Crawford, James Harvey; 1905 Bio, Routt County, Colorado ftp://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/co/routt/bios/crawfdjh.txt --------------------------------------- Donated April 2001 Transcribed by Judy Crook from the book: Progressive Men of Western Colorado Published 1905, A.W. Bowen & Co., Chicago, Ill. --------------------------------------- James Harvey Crawford The subject of this brief memoir belongs to that class of men who are needed in our land with every generation. They make their way upward as painstaking, honest men, with the skill and conscience to do well the tasks that lie before them. They are resolute and persistent in their calling, without ostentation or boastfulness, but they laugh circumstances to scorn and make a career of serviceable productiveness in any environment. The work of their hands wears well, and the work of their brains guides well the hands of other men and they invariably leave behind them, when they lay down their trust, a spirit of public improvement and the tangible results of its beneficent activity. Oftentimes, as in the case of Mr. Crawford, they are adventurous men and challenge fate on any field, finding by their very boldness and indifference to consequences the best and most fruitful opportunities for usefulness to mankind, and at the same time a bountiful largess of fortune's favors for themselves. Whether it be peace or war that calls them into action, they meet the demands of duty with courage and constancy, and without a too tender regard for consequences personal to themselves. James Harvey Crawford is a native of Pettis county, Missouri, born near Sedalia on March 30, 1845, and the son of John Edward and Sarilda J. (Donnohue) Crawford, who were born in Kentucky. The father was one of the earliest pioneers of central Missouri. He was a farmer but was also active in political life, serving in the state legislature and for years as a colonel in the State Guard. He was also prominent as a member of the Baptist church and was long recognized as a leader in the organization in Missouri. Seven children were born to him and his wife, of whom five are living, John D., Anne E. (Mrs. James J. Ferguson), Cynthia M. (Mrs. Bailey T. Thomas), James H. and Ulysses Grant, and all are residents of Sedalia, Missouri, except James H. The father died in November, 1879, and the mother in February, 1883. Their son James H. received a limited common-school education, remaining at home until the beginning of the Civil war, when he enlisted in defense of the Union as a member of the Seventh Missouri Cavalry, Company E, entering the service at the age of sixteen as a private and being soon afterward promoted second sergeant, and mustered out as first lieutenant on April 14, 1865, at St. Louis. After the close of the war he returned home and during the next eight years was engaged in farming in his native county. In 1873 he crossed the plains with teams by the Smoky Hill route through Kansas to Denver in this state. The trip consumed thirty-five days. Leaving his family at Empire, Colorado, he made an exploring expedition into what is now Routt county. On this trip, while journeying on foot, he discovered the fine mineral springs at which he now lives, and to which he gave the name of Steamboat Springs from the sound made by the rapid rush of the water which resembled the puffing of a steamboat. He had left his teams at Egeria Park, being unable to get them farther through the wild and trackless country. Finding the region around the springs promising, he moved his family to the place in 1874 and thus became the first settler at the town and its founder. He laid out the townsite and gave his whole attention to promoting the growth and welfare of others who followed him to this favored locality, and his home in the town is one of the most pleasant and interesting in the town, the various rooms being abundantly and tastefully decorated with the trophies of his skill as a hunter. Here, where he cast his lot in the veritable wilderness, he has found and developed a thriving little city, and is held in high esteem by its people and those of the surrounding country, being especially noted for his liberality and general worth as a citizen, a man of fine public-spirit, and a general authority on all matters of interest to the neighborhood. He has fine cabinets of valuable specimens of minerals peculiar to the section, his collection being considered rare and valuable. Besides organizing the Steamboat Springs Company, he has taken an active interest in other schemes for the improvement and development of this portion of the state, being largely interested in the Onyx mine, and in one thousand five hundred and twenty acres of anthracite coal land, and having holdings of value in copper claims, and the Yampa Land Company , as well as in the Water and Land Company at Elberta Lakes. He helped to organize the Routt County Pioneer Association in 1903 and served as its first president. In political faith he has been a life-long Democrat, and has rendered his party good service both in private life and in public offices of great responsibility and importance, having served two terms in the state legislature, and as judge of Routt county, first by appointment of the governor and afterward by election by the people. At a critical time for the school system of the county he was appointed county superintendent of the public schools. He was also the first postmaster at Steamboat Springs. Fraternally he is connected with the Odd Fellows and the Grand Army of the Republic. On May 25, 1865, he united in marriage with Miss Margaret E. Bourn, a native of Pettis county, Missouri. They have four children, Lulu M., wife of Carr W. Pritchett, of Denver, Logan B., John D. and Mary B. Mr. Crawford is a self-made but broad-minded and intelligent man, an honor to American citizenship and an ornament to the section in which he lives. =================================================== Contributed for use by the USGenWeb Archive Project (http://www.usgenweb.org) and by the COGenWeb Archive Project USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access.