An Illustrated History of the State of Washington, by Rev. H.K. Hines, D.D., The
Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago, IL. 1893 A portrait of Mr. Crawford appears
between pages 582 and 583

SAMUEL LEROY CRAWFORD, one of the representative business men of Seattle, is
among the few citizens of adult age born upon the Pacific Coast. He is a native
of Oregon, and a grandson on the maternal side of Robert Moore, who crossed the
plains in 1842 and settled in the Willamette valley, and who figures prominently
in the pioneer history of Oregon, having been one of the organizers and an
officer under the first civil government established west of the Rocky
mountains. He was a man of great force of character, well educated and by nature
and training well adapted to lead and direct the forces of civilization in the
remote West. During the entire period of the provisiona1 government, as the
government of the settler's was termed in Oregon, which existed until the
Government of the United States was extended over the Territory, Mr. Moore
rendered efficient service in the maintenance of law and order, and was one upon
whom the settlers in this trying and dangerous period relied with absolute
confidence and trust. He located his claim upon the site now occupied by Linn
City, where he lived honored and respected until his death. The parents of our
subject, Ronald C. and Elizabeth J. (Moore) Crawford, natives of New York and
Illinois respectively, came to Oregon in 1847, were married in 1852, and settled
near Oregon City, where their son, Samuel, was born in 1855. Ronald C. is a
brother of Medorem Crawford, who, with Dr. Elijah White, crossed the plains in
1842 and settled in the Willamette valley, and was a member of the first
Territorial Legislature. He has done much in the way of preserving a record of
the early pioneer days in Oregon, his public addresses before the Oregon Pioneer
Association, in 1881, and his contributions to the press at various time throw
much light on the earliest attempts to carry civilization to the shores of the
Pacific. In 1862 the family of Ronald O. Crawford, removed to the Walla Walla
valley,  Washington Territory, and two years later to Walla Walla. In 1864
Ronald C. Crawford was appointed Deputy Collector of Internal Revenue for
Oregon, and for the next five years the family lived a portion of the time at
Oregon City and later at Salem. In the public schools of these two cities, and,
for a brief period, at the Willamette University, the principal part of the
education of our subject was received. With his parents young Crawford, in the
fall of 1869, removed to Olympia, Washington, where his father engaged in the
furniture manufacturing business. Here for two years he attended school, but in
September, 1871, entered the printing office of to Washington Standard to learn
the printer's trade. He remained in this office four years. In the meantime his
parents had moved to a farm in Lewis county, and the support of the family
largely fell upon him, and, that he might fully discharge his duty in this
regard, he not only worked during the day but spent his evenings engaged upon
work for the public printer. In 1875 he was elected Assistant Clerk in the lower
house of the Territorial Legislature; at which time his father was a member of
the Legislature from Lewis county. Later on he was employed by C.B. Bagley, at
that time public printer, and also worked on the Daily Echo in connection with
the latter, at times performing the various duties of city editor, compositor
and pressman. When the Daily Intelligencer of Seattle was established in June,
1876, Mr. Crawford took charge of the mechanical department of the paper and was
there employed for about four years, when he was placed at the head of the local
department, where his energy and natural talent for newspaper work at once
became manifest. In 1880, in connection with Thomas W. Prosch, he purchased the
paper and for two years it was most successfully conducted. Under their
management, with Mr. Crawford at the head of the local department, this journal
assumed the first place in Washington Territory journalism. It was at the most
trying period of its existence, and the success attained was largely due to Mr.
Crawford's tireless activity and well directed efforts in its behalf. Mr.
Crawford continued as joint proprietor until the paper was consolidated with the
Post, as the Post-Intelligencer, when he sold his interest, but remained in
charge of the news department until November, 1888. It was while serving in this
responsible and arduous position that Mr. Crawford performed not only a highly
appreciated work in behalf of the paper, but acquired an enviable reputation for
integrity and business ability, and became one of the best known characters in
Washington Territory. Upon retiring from newspaper work Mr. Crawford, in
connection with Charles T. Conover, who had also been employed upon the
Post-intelligencer, formed a co-partnership in the real-estate business. Both of
them being thoroughly known and of the highest standing in the commercial
community, their success was not only instantaneous, but they at once stepped to
a foremost place among the real-estate firms of the city, their transactions for
the first year aggregating $1,250,000. Their success can be easily accounted
for. They determined upon a course of action which they have persistently
followed, and that was to handle nothing but strictly inside and business
property; to conduct their business as other lines of trade are conducted, and
to eschew everything which savored of the methods which have brought the
real-estate business into disrepute in all parts of the country. The result was
that they quickly gained the absolute confidence of the people and have been
entrusted with many of the most important real-estate transactions ever
consummated in this part of the country. It is also a fact that the members of
no firm have done more to elevate and give an honorable tone to business in
which they are engaged, a business which has suffered perhaps more than any
other through disreputable practice of dishonest men. They have spent large sums
of money in advertising the advantages of Seattle and the resources of
Washington, and to them is accredited the appropriate appellation of "The
Evergreen State," which was first used in their descriptive catalogue published
in January, 1890. Their work in this direction has had a far-reaching effect in
attracting capital and aiding in the development of this section of the country.
In this regard, as well as in hearty cooperation with all honorable means to
advance the good of Seattle, they are always foremost. Mr. Crawford is not only
a hard worker but a man of fine business capacity. His life from early boyhood
has been one of incessant activity, and in every position in which fortune has
placed him he has most admirably discharged every obligation placed upon him.
His faith in the city of his home and his steadfast loyalty to its interests
have ever been marked in his career, and no one has more willingly devoted a
part of his time and means to advance its material welfare. The substantial
success which has rewarded his effort in business has placed him, while young in
years, in affluent circumstances and broadened his opportunities to still
further contribute to the good of the community in which his lot is cast. As one
of the native sons of the Pacific Coast, he has reflected honor upon his sturdy
ancestors who braved all the dangers and suffered all the privations of the
remote West to make possible the rich inheritance of their posterity. Mr.
Crawford was married April 30, 1890, to the youngest daughter of Dr. M.F.
Clayton, of Sacramento, California. The only child of his wife by a former
marriage, a son of ten years, is not only a loved and cherished member of his
family but will be henceforth known as Frank Clayton Crawford.

Submitted to the WA. Bios Project in January 2004 by Jeffrey L. Elmer

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Notice: These biographies were transcribed for the Washington Biographies
Project. Unless otherwise stated, no further information is available on the
individual featured in the biographies.