, Rachel, for whom no maiden name has been found, were married in 1805. Their son, Abraham, was the first of the family to come to Texas. He married Joanna Armstrong, and they lived for a time in Shelby County, Alabama, then came to Rusk County with their large family sometime after 1847. Abraham and Joanna had twelve children: Zachariah, Louisa, William, Missouri, America, Peter, Elias, Eliza, Matilda, Wylie, James K. Polk, and John Wesley. Two sons, William and Elias, were killed in the Civil War, and the husbands of America, Louisa, and Missouri died either directly or indirectly due to the war and came to Texas with their children and lived with their father’s family. One of these children of Abraham and Joanna, John Wesley Crim, married Loutie Gibson, who had come to Rusk County with her family from Tallahassee, Florida.

The children of John Wesley and Loutie were; William Claude, Elias Fleming, Arrington, Bernard Yancey, Sterling Manly, Churchill Wilbur, Gibson Wilson, Earl and Louise, who married Angus Dunklin.

Abraham and his very large family, as well as most of their children in the above list, are buried at Crims Chapel. This family donated the land for the church and cemetery. The farmland is still owned by direct heirs. Elias paid for some acreage with gold, the deed states, and later sold it to his father, Abraham.

The Crim family has witnessed and contributed to the growth of Rusk County, where many have been involved in business and community affairs.

Material provided by Mrs. E. F. Crim, Jr., Mrs. Louise Dunklin and Mrs. Earl Blackwell