The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 579 GEORGE E. CRAWFORD. There are few who have longer been identified with farming interests of Kittitas county than George E. Crawford, who took up his abode here in 1879. He was then a young man of about nineteen years. His birth occurred in Grant county, Wisconsin, on the 6th of October, 1860, his parents being John H. and Hannah F. (Woods) Crawford, who in 1865 left their old home in the upper Mississippi valley and made their way westward to Idaho with horse teams. From that state they traveled across the country to Oregon and later made their way northward to the Sound country. In 1879 they arrived in the Kittitas valley and the father purchased three hundred and twenty acres of railroad land about six miles northeast of the present site of Ellensburg. It was then a wild tract, entirely undeveloped and unimproved, but his labors soon brought about a notable change, for after a brief period the sagebrush was replaced by substantial crops of grain. Mr. Crawford there followed farming throughout his remaining days and both he and his wife died upon the old homestead farm. George E. Crawford was but five years of age when the family home was established in Idaho. Since then, or for a period of more than a half century, he has been identified with the growth and development of the northwest. He pursued his education in the public schools near his father's home and after his textbooks were put aside concentrated his efforts and attention upon the farm work, continuing to assist his father until the latter's death. The farm was then inherited by George E. Crawford and his brother Philip and through the intervening period he has engaged in raising hay and grain. In 1896 Mr. Crawford was united in marriage to Miss Dora Evans, a native of Minnesota and a daughter of Edwin and Nancy (Taylor) Evans, who came to the Kittitas valley in the early '90s. Mr. and Mrs. Crawford are the parents of four children: Anna, who is the wife of Tyra Cook, a sheep man residing in Kittitas county; Lillie, who gave her hand in marriage to Glen Crabtree, a rancher residing in the Kittitas valley; and Stephen and Lulu, both at home. In his political views, Mr. Crawford has always maintained an independent course, voting for men and measures rather than for party. His life has been quietly passed and there have been no spectacular phases in his career. His record is that of a pioneer farmer who has not only upbuilt his own fortunes in a frontier community but has aided materially in developing the district, placing it upon a par with the older civilization of the east. ******************************** Submitted to the Washington Bios Project in December 2007 by Jeffrey L. Elmer. Submitter has no additional information about the subject of this article.