Harrison County Iowa Genealogy

HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA, 1891
BIOGRAPHIES
Page 814
STEPHEN CROW

Stephen CROW, who had been a resident of Harrison County, since the closing year of the great Civil War, coming as he did in the spring of 1865, when he settled on section 13, of Boyer Township, where he bought two hundred and forty acres of land, upon which there was a small log house, and about eighty acres of land broken. In this log house the family lived until 1868, when he built a brick house, 24x36 feet, and two stories high, with a kitchen 16x20, one story high. The house is provided with a basement, about forty feet long, by sixteen feet wide. In 1878 Mr. CROW built a barn 20x30 feet, with a basement the same size; the upper part being used for hay and grain, and the basement for a horse-barn.

When our subject came to the county the towns of Dunlap, Woodbine and Logan, had not been laid out, and he had to do his trading at Council Bluffs, but had mail accomodations by a Post-Office called Harrison City, with Mrs. L. D. BUTLER as Postmistress.

Mr. CROW was born in Geneseo County, New York, February 1, 1817, and remained there until he was three years of age, when his parents emigrated to Huron County, Ohio, where he remained with his parents until of age, and then went to Cass County, Michigan, where he remained until the autumn of 1846, farming and teaching school. We next find him in Cass County, Illinois, where he bought a farm and cultivated it until his coming to Harrison County.

He was married to Miss Elizabeth PRATER, in Cass County, Michigan, June 16, 1844, and by this union ten children have been born -- Benjamin F., born October 15, 1845; Washington I., born January 20, 1847; Marquis D., born February 23, 1849; Leonidas M., born January 11, 1851; William H., born June 16, 1852; Laura E., born October 26, 1854; Stephen E., December 16, 1856; John C., born September 12, 1858; Charles L., born June 27, 1860; Elmer E., born ?? 24, 1862.

Washington I. died at home, as the result of a gun shot inflicted by a man who was living in the same house with Mr. CROW's people. His death occurred December 6, 1875, never speaking after he was shot. A detailed account of this premeditated murder appears elsewhere in this volume.

Mrs. CROW was born in Wayne County, Indiana, August 6, 1826, remaining with her parents, who moved to Cass County, Michigan, when she was three years of age, in 1829, when that was yet a Territory. Her father, Jonathan PRATER, was born in Harden County, Virginia, September 16, 1796, and died in Cass County, Michigan, March 4, 1847. He was married to Miss Rebecca GRIFFIN, by whom eight children were reared; our subject's wife being the fourth child. The mother was born in North Carolina, March 12, 1797, and died in Cass County, Michigan, April 6, 1872.

Stephen CROW, Sr., the father of our subject, was born in Hartford, Conn., in 1780, and died in Sandusky County, Ohio, in 1843. His wife was Lucy ELWELL, born in Bennington County, Vermont, in 1790, and died in Sandusky County, Ohio, in 1841. They were the parents of nine children, four sons and five daughters; our subject being the sixth child.

In his political belief, Mr. CROW is a staunch supporter of the Republican party, and in his religious belief is Missionary Baptist.

Since coming to this county, he has held all the school offices of Boyer Township. He stands high in the community in which he lives, and has been an industrious hard working man, having been on the frontier in the "Buckeye," "Wolverine," "Prairie," and "Hawkeye" States.

Like many other loyal citizens, our subject felt it his duty to go to the front in the Rebellion. He enlisted in the Sixty-First Illinois Regiment for three years. He was at the memorable battle of Pittsburg Landing, under Gen. Prentis. He was in prison fifty days, exchanged and went back to his compnay and was at the siege of Vicksburg and witnessed the surrender of thirty-two thousand seven hundred and ten rebels, which he says was a sorry sight to behold.

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