Cedar county has no more honored pioneer than Charles Crawford, who has made his home here continuously since the 11th of June, 1836, and is today the oldest living settler within its borders. He was born near Fort Wayne, Indiana, on the 11th of April, 1836, and is a son of Andrew and Maria (Krofft) Crawford. The father was a representative of a good old Scotch family, being connected with Sir William Wallace, as the latter’s mother was a Crawford. Our subject’s paternal grandfather was James Crawford, who for many years made his home in the north of Ireland but came to this country with his wife and six children at an early day. He had two daughters and four sons, the latter being Hugh, Christopher, Robert and Andrew.
Andrew Crawford, of this family, was born in the north of Ireland in 1795 and was only ten years of age on the arrival of the family in New York. They first settled near Schenectady, where he made his home until reaching manhood and where he was married. He then removed to the western part of the New York state and continued to reside there for some years. During the war of 1812 he joined a New York regiment and was stationed at Sacket Harbor for three months. Later he removed to Michigan and settled on an island in the Detroit river, where he engaged in farming on shares for Captain Brooks for three years. At the end of that time he removed to Indiana, owing to differences with the Canadians, who found out that he had fought in the war of 1812. He had been very successful in his farming operations upon that island and had given considerable attention to the raising of fine cattle in partnership with Captain Brooks. He subsequently owned and operated a farm near Fort Wayne, Indiana, and continued to reside thereon until his removal to this state. It was in May, 1836, only one month after the birth of our subject, that the father came to Iowa in search of a location, and in June the mother with her children followed, arriving on the 11th of that month, carrying her son Charles on her lap most of the way and traveling in a wagon drawn by a team of oxen. They crossed the Mississippi at Rockingham, Scott county, where a ferry was then run, and after spending a few days at that place proceeded on their way to Cedar county. The father first secured a tract of land on Sugar creek, his quarter section adjoining the borders of the town of Centerville, which was finally abandoned owing to the lack of water, and upon his farm he erected a cabin. The land had not at that time been placed upon the market and was not for sale until 1841. As Centerville did not prosper, he decided to abandon that claim and removed to another quarter section of land on Sugar creek, mostly covered with timber, and there he continued to make his home until called to his final rest March 13, 1857, when sixty-two years of age.
He came to this region with the permission of the Indians, who at that time were beginning to move farther west, and at one time he employed a young chief to guide him while looking over the country in search of a location. They went as far as the Iowa river and found a good place, but finally returned to Sugar creek as the Indians preferred to have him locate there. He was undoubtedly the first settler of Cedar county, but a few days after his arrival James Burnsides located on an adjoining tract of land and was soon followed by Robert G. Roberts, who left his team with Mr. Crawford while he went in search of a location. During his first year here Mr. Crawford planted one acre in corn and a half acre in potatoes, while in the spring of 1836 he raised some turnips and broke four acres of land for wheat the next year. In 1837 he harvested forty bushels to the acre of wheat and all his crops proved equally good. In the winter of 1837, which was particularly severe, the provisions of the family became scarce and the father was obliged to go to Rockingham for supplies.
On his return he was caught in a blizzard and walked about twenty-four hours before he finally reached shelter and food. He had both feet badly frozen and had to have his toes amputated, leaving him a cripple for the remainder of his life. He was a man of great vitality, however, and he materially aided in the development and improvement of this section of the state. There are today a number of relics in the museum of the State University which were brought to Iowa by him. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Maria Krofft, was a native of Connecticut and from that state removed to Cooperstown, New York, with her parents at an early day. There she grew to womanhood and was married. Her death occurred on Sugar creek in Center township, this county, in December, 1873. Our subject is today the only member of the family now living.
Reared upon the frontier, Charles Crawford early became familiar with all the privations and hardships which fall to the lot of the pioneer. As he became old enough he materially assisted in the early development of this region and ever bore his part in the work of progress and advancement. His education was obtained in the pioneer schools and the work of breaking the land and cultivating the fields was an arduous one at that time. His entire life has been devoted to farming and for the past ten years he has lived on his present place, a tract of one hundred and fifty-two acres on section 25, Rochester township.
In 1858 Mr. Crawford married Miss Phoebe Whitmore, a native of Ohio, who came to this state in 1848 in company with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Peter Whitmore. She died here November 8, 1884, at the age of forty-two years. Of the children born to them George is now a resident of Woodbury county, Iowa; Frances is the wife of George A. Moomaw, of Seattle, Washington; Douglas died when young; William, who was a school teacher, is also deceased; John, a teacher and attorney, went to Oklahoma when the strip was opened andwas drowned there in the Vertegris river; Catharine is now the wife of Marion Campbell, of Muscatine, Iowa; Lucy is the wife of Frank Kensinger, of Tipton; Peteris at home with his father; Lillie is deceased; Laura is the wife of Arthur Smith, living in Minnesota; Charles is deceased; and Mary completes the family.
Mr. Crawford has been identified with many enterprises which have proved of public benefit, being one of the organizers and first trustees of the White Pigeon Mutual Fire Insurance Company, with which he has since been identified; it being a fire insurance group for farmers only. Politically he is a populist but lately voted with the progressive republicans, and he has been honored with various township offices, the duties of which he has most capably discharged. For twenty-two years he was a member of the Church of God, but is now connected with the Freewill Baptist church. He well remembers when this region was a vast wilderness, when Indians were far more numerous than white settlers and when wild game could be found in abundance, and he certainly deserves prominent mention among the honored pioneers and worth residents of Cedar County.
