San
Joaquin County
Biographies
JOHN CRAWFORD
Thirty-one years ago John Crawford
has his first view of the Golden Gate and has since been content to make this
state his home. He was born in the
maritime village of Carnoustie, Forfarshire, Scotland, October 22, 1859, and is
the youngest of ten children born to James and Elizabeth Crawford, both natives
of the same village. James Crawford was
a market gardener and followed that trade in Scotland until his death at the
age of sixty-five years. John was thrown
on his own resources at the age of thirteen, working as a milk peddler and
receiving small wages; as soon as he was large enough he found work as a farm
hand near his home village and during the next ten years he had saved
sufficient money to pay his passage on the S. S. Roma bound for Australia. Arriving there he found plenty of work as a
farm laborer, and later on railroad construction, and he helped to build the
large docks at Melbourne. He remained
there until 1891, when he took passage to the United States, and on April 6,
1891, his vessel steamed through the Golden Gate. Immediately after his arrival, Mr. Crawford
went to Sacramento, where for eighteen months he was engaged in cement contracting;
then he removed to Stockton and bought a small tract of land in east Stockton
where, at that time, there were only three houses. Mr. Crawford engaged in cement contracting,
being the trusted and faithful foreman for Craven & Barber for many years
and he handled concrete contracts in San Jose, Lodi, Sacramento and Stockton;
he has also been in charge of the workmen for the Clark & Henery Company and for A. B. Munson.
In July, 1899, Mr. Crawford was
married to Miss Amanda Noren, a native of Stockholm,
Sweden, born January 30, 1857. Mrs. Crawford
came to America in June, 1889, stopping in Chicago until December, 1893, when
she arrived in San Jose, California, and the following year came to
Stockton. Mr. Crawford has invested his
money in Stockton property and now owns twelve lots besides his fine residence
at 2525 East Weber Avenue. Mr. Crawford
became a United States citizen in Stockton in 1902 and since that time has cast
his votes with the Republican Party.
Mrs. Crawford is an active member of the Fair Oaks Woman’s Improvement
Club. In early days, Mr. Crawford farmed
the land to hay and grain where now stands the Fair Oaks Club house. He is still interested in farming, but is
enjoying the competence so richly deserved and earned through years of industry
and good management.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
1076. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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