Biographies For Muscatine County Iowa 1889

Source: Portrait and Biographical Album, Muscatine County, Iowa, 1889, page 488
CRAWFORD SMITH, a resident of Wilton, is numbered among the pioneers of Iowa, having located in Cedar County in 1849. He is a native of the Keystone State, having been born in Adams County, Pa., March 17, 1817. His father, George Smith, was also born in Pennsylvania, of English ancestry, and was a farmer by occupation. He was twice married, his second wife, whose maiden name was Martha Brandon, being the mother of our subject. When Crawford was but a lad his parents removed to Hamilton County, Ohio. and settled on a farm near Cincinnati, which is now included within the corporation limits of the city. There Mr. Smith engaged in farming, and also kept a hotel, residing in that community until his death, which occurred when our subject was ten years of age. He as the father of twenty-one children, nine by his first wife, and twelve by his second. After the death of her husband Mrs. Smith removed to Montgomery County, Ohio, and year later to Greene County, in the same State, where she passed the remainder of her life.

Our subject was reared to the occupation of farming, and on the 14th of October, 1847,was united in marriage at Xenia, Ohio, with Miss Moriah Babb, a daughter of Robinson and Rachel ( Bailey ) Babb, who were natives of Virginia. The lady was born in Frederick County, Va., April 10, 1826, and when a small child removed with her parents to Greene County, Ohio. Her mother died March 21, 1862, in Cass County, Ind., to where the family had removed in 1847, and the father died only a short time afterward. They were the parents of seven children who grew to maturity, four sons and three daughters. Besides Mrs. Smith, three brothers of the family are yet living : David, who resides in Cincinnati, Ohio ; Reese, who is living near Logansport, Ind., on the old homestead, where his parents first settled on going to that State ; and James Madison, who is also residing on that farm. The deceased were : William, the eldest of the family, who died in Cass Co., Ind.; Mrs. Charity Ann McClure and Mrs. Nancy Jane Reder.

About eighteen months after their marriage Mr. Smith, accompanied by his wife, came to Iowa, arriving at his destination in April, 1849, and settled on a new farm. Thenceforward he made but one change in location until he retired from the more active duties of life, and purchased the present home at Wilton in 1876, where he has since enjoyed that rest and retirement which a life of active industry had fitted him so well to appreciate. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have never been blessed with children, but they reared to womanhood Ella Johnson, who married William W. Walter, and is now living in Horace, Greeley Co., Kan. In politics our subject was a Whig in early life, and cast his first vote for Gen. William Henry Harrison, in 1840, and voted for his grandson, Benjamin Harrison, in 1888, having been an ardent Republican since the organization of that party. He and his wife have long been faithful and consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and have been residents of this immediate vicinity for the long period of forty years, during which time they have witnessed the great changes that have taken place, for the State had then just begun to develop into what it has now become, one of the most important States of the Union. In their pleasant home in Wilton they are passing the declining years of life, conscious of having performed their duty, and to them the esteem of all is given.

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