The CRAWFORD family (1819-18)
|-John Edward Crawford-|
|-James Harvey Crawford-| |-Martha Robinson
John Daniel Crawford-| |-Sarilda Jane Donnohue
|-Margaret Emerine Bourn
We here continue the story of the Crawford family told first in the chapters on Pennsylvania and Kentucky. George Crawford, oldest son of ancestors JOHN and MARTHA CRAWFORD, was the first of the Crawford family to arrive in the state of Missouri. He came in 1819, stopping first at St. Geneva for a short time before reaching Clark's Fork township in Cooper County. He voted in the first election in the county in August 1819. Two years later he joined with his brother-in-law William Reid (married to Margaret Peggy Crawford) in taking out a land patent for 80 acres. Over the next two decades the two of them patented close to 640 acres of farmland. They divided the land up into separate farms in 1832, and George remained there the rest of his life. and was buried in a small cemetery on the Reid farm. George was elected the first county assessor, and was elected to the state senate for a 4-year term.
Views of the Crawford farmland in Cooper County in 2004.
From left to right, the land of JOHN E. CRAWFORD, George Crawford, and William Reid.
The cemetery is in the clump of trees in the middle of the right photo.
George's siblings slowly gravited to Missouri around him. In 1832, his mother MARTHA sold the old family farm in Kentucky. The deed has the names of all of her children; five of them (Hetty, James, Elizabeth, Polly, and Zillah) lived in Cumberland County, Kentucky while the other five (George, Margaret Peggy, Nancy, Cynthia, and JOHN) lived in Cooper County, Missouri. Peggy married William Reid, George's partner, whose farm was adjacent to George's farm. We know little about Reid, and do not know when they were married or when they died, although they were both still living in Cooper County in 1863. Nancy married Joseph Chambers, brother of James Chambers who settled in Cooper County in 1817 from North Carolina. Nancy's oldest son was born in 1827, so they probably married in 1826. She had four children, and died in 1881. Cynthia was in Missouri in 1827, and married Dr. John Mulkey Savage in 1830. John's father William and uncles John and James were some of the earliest settlers in the county, arriving in 1811. Cynthia had six children before dying in 1842. Two were probably born in Cooper County, the next two were in Van Buren, south of St. Louis, and the last two in Platte City, north of Kansas City. When Cynthia was close to dying, she told her husband he should marry their housekeeper as soon as possible. He married her four months after Cynthia's death, and they had ten more children, most born in the state of Oregon. George's last married sister, Hetty, married John Thomas, their neighbor who owned the adjacent farm in Kentucky. John was previously married and had five children when his first wife died. Hetty, who was 19 years younger than John, married him between 1820 and 1825, and they had three children born in Kentucky. They were still living in Kentucky when MARTHA sold the family farm in 1832. John died in 1833, but I do not know if he died in Kentucky or Missouri. Several of his older children lived and died in Cumberland County, Kentucky, but a probate record in Cooper County gave guardianship of their children to Hetty. Hetty received a patent for land just north of George's farm. She lived there until the 1850s when she and her son James moved to Pettis County. MARTHA probably moved to Missouri with her three unmarried daughters Elizabeth, Polly and Zillah and her son James right after selling the Kentucky farm. We do not know where or when any of the four females died. James married Nancy Talitha McCarthy in the Mt. Herman Baptist Church in Cooper County. He bought land about a mile northwest of the farm. They had three children, Henrietta, Amanda, and Rena. James, Nancy, and the two older children are all buried at the Mt. Herman Baptist Church where they were married.
