Vashti Rainwater Crossley

Vashti Rainwater Crossley

Vashti Rainwater was the daughter of Rev. Miles Rainwater, an ordained Baptist minister, and his wife, Nancy Edwards Rainwater. She is one of the eight confirmed children born to this South Carolina couple and was named for the Biblical queen of King Ahasuerus mentioned in the book of Esther. Vashti was born on 17 March 1819, and left fatherless at the age of seven, when her father died of an unspecified illness. Nancy Edwards Rainwater then moved her family to Fayette Co., Alabama.

In about 1839, Vashti married David J. Crossley. The couple farmed, and raised six children: James J., born ca 1839; Emeline, born ca 1845; Malissa, born ca 1847; Asbury, born ca 1850; Monroe Simpson, born Jan 1851; and William Henry, born ca 1852.

David Crossley died between 1852 and 1860, by which census Vashti is listed as a widow. She died on 12 April 1903, and is buried in Nations-Poplar Creek Cemetery in Montgomery Co., Alabama.

Credits
For a more complete view of the family of Rev. Miles Rainwater, read Lynn Fusinato’s two Rootsweb articles, The Rainwater Family of Fayette County, Alabama, and The Waldrop Family of Wesley Chapel, Alabama. The photograph is from the former.

© 2018 Susan Chance-Rainwater
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