Mary Louise's parents moved the family from Indiana to Limestone County, Alabama when she was about one year old. The preferred mode of travel in those days was by river boats or barges.
Aaron Redus probably took his family by wagon from near Livonia, Indiana to Louisville, Kentucky (a distance of about 50 miles), put his belongings aboard a river barge and set out on a trip south on the Ohio River. They followed the Ohio down to where it meets the Tennessee River. They then floated down the Tennessee to the Muscle Shoals area near Athens, Alabama. Can you imagine the anxiety of Aaron and Lucy traveling with three babies--the oldest less than fours old?
They would not be without family in the strange new land. Aaron's half brothers, William and Thomas Redus moved from Pennsylvania to Grainger, Tennessee before 1800. They later moved to Elkmont, Alabama, just a few miles north of Athens where Aaron and Lucy settled. There seemed to be strong ties between the families of William, Thomas and Aaron.
Mary Louise was educated in Athens, and enjoyed the prosperity and fun during the Antebellum days. The Redus families were wealthy plantation owners, merchants and business men.
In about 1842, Chickasaw Indian territory was opened to the public. Aaron could not resist the temptation to seek out a fortune in Mississippi so he took all his family except the two oldest daughters, Elizabeth and Sarah, and moved to Aberdeen, Mississippi. He bought rich virgin cotton land next to Major Milton Crawford who owned about 3000 acres. He was attracted to his new neighbor's pretty 23 year old daughter Mary Louise Redus. Major Milton Crawford and Mary Louise Redus were married April 23, 1843. He was born in Columbia County, Georgia, October 1, 1806. She died June 10, 1897 and he on August 5, 1885. Both are buried in the Union Presbyterian Cemetery between Aberdeen and Okolona, Mississippi. Her Parents Aaron and Lucy Ann are also buried there.
Mrs. Fannie B. Crawford had this to say about her mother-in-law, Mary Louise Redus Crawford, "Mary loved to dress and was always going somewhere, besides visiting the neighbors. She loved to knit. Her husband, Milton was so eccentric and was always making fun of his wife. He weighed over 400 pounds and had not seen his feet in years. He hired a little black boy to help him tie his shoes, and with other personal matters. He was as smart as he could be. He owned a large cotton plantation and about one hundred slaves before the Civil War."
When she was a little girl, Fannie Baker Crawford and her mother Nancy Pittman Word Baker rode horses to visit the Redus and Crawford families. Little did she realize then that one day she would marry one of Mary Louise's sons (George H. Crawford).
Mary Louise Redus and Major Milton Crawford had five children, all given first names of a prominent family from Milton's home town. Only two of their children had descendants.