Gravestones of five of the children of JOHN and MARTHA CRAWFORD:
Reid Cemetery: George Crawford and Nancy Chambers
Mt. Bethel Cemetery: James L. Crawford
Bethlehem Baptist Cemetery: JAMES E CRAWFORD and Hetty Thomas
JOHN EDWARD CRAWFORD (JEC) first came to Missouri in 1827, riding horseback to St. Louis. He stayed with George until the following summer when he headed to the lead mines around the bustling town of Galena, Illinois, which was on the banks of the Mississippi River near the Wisconsin border and whose population surged to 10,000 people by 1828. In October, 1828 JEC mailed a letter to George from the Fever River Lead Mines in Dodgeville, Wisconsin, 50 miles north of Galena. He had started work in a mine with Esqr. Beaviz(?), but then worked a month for Mr. Hunters weighing mineral, and clerked at a grocery store for Mr. Qualill and Mr. Armstrong, for which he earned $30 per month. He was not sure if he would stay there for the winter, or return to Missouri. He instructed George to continue to write to him at Galena.
Spring Fork Creek running through the JEC farm; JEC house, built by 1845 from bricks made on his land; Bethlehem Baptist Church with cemetery
From a letter JEC wrote the following year to his mother, he left the mines July 2nd and returned via flat boat to Missouri to live with George. He encouraged his mother to sell the old farm in Kentucky and come join them in Missouri. He said he was madly in love, and that his sister Cynthia was with him and would write her own letter. Shortly after his letter, he did indeed marry Sally Elvira McFarland. Five different McFarland families came to Cooper County by 1830, most of them brothers or cousins, so I am not sure about her early life. She seems to have been the daughter of William McFarland, who came to Cooper county in 1816 from North Carolina via St. Genevieve. He settled on the north side of Petite Saline creek, about four miles west of JEC's farm. William was the first sheriff of the county, and was also elected to the state house of representatives. JEC and Elvira had two sons, Christopher Columbus Crawford born in December, 1830 and William O. Crawford born in November, 1832, before she died in 1834. Two years later JEC fell in love with SARILDA JANE DONNOHUE after hearing her play the Irish harp and sing "Highland Mary". They were married in SARILDA's home two miles west of Georgetown, then the county seat of Pettis County. SARILDA was only 17 years old, and was scared she could not take care of her two step sons. She had seven children herself, including her youngest son born in 1864 when she was 45, so she literally spent most of her life raising children.
JOHN EDWARD CRAWFORD and SARILDA JANE DONNOHUE at the two ends of their life together.
JEC voluntered for the army in 1830, and participated in the Indian Wars (perhaps the Black Hawk War in 1831-32 in Illinois). He was a captain of the volunteers against the Mormons in the Mormon War in Missouri in 1838. In 1839 he was commissioned colonel of the 44th regiment, 5th division, Missouri militia. On March 15, 1840, after living in Georgetown for four years, the family moved to Flat Creek Township, six miles south of Sedalia, which had only seven or eight house on the south side of Spring Fork. He lived on this farm the rest of his life, and became the foundation for the community. The first school house was built on his farm, built of logs with a floor of dirt. JEC was the first postmaster of the post office called Spring Fork. He served as justice of the peace, and helped organize the Bethlehem Baptist Church on June 7, 1851 and served as Deacon. The church was erected in 1860 on land he donated to the church at the edge of his farm. He was buried there, along with many other relatives including his two older sons and their families, and sister Hetty Thomas and her son. He served in the Missouri legislature from 1842-1843. He was pro-Union, and once wrote a scathing letter to his sister Margaret Reid complaining about the treatment their brother James gave to JEC's son when he appeared in a Union uniform. In 1877 JEC became blind in both eyes due to cataracts, but a year later a Sedalia physician successfully removed the cataracts and his eyesight returned. JEC and SARILDA were able to celebrate their golden wedding anniversary in 1886. He died on the farm in 1891, while she died at their son Grant's house in Sedalia in 1895.
