The members of Richard R. Crum’s family were prominent early Hernando County residents. He settled near present day Brooksville on land provided under the Armed Occupation Act of 1842. His wife Charlotte Pyles Wynn Crum was killed by Seminole Indians in that same year. His son John Washington Crum was murdered returning home from a meeting. Two random murders hitting the same family is certainly unfortunate.
Charlotte, the wife of Richard was born in 1792 near Savannah, Georgia. She married Col. Samuel Robert Pyles in 1809. They moved to what is now Alachua County in 1824. Col Pyles died in 1837 and Charlotte married Richard R. Crum. In 1842, Richard and Charlotte moved to a homestead near present day Brooksville.
Charlotte was murdered near the Chocachatti settlement. Her party consisted of Charlotte, her daughter Rebecca Harn, granddaughter Mary Catherine Harn and their escort John Francis McDonnell. They were attacked by a group of Seminole Indians as they rode in a buckboard between present day Brooksville and Dade City on September 12, 1842. The Seminole indians had apparently not been informed about the ending of the Second Seminole war on August 14, 1842.
Charlotte’s daughter Rebecca was on a horse and grabbed her child, Mary Catherine and managed to escape. John Francis appears to have been wounded, but also managed to escape. Charlotte was killed. Charlotte was laid to rest on Richard Crum’s land, which later became the Brooksville Cemetery. She is the first known burial at the cemetery.
Following Charlotte’s murder Richard married Christian Matilda and they had two children. One of these children was John Washington Crum. John Washington married Ann Pyles Hope and they had eight children.
John Washington was a significant local leader and was chosen to be a delegate to the Democratic convention of 1896 held from July 7th to the 11th in Chicago. He was murdered on June 10, 1896, so he was unable to attend.
The June 12, 1896 Daily Charlotte Observer reported on his murder “At Brooksville, Fla., . Wednesday night, John W. Crum was shot and instantly killed by some unknown assassin. He was a delegate to the Democratic convention which met yesterday and came to town to meet his delegation, and was on his return home when he was killed.”
It is thought that John Washington’s murder may have been related to the Whitehurst-Whidden-Stevenson Feud which claimed a number of lives in present day Pasco and Pinellas county.
The Tampa Morning Tribune reported that , “Mr. J. W. Crum, a well-to-do citizen of Brooksville, was shot and instantly killed Wednesday night by an unknown assassin near that place. It is thought that Tillet Whidden is implicated in the tragedy as bitter animosity existed between the two. No arrests have as yet been made. The deceased was a son-in-law of Mr. David Hope, of Brooksville, and leaves a wife and eight children.”