"An Illustrated History of Whitman County, state of Washington." San Francisco:
W. H. Lever, 1901.  p. 263.
 
J. P. T. McCROSKEY

     Among the honored men in the annals of Whitman county's pioneers and the
forceful factors in the industrial and social development of the section is the
man whose eminently useful career we must now essay to outline in brief. Active
in many lines of human endeavor and true at all times and under all
circumstances to the tenets of the highest morality, he has long since won and
ever afterward retained the esteem and regard of his fellows. When political
preferment has been accorded him he has proven himself worthy of the trust,
lacking neither the ability nor the disposition to perform well the most
difficult tasks. It is, then, but consistent and proper that due representation
be given him in this portion of our volume.
     Born in Tennessee on October 8, 1828, our subject there grew to manhood and
completed his educational discipline, the same consisting of a course in the
public schools of his locality. When years of sufficient maturity were upon him
he engaged in farming, an occupation which he followed there until about
twenty-four years old. He also served for a while as postmaster of Rockville,
Tennessee.
     But in 1852 he yielded to the desire to try his fortunes under occidental
stars, so came out to California, going to New York, and thence by steamer to
San Jose, traversing the isthmus route. Upon his arrival in the Golden state he
turned his entire attention to agriculture, continuing in the same until 1858,
when he returned to the state of his nativity. For the ensuing twenty-one years
he followed farming and milling there, but in 1879 he again came out to
California. Failing to find conditions as he had expected, he came on the same
year to Whitman county, took land five miles west of Elberton and for the third
or fourth time in life addressed himself energetically to the task of winning
from the soil the necessaries and comforts of life. He is now the owner of some
three hundred and thirty-two acres of excellent land, upon which is a fine
young orchard covering twenty-five acres, also a good home and good substantial
outbuildings, as well as many other improvements which add materially to the
appearance of the premises and the value of his farm. He is a devotee of the
diversified plan, raising cattle and other live stock as well as the products of
orchard and field.
     In political affiliations Mr. McCroskey is a staunch Democrat, and for many
years he has been numbered among the beacon lights of that party, ever taking an
active interest in its campaigns and convention work. In 1889 the people honored
him by entrusting to him a seat in the most important body ever convened in the
state, the constitutional convention.
     Fraternally our subject is affiliated with the F. & A. M. His marriage was
solemnized in the state of Tennessee on December 28, 1858, Miss Mary M.
Gallaher, a native of Tennessee, then becoming his wife. Mrs. McCroskey died in
March, 1891, after having borne him ten children: John F., of Oakesdale; George,
a farmer near Oakesdale; Robert L., an attorney in Colfax; William G., deceased;
Mary M., wife of C. O. Browder, a farmer in this county; James H., a farmer and
stockman of this county; Fred H., a farmer and stock-raiser; Milton P., a
farmer; Virgil T., a druggist of Olympia; and Lucy K. In 1892 Mr. McCroskey
contracted a second marriage, the lady being Mrs. Anna Hunt, a native of
Alabama.
 

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Submitted to the Washington Biographies Project in August 2008 by Diana Smith.
Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned
above.