Lee County Biography
Joseph Crawford
Amboy Township
Hon. Joseph Crawford, who recently passed to his long rest full of years and
honors, bearing with him the love and reverence of the many who knew him, was a
noble type of the pioneers of Lee County, and
his name will be forever linked with the history of its rise and progress from the
early days of the settlement to the present time,and with all that is highest and best in the record of its
social, religious and educational development. He was one of its
foremost businessmen, its most skillful and
successful financiers, as well as one of its wealthiest citizens;
he was a leader in its public life and bore a
conspicuous part in the administration of the local government in various important civic
capacities; and his powerful influence and generous use
of his money insured the success of many an enterprise that advanced the interest not only of
Dixon, where he has made his home, and of the
county besides, but of other parts of Illinois, and
even other States where he had extensive dealings.
A native of Pennsylvania, our subject was born
in Columbia County, May 19, 1811, a son of John
and Catherine (Cassidy) Crawford. When he was
eleven years old his parents removed to Huntingdon, in Luzerne County, the same State, and he
laid the foundation of a sound education in the
schools of that locality. He was, however, mainly
self-educated, and being naturally of a bright
and studious turn of mind, and fond of books,
even before he attained manhood he had acquired
a reputation for thorough scholarship and learning, and in 1831 he entered upon the profession
of teaching. He was thus engaged for four years,
and devoted his leisure hours to studying the
sit of surveying.
Thus well-equipped for life on the frontier,
April 4, 1835, our subject started on that momentous journey which led him to this part of the
country, with whose fortunes in the years to come
his own were to be so inextricably woven, and
where he was to assist in the upbuilding of a
great and glorious Commonwealth. On his arrival in this State, he passed through Chicago and
Dixon, and pushed on to Galena. But he had been
pleased with the beautiful Rock River country, and
he soon returned to locate in this valley at Dixon's
Ferry, selecting a tract of land between Dixon and
Grand Detour, on which he settled in the month
of May, 1835. He was thus among the first pioneers of this section, as settlements were then but
few and scattering, and a log cabin and flat-boat
were the sole signs of civilization at Dixon's
Ferry.
Immediately upon establishing himself on his
farm, our subject, besides attending to its cultivation and improvement, began to utilize his knowledge of surveying, and as the country began to
develop he was employed by the incoming settlers at that profession, as well as by the Government, and in time he built up a large business in
that line, becoming noted far and wide for the accuracies of his surveys, which to this day are accepted as remarkably correct and the acknowledged
standard in-their locality, he did a great deal of
important official work, as he was employed to make
the original surveys for all the towns and villages
on the Rock River between Rockford and Rock
Island, and for many years was County Surveyor.
In 1836 he was appointed Deputy County Surveyor for all the northwestern part of Illinois, his
especial work being to locate and lay out roads and
to plat villages. In the same year he was elected
County Surveyor of Ogle County, which then included Whiteside and Lee Counties, the latter not
being set off from Ogle until 1839. In 1841 Mr.
Crawford was elected one of the three County
Commissioners of this county, he having been previously elected County Surveyor
at the time of its
organization, and he held that office eighteen
years.
While following his profession as Surveyor our
subject went into business very extensively as a
dealer in real estate, and was so engaged for many
years, being at one time in partnership with J. C.
Ayers and Milton Santee. He dealt principally in
farming lands, making large investments for himself and others, buying, selling and locating land
in Northern Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota
and Nebraska. In the course of time, his extensive
operations brought him in a handsome fortune
that made him one of the richest men of the county,
and others acquired wealth through him. It was
largely through his instrumentality that the Lee
County National Bank was organized in 1865, when
he became its President, and to his vigorous and
sound policy in the management of its finances
during the many years that he was its presiding officeer
is largely due its high reputation as one of the
best conducted and most reliable banking institutions in the State. He was one of the Board of
Directors of the Nachusa House Company, and was
interested in various enterprises that were calculated to build up the city and county. Our subject found much of the happiness and
comfort of his life in his marriage with Mrs. Hulda
(Bowman) Culver, to whom he was wedded September 16, 1852.
In Mr. Crawford was seen that rare and harmonious development of a well-balanced mind, acute
intellect, and good sense; accurate judgment in
all business matters and sagacious foresight were
traits of his character that not only brought him
success in his private pursuits, but made him peculiarly valuable as an official in the various high
positions to which he was called from time to time
by his adniiring and appreciative fellow-citizens.
In 1873 he was called to the head of the municipal government of Dixon as its Mayor, was re-elected to that office in 1874, and again in 1875.
Thus forty years after he located at Dixon's Ferry,
which at that time, with its one log house, could
not even be called a hamlet, he found himself presiding over the affairs of a populous and flourishing
city. Several years previous to his election to the
Mayoralty he had represented Lee and Whiteside
Counties in the Illinois State Legislature for two
terms, during the sessions of 1849 and 1850 and
1853 and 1854, and had won honor as a legislator
and as an active and useful member of the Committee of Township Organization. He was prominent in
educational matters as a member of the Board of
Trustees of the Northern Illinois Normal School,
and he was always a generous and earnest advocate of whatsoever would tend to elevate the community.
Our subject was a Trustee of the Methodist
Episcopal Church for a number of years, and he
never wavered in his loyalty to the denomination.
He was a Christian in character and life, and he
hallowed every social and religious tie by a pure
and upright life. He was true in all things to the
obligations imposed upon him as a man and a citizen, and it is said of him that "he never betrayed
a trust." August 11, 1891, he laid down this life to enter
a higher field of labor to perfect that which was so
well begun here, and though many to whom he had
been a warm and steadfast friend mourn his loss,
all feel that it is well with him.
Portraits and Biographical of Lee County 1892 Pg. 682
