Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Page 1069

JAMES CRAWFORD, a leading representative of one of the oldest pioneer families of Valley Center Township, is engaged in general farming and stock-raising on sections 7 and 18, residing on the former section. He is a native of Lee County, Ill., born March 25, 1855, and is the son of Samuel S. and Serepta (Camp) Crawford. A history of his parents will be found in connection with the sketch of the brother of our subject, L. C. Crawford, elsewhere in the pages of this ALBUM.

             The subject of this personal history spent his boyhood in his native county, and received his education in the district schools of that region. He remained at home, assisting his father in the labors on the farm until 1871, when he came with his parents to Kansas, and on the 16th of September of that year, settled in this county. For the two succeeding years he remained at home, and then returned to Illinois, to his native county, where he was engaged in farming, but on attaining his majority returned to Sedgwick County and entered into a partnership with his brother, L. C. Crawford, with whom he carried on farming operations for some three or four years. At the expiration of that time he purchased some eighty acres of land on section 7, on which he has put up handsome and substantial buildings, and brought his farm of 160 acres to a high cultivation, having added eighty acres on section 18 to his original purchase. Having a large amount of industry, perseverance and energy, he has made a noble record as a successful farmer, and stands to-day one of the substantial and reliable citizens of the county. All the improvements on his place are due to his own efforts, as he found it in entirely a wild state.

             With a very natural and laudable desire to surround himself with all the comforts of a home, the most important thing was to seek a life companion who would be a true helpmate during the voyage through life. Mr. Crawford accordingly wooed and won Miss Sarah Fry, to whom he was wedded March 24, 1881. The lady of his choice was born in the State of Indiana, June 10, 1854, and is the daughter of Samuel and Mary (Wentz) Fry, natives of Ohio, who settled in Sedgwick County in 1873. Four children have added to the joys of Mr. and Mrs. Crawford, and bear the following names: Anna, Ray, Mary and Volina. Mr. Crawford and his brother were among the very first settlers who broke the way for civilization into this part of the country, and he is a very highly esteemed citizen of the community. In his political faith he is a stanch and unswerving Democrat.

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