Christopher Columbus Crawford and his wife Amanda Elliot
William O. Crawford and his wife Elizabeth Harvey
JEC's two oldest sons Christopher Columbus and William O. were both born in Cooper County but grew up in Pettis County and lived there near their father the rest of their lives.. In the 1860 census, Christopher was listed as a blacksmith and William as a wagon maker, but later they were both farmers, and Christopher served as county assessor for five years. Christopher was a Lieutenant in the 45th Missouri Infantry during the war, while William was a member of the 40th Missouri Militia. Christopher married Amanda Elliot, daughter of Isaac Elliott and Nancy Bourn (sister of JOHN RANSDELL BOURN - see the BOURN family elsewhere in this chapter). They had five children, all of who lived and died in Pettis County. William married Elizabeth Harvey, the daughter of a neighboring farmer. They had seven children, and also raised a grandson when his parents died.
John D. Crawford and his wife Annie Parberry
Annie Crawford Fergusen and her husband James J. Ferguson
Cynthia Mae Crawford Thomas
JEC had seven children with SARILDA. The oldest, John Daniel Crawford, was born March 1, 1838 on the farm in Georgetown. At the age of two, the family moved six miles south of Sedalia, where John grew up. He studied at William Jewell College and taught school until the Civil War broke out. He enlisted in 1862 in the Fortieth Missouri Militia where he became Captain of Company C. In 1863 he was made Captain of Company K, Fifth Provisional Regiment of Missouri Troops and in 1864 he was commissioned Colonel of the Fortieth Regiment which was stationed at Sedalia at the end of the war. On October 15, 1864, 1,500 confederate troops under General Jeff Thompson overtook the town despite the efforts of 300 militia under Colonel Crawford. The Confederates confiscated arms and rode away that evening before 2,500 federal troops arrived at midnight. After mustering out, John married Anna E. Parberry who grew up on a farm a couple miles north of the Crawford farm. For a while he was a farmer and stock-raiser on land close to his father's farm.
In 1870 John was elected County Recorder of Deeds, which he held for eight years. He then became engaged in the abstract, title and real-estate business in the firm Morey & Crawford, located at 410 South Ohio Avenue in what became known as the Crawford Building. He was also vice president of the Citizens' National Bank for almost 30 years starting around 1879. He served as Mayor of Sedalia from 1888 until 1890, during which time the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad moved its headquarters to Sedalia. He was a trustee of the First Baptist Church of Sedalia, held many offices in the Masonic order, and was often a delegate to conventions of the Republican party. Nearly every summer, starting with their first trip in 1875, John and Anna vacationed in Steamboat Springs. They never had any children, and were especially close to their nieces and nephews there. He was often called J. D. Crawford Sr. to differentiate him from his nephew. He died in 1908 while Anna died August 1, 1929.
John Daniel Crawford's building at 410 South Ohio Ave (now Pettis County Title Co.) - John's home
All of JEC's other children were born on his farm in Flat Creek Township, six miles south of Sedalia. His oldest daughter was Annie E., who married James J. Ferguson in 1857 when she was just 17 years old. James was a farmer from Kentucky, and in 1880 bought part of JEC's old farm. They had six children, all of whom married, had children, and moved away from Pettis County, except for Belle May Middleton who died at age 25 and is buried with her father in the Bethlehem Baptist Church. When James J. Ferguson died, Annie went to live in Arrow Rock, Missouri with her daughter Elmina.
JEC's only other daughter, Cynthia Mae married Rev. Bailey T. Thomas when she was 19 years old. Bailey was a Baptist minister from Lafayette County, Missouri, who performed the weddings of JAMES H. CRAWFORD and MARGARET BOURN, Col. John D. Crawford and Anna Parberry, and Orie Bourn and Thomas C. Newton. Cynthia and Bailey had five children, one of whom died an infant. When their oldest daughter died in childbirth, they raised their grand-daughter. They lived in Flat Creek Township at least until the 1880 census. By the 1900 census, they had moved 30 miles northwest to Freedom Township, Lafayette County, Missouri, where they both died.
