George Addison Crawford
Born: Clinton County, Pennsylvania, on July 27, 1827. Stepson: Randolph Cummings Crawford, born in Springfield, Sangamon County, Illinois, October 16, 1882. Died: Grand Junction, Colorado, on January 26, 1891.
George Addison Crawford was born to George and Elizabeth (White) Crawford in Pine Creek Township, Clinton County, Pennsylvania, on July 27, 1827. The son of a judge and school president, George’s early education was at his father’s Clinton Academy. He was also a student at Lock Haven Academy. He graduated from Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1847. His first teaching assignment was at a school in Salem, Livingston County, Kentucky. The following year, he partnered with a roommate to operate a select school in Canton, Madison County, Mississippi. George returned to Clinton, Pennsylvania, to join a law firm and pursue publishing. As editor of the Clinton Democrat, he became interested in politics, aligning with the Democrats and opposing the nativist Know Nothing party.
Crawford’s law firm, Dillon, Jackson & Company, had a contract to build a railroad to Wisconsin, which spurred his interest in the west. He accompanied Norman Eddy, a U.S. commissioner for the sale of Delaware Nation lands, arriving in Leavenworth, Kansas Territory, early in 1857. Crawford joined a party of investors leaving Lawrence for present-day Fort Scott. The frontier fort established there in 1842, ended its active service in 1853, and settlers purchased remaining properties in 1855. Crawford formed a partnership with two other investors to form the Fort Scott Town Company, purchasing 520 acres for development. He was named president of the company, which donated lots to settlers who had previously purchased Fort Scott buildings from the government. The company also donated lots for churches, one for a federal military cemetery, and a square for the county courthouse and jail. Crawford became a partner in operating the Free State Hotel. Yet, Fort Scott became a leading proslavery community. He assisted recruiting for the Second Kansas Infantry Regiment in May 1861. The unit was mustered into service in Lawrence on June 20, 1861. Crawford registered in the military draft for the Civil War in 1863 but ultimately agreed to help through civilian means.
Charles Robinson, the first governor of Kansas, was impeached by the legislature, one of three men in the administration. He and another were found not guilty, the third man was sentenced to time in prison for improper funding of Civil War bonds. As a result, Robinson’s Republican Party wanted to replace him. George A. Crawford was the party’s nomination and unopposed November 1861 election. Turnout was low; Crawford was elected, but the state supreme court later ruled the election to be illegal since Robinson was still serving his two-year term. Governor Samuel Crawford appointed him commissioner of immigration in 1864.
Crawford ran for governor once again in 1868; he was defeated. He purchased the Fort Scott Monitor, a newspaper with longstanding roots in the community from a merger with both the Monitor and Bulletin. Crawford expanded the newspaper and acquired the Associated Press wire service. He opened a free reading room that became a popular place for men in the community to gather and discuss the daily news in the evenings. Daniel Webster Wilder became editor in 1871. Crawford was appointed to the board regents of the University of Kansas in 1871. President Ulysses S. Grant appointed Crawford and John A. Martin as commissioners to the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia in 1876. This would provide Kansas with a national stage to promote its resources and settlement. As the state’s economic outlook looked bleak after years of crop failures through drought and locusts, the state’s leaders viewed the Exposition as a lifeline to future prosperity. States were required to distribute written histories at the exposition. The need for a state historical society became more important to meet the deadline to assemble this written material. Crawford and Martin, with their role in the Exposition, were assigned to join three others, newspaper publishers, to establish a historical society. When they met on December 13, 1875. Crawford was elected to the board of directors; he was the second president of the Society from 1877-1878.
As part of the Philadelphia Exposition events, Crawford coordinated Kansas’ events, for the July 5, 1876, event. He was one of three Kansans to participate in the celebration at Independence Square. Crawford moved with a friend, Richard Moberly, to Gunnison, Colorado, several years after Ute Nation lands had opened for settlement, arriving in 1881. Crawford was a founder of Grand Junction, Colorado, looking toward the prospect of the arrival of the railroad. He died of tuberculosis, or consumption as it was then called, on January 26, 1891. For seven years he was temporarily buried in a Masonic cemetery with the understanding that a tomb would be built at the summit of a hill overlooking Grand Junction. The local newspaper reported on July 9, 1898, that his body had been moved to the final resting place. A stepson, Richard Cummings Crawford, brother, and sister, were among his survivors.
Entry: Crawford, George Addison
Author: Kansas Historical Society
Author information: The Kansas Historical Society is a state agency charged with actively safeguarding and sharing the state's history.
Date Created: October 2016
Date Modified: February 2025
The author of this article is solely responsible for its content.
