Edward A. Crawford
Edward A. Crawford was born December 28, 1861, near West Union, the son of Harper and Jane Willson Crawford. His father, Harper Crawford, enlisted in Company K, 70th O. V. I., January 6, 1862. He died in 1885 at the age of forty-five. His eldest brother, William S. Crawford, enlisted June 13, 1864, in Company D, 24th O. V. I., Adams County's first company in the war, and was transferred to Company D. 18th O. V. I., June 12, 1864. This company was in sixteen battles and Crawford was mortally wounded at the battle of Nashville, December 15, 1864, and died December 29, 1864. He is interred in the Nashville cemetery at Nashville, Tennessee. He had a brother Gabriel who served in the Second Independent Battery of Ohio Light Artillery, enlisting at the age of nineteen.
Our subject attended school at West Union until he completed all which could be taught him there. He attended the Normal school at Lebanon in 1878 and 1880 and taught school in parts of the same year and was engaged in teaching school thereafter until 1890. From 1881 to 1885, he taught school at Waggoner's Ripple, Sandy Springs, Bradyville, and Quinn Chapel. From 1886 to 1888, he taught at Rome; from 1888 to 1889, he was engaged in the grocery business at West Union, and in the Summer of 1890, he taught a Normal school at Moscow, Ohio. In the Fall of 1890, he bought the People's Defender from Joseph W. Eylar, and has conducted that newspaper, a weekly, at West Union, ever since. In 1897, he bought out the Democratic Index, edited by D. W. P. Eylar, and consolidated it with the Defender.
He was married August 13, 1883, to Miss Mattie J. Penny wit, daughter of Mark Pennywit and his wife, Sallie Cox. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church. Politically, he has always been a Democrat. In 1887, he was the candidate of that party for Clerk of the Court, but was defeated by W. R. Mehaffey, by seventy-three votes. He was a delegate to the National Democratic Convention at Chicago from the Tenth Ohio District in 1896. His paper has been well and ably conducted since he has controlled it and is one of the best in Southern Ohio.
Mr. Crawford is a self-made man. He has made his business a success. He is known for his strict fidelity to his party. He is public spirited and takes an active part in church and social matters as well as political. He was elected Secretary of the Democratic State Executive Committee of Ohio in September, 1900.
From History of Adams County, Ohio from its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time - by Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers - West Union, Ohio - Published by E. B. Stivers - 1900
The office of Supervisor of Public Printing was made the subject of a great scandal during the incumbency of the Republican predecessor of Edward A. Crawford, who was the Democratic appointee under the administration of Governor Harmon.
Mark Slater, Republican, who had held the office for several terms, was convicted of having filed false vouchers for supplies and collecting the money thereon to the extent of many thousands of dollars. He was sentenced to a term of imprisonment in the Ohio Penitentiary.
Owing to this condition of affairs Governor Harmon was especially careful in the selection of his appointee to carry out the required reforms in the department, and chose the subject of this sketch on account of his knowledge of the printing and publishing business.
Edward A. Crawford is one of the well-known Democrats and newspaper men of Ohio. His home is in Adams County, where he was born on a farm in 1861, and has been a life-long resident there.
He obtained his education in the common schools, and at National Normal University, at Lebanon, Ohio, of which institution he is a graduate. For ten years he followed the profession of school teaching, and was school examiner of his county from 1885 to 1888.
Mr. Crawford was the Democratic candidate for Clerk of Courts of Adams County in 1884. In 1890 he purchased the People's Defender, published at West Union, the county seat of Adams, and has published and edited this organ of the Democracy ever since. Mr. Crawford served as the Tenth District member of the State Democratic Central Committee during 1900 and 1901, and was secretary of the party State Executive Committee in 1900. He enjoys the distinction of having been either chairman or secretary of the Adams County Democratic Executive Committee and of never missing attendance at a Democratic State convention for about a score of years.
From Ohio Legislative History 1909-1913, by James K. Mercer, Legislative Historian.