BIOGRAPHY - JOHN CRAWFORD
John
Crawford, who for many years was actively identified with farming interests
in Ford county, is now living retired in a comfortable home in Thawville,
Iroquois county. He is a native of New York, his birth having occurred in
Albany county, January 2, 1840. He is one of a family of four sons and four
daughters, whose parents were John and Hannah (Foucks) Crawford, likewise
natives of the Empire state. The father died when our subject was a youth of
fourteen years.
John Crawford, whose name introduces this record, was reared under the parental roof and remained in his native state until he had reached the age of twenty-four years, when, hoping to find better advantages in the then "far west," he made his way to Illinois, arriving in McLean county in December, 1864, there remaining for a period of two years, after which he spent five years in La Salle county. In 1871 he took up his abode in Ford county, locating on a farm in Lyman township, and there for many years he followed general agricultural pursuits, in which he met with gratifying success. In addition to his farming interests Mr. Crawford was engaged in stock-raising, making a specialty of Norman Percheron horses, this branch of his business proving a profitable source of income to him. He still owns his farm property in Ford county, comprising one hundred and ten acres, situated on section 2, Lyman township, and also owns sixty acres on section 10, Ridgland township, Iroquois county.
About three years ago Mr. Crawford retired from agricultural pursuits and with his family removed to Thawville, where he erected a modern and commodious residence, containing ten rooms. It was prior to his removal to the west that Mr. Crawford was married in 1861, in Westerlo, Albany county, New York, to Miss Harriett Burch, their marriage being celebrated on the 20th of November of that year. She was born in Westerlo, March 28, 1845, a daughter of Moses and Maria (Petrie) Burch, who were natives of New York and whose family numbered ten children, five sons and five daughters.
The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Crawford has been blessed with four children: Sidney, who resides on his father's farm in Lyman township, situated a mile and a half west of Thawville, is married and has one child, Clyde; Frank, who is station agent at Onarga, Illinois; Carrie, the wife of Henry C. Smith, by whom she has two daughters, Katherine and Harriett; and Julia, the wife of William Havens, of Thawville, by whom she has one daughter, Edna.
In his political views and affiliations Mr. Crawford is a republican but while giving stanch support to the party has never been active as an office seeker. Thirty-six years have come and gone since Mr. Crawford located in this section of Illinois and he has not only been an interested witness of the growth and development that has here been made but has been an active participant therein. In former years he worked hard to acquire a competence which might enable him to spend his last years in retirement and now at the age of sixty-eight years he has seen his wish fulfilled, for he is now living in a nice home in Thawville, where he is surrounded by many friends and acquaintances.
Extracted 17 Oct 2016 by Norma Hass from History of Ford County, Illinois, From Its Earliest Settlement to 1908, author E. A. Gardner, Volume 2, pages 844-847.
