Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1910-03-24
The Late Mr.. Logan Crawford

Inc Late Mr. Logan Crawford
In order to meet the wishes
of many friends of the de.
ceased, the Pastor of the Pres
byterian church who conducted
the funeral service, has fur
nished, for publication in the
columns of the Times, the fol
lowing sketch of Mr.. Craw-
ford's life and tribute to his
memory:
| have had the pleasure of
Mr.. Crawford's acquaintance
for the last nine years, but in
order to get some knowledge
of the earlier portions of his
life have consulted the bio
graphical sketch given in the
History Of Harrison County the
facts in which were doubtless
supplied by himself. | have
also talked with his relatives,
neighbors and old army com
rades so that the information
given might be a fair presenta-
Ton of Mr.. Crawford's char
acter and life.
The first thing that struck
me as | read it, was the graft
tuae of Mr.. Crawford to the
Lord that he had been sent into
life along the line Of a coed
clean ancestry.
This is evident, although we
have only a glimpse of three
generations back his father,
grandfather and great grand
father.
His great grandfather, along
with five brothers came from
Ireland "a country that has
contributed largely to the de-
velopment of the United States.
1t has sent us a warm heart.
ed generous active, people, who
fell easily into American ways
and into love 81 cur grand in
situations. A Z ople industri-
Gus and law abiding in times of
peace and loya Il times of war
The particular lrt of Ireland
from which t.l. Crawford's
great grand father came Bel
fast in the north-was largely
settled by Scotch people this
was the stock to which he be-
longed. They were sturdily
protestant in their convictions.
These facts help us to under
stand the character of Mr..
Crawford as we have seen it
manifested.
Mr.. Crawford's grandfather
was born in Connecticut. Ile
was evidently a man of ability
and some prominence political
ly, which was recognized by his
appointment by President Jack
son as collector Of customs at
New London, Conn, which
office he held for eight years.
The mother of Mr.. Crawford
was a member of the Taft fam
lilly to which our honored presi-
dent belongs, so that good blood
flowed in his veins.
Mr.. Crawford had in early
life the advantage of being
raised on a farm, which on &C.
count of It's healthfuIness and
greater freedom from tempta-
tion-is the best place in which
to grow up. In his early man
hood he felt the influence of a
remarkable intellectual revival
which swept over New England
during the 30's and 40's.
One of the results Of that
was the establishment of a com
munity known as Brook Farm
in 184l, as an experiment, the
founders said, Gin plain living
and high thinking" 1t y,"s an
Institute of Agricultur and
Education" 1t WAS situated
nine miles from Boston. At the
head of it was George Ripley,
formerly a Unitarian minister,
and associated with him were
Nathaniel Hawthorne, Charles
A. Dana and other noted men.
| The object of the community
was to dignity labor by uniting
it with intellectual and spirit
|ual life. Mr.. Crawford resided
there for several weeks in the
last year of its existence and
the influences of this institu
tion chung to him through all
his life and was indeed the
great reason for bis going west
where land could he gotten
cheap and in gooi location for
communistic life.
The years following the civil
war when the marvellous in
dustrial expansion took place
all over the United States re.