JAMES H. CRAWFORD, Lulie Crawford, Logan Crawford, JOHN CRAWFORD, and MARGARET E. BOURN
JAMES HARVEY CRAWFORD (JHC) was born March 30, 1845 on his father John Edward Crawford's farm along Spring Fork Creek. MARGARET EMERINE BOURN was born four years later on January 18, 1849, on her father's farm, which was adjacent to the Crawford farm. [See the section on BOURN above.] Being neighbors, they knew each other growing up. JHC enlisted in the Union Army, Company E, 7th Missouri State Militia Cavalry, on February 10, 1862, while he was still 16. He was promoted to Second Sergeant on April 12th and to First Lieutenant on November 8th. During the Civil War, he served briefly in both Arkansas and Kansas, but for the most part remained in central and southern Missouri. He wrote over a dozen love letters to MARGARET during the war, and they were married on May 25, 1865, one month after he was mustered out of service. They bought land near their parents' farms, and during the next seven years led the quiet life of farmers, the only notable occurrences being the births of their first three children: Lulie on March 25, 1867, Logan on September 9, 1869, and JOHN on February 8, 1873. JHC made an exploratory trip to Colorado in 1872, where he traveled with Robert W. Steele, who was the first provisional governor of Colorado Territory from 1859 to 1861. JHC liked what he saw, and in 1873 sold his farm in Missouri, packed his family and belongings onto two wagons and led a small wagon train of friends across the prairie to Denver. Though they all came back for visits and some schooling for the children, Colorado was their home the rest of their lives. See the Colorado chapter for more on the family.
Henry Crawford and his wife Nancy Donohue; Grant Crawford and his wife Alice Walmsley and son John Samuel Crawford
Henry A. Crawford, the next younger brother, was born on the family farm July 5, 1850. Though he was five years younger than JHC, he was bigger in size. He went with JHC on the exploratory trip to Colorado in 1872 and on the wagon train the next year. He came back to Missouri in the spring of 1875 and on August 31 married his childhood sweetheart, Nancy Donohue, who was also his first cousin: her father and his mother were siblings. He farmed on JHC's land for three years before selling it to his brother John in 1878 and joining JHC in Colorado. He became sick in the spring of 1882, and died July 17. Nancy and their two children continued living on their Colorado ranch, but soon married another pioneer and had three more children. They eventually moved to Alabama.
Charles Logan Crawford was the only one of the Crawford siblings who did not marry. He was born December 21, 1852 and died September 28, 1869, still in his youth.
Ulysses Grant Crawford was the youngest of the siblings, 34 years younger than Christoper C. Crawford, 19 years younger than JHC. When their father JEC died, Grant was living in Sedalia and his mother moved in with him. In 1898 Grant married Alice Walmsley, the daughter of one of Sedalia's businessmen. Grant was assistant cashier of the Citizens National Bank during the time his brother John was the vice president. When John died, Grant became vice president. Grant also started the Crawford Loan and Abstract Company, a private loan company holding mortgages on hundreds of Pettis County farms, which it then sold to local and Eastern investors. Its place of business was in the Crawford building where his brother John's firm Morey & Crawford was located. Grant was considered wealthy, and he and his family lived in a grand house and were able to travel to Egypt one year, and to Steamboat nearly every summer, both before and after his brother John died. John's widow Annie would often travel with Grant. The Great Depression took a devastating toll on Grant. On November 1, 1931, the president of the Citizens National Bank, William H. Powell, shot himself, and the bank closed the next day. Grant's loan company went into bankruptcy and never recovered. Grant died a poor man near the end of the Depression. He was struck by a car driven by a neighbor and suffered several broken bones that did not appear very serious. However the next day he died of shock and internal injuries. Grant and Alice had one child, John Grant "Jack" Crawford. Jack worked with his father at the Crawford Loan and Abstract Company in 1928. He married a widow who had three children, and served in World War II as a major in the ordinance department.
Gravestones of five of the children of JOHN EDWARD CRAWFORD:
Bethlehem Baptist Cemetery: Cristopher Columbus Crawford, William O. Crawford, and Charles Logan Crawford
Crown Hill Cemetery: John Daniel Crawford
Hope Cemetery: Cynthia Thomas
