The Crothers Name and Lineage

From Coruther to Carothers to Caruthers to Crothers

 

The earliest ancestor bearing the family name was Betty Carothers.  Betty was born in 1814 in Hickman County, Tennessee.  It is a known fact that prior to 1860 there were no free blacks in the State of Tennessee.  Also in the 1800's, there were many slave owners named Carothers in Hickman County, TN.  In those times, slaves often took on the surname of their owners.    

 

In 1845, while still living in Tennessee, Betty gave birth to her son Abraham.  Twenty five years later she was widowed and living with Abraham and his family.  In the 1870 census their surnames were listed as Coruther.  

 

Later in the 1880 census, the family name was listed as Carothers.  During this period in our nation's history, it was against the law to teach reading and writing skills to blacks.  This inability to read and write left the census taker or recorder with the sole decision on how to spell an individuals name.  Thus, the most commonly known spelling of the name was Carothers.

 

Abraham and wife, Sarah, had a son named Benjamin.  It was on Benjamin's marriage certificate in June of 1900 (to Fredonia Lewis) where the earliest spelling of CROTHERS appeared.  However that same year. in the 1900 census, Benjamin's name appeared as Caruthers. 

 

The Crothers spelling appeared again on the death certificate of Abraham in 1907.  Then clearly what has to be a mistake, the name Caruthers reappeared again on the death certificates of Fredonia (1937) and Benjamin (1938).