Crawford, John H. "Jack"
1879-1964 | Crane Engineer, Alaska Railroad
John Horatio "Jack" or “J.H.” Crawford was born in Avoca, Laurentides Region, Quebec, Canada on April 19, 1879, the son of John Gordon Crawford and Melissa Howes Crawford.[1] He was a veteran of the Boer War and immigrated to the United States in 1901.[2] In 1911, he met and married Nellie May Heilman. She was born in Washougal, Washington on August 4, 1891, the daughter of German parents John and Bertha Heilman. During World War I, Crawford worked as a carpenter for the Tacoma & Roche Harbor Lime Company in Roche Harbor, San Juan Islands, Washington.[3]
Jack and Nellie Crawford arrived in Anchorage, Alaska in 1918 or 1919, on the steamship S.S. Northwestern, which anchored in Cook Inlet near Anchorage. Since there was no deep-water docking facility, they were ferried to shore on smaller boats.[4] They moved into a newly built log cabin. He obtained work as a crane engineer with the Alaska Railroad and continued with the railroad until his retirement in 1951. In 1923, he became a naturalized U.S. citizen after his petition of naturalization was approved by the U.S. District Court at Anchorage.[5]
Nellie Crawford, who was a long-time employee of Providence Hospital, retired in 1949. Nellie and Jack Crawford had two children: Leroy (1913-1974) and Bertha Crawford Meier (1915-1988). Crawford was a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks (B.P.O.E.) for over twenty-nine years.[6]
Nellie Heilman Crawford died on November 7, 1957, at her home in Anchorage.[7] She is buried in Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery. In 1957, John H. Crawford moved to the Alaska Pioneer Home in Sitka, Alaska, where he died on July 9, 1964. He is buried in the Pioneers Home Cemetery in Sitka, Alaska.[8]
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Endnotes
[1] Draft registration card, John Horatio Crawford, Draft Registration Cards for the Fourth Registration for Alaska, April 27, 1942, NAI Number 4504983, Records of the Selective Service System, Record Group 147, National Archives at St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942 [database on-line], http://ancestry.com (accessed November 19, 2016); “Former Resident Dies,” Anchorage Daily Times,” July 22, 1964, 2; and John Horatio Crawford, U.S., Find a Grave Index, 1600s-Current [database on-line], http://ancestry.com (accessed November 19, 2016).
[2] John H. Crawford, 1920 U.S. Census, Anchorage, Third Judicial District, Alaska, ED 11, stamped page 48, National Archives Microfilm Publication T625, Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920, Roll 2031, 1920 United States Federal Census [database on-line], http://ancestry.com (accessed November 19, 2016).
[3] Nellie N. Heilman, 1910 U.S. Census, Oak Point, Cowlitz County, Washington, ED 94, page 9B, National Archives Microfilm Publication T624, Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910, Roll 1655, 1910 United States Federal Census [database on-line], http://ancestry.com (accessed November 19, 2016); and draft registration card, John Horatio Crawford, U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line], http://ancestry.com (accessed November 19, 2016).
[4] See, John P. Bagoy, Legends & Legacies, Anchorage, 1910-1935 (Anchorage: Publications Consultants, 2001), 149; and Obituary, Bertha L. Meier, Anchorage Daily News, December 8, 1988, C-4.
[5] John P. Bagoy, Legends & Legacies, Anchorage, 1910-1935 (Anchorage: Publications Consultants, 2001), 149; and Index card, John Horatio Crawford, December 7, 1923, U.S. District Court, District of Alaska, Anchorage, AK, National Archives Microfilm Publication M1788, Indexes to Naturalization Records of the U.S. District Court for the District, Territory, and State of Alaska (Third Division), 1903-1991, Roll 4, U.S., Naturalization Record Indexes, 1791-1992 (Indexed in World Archives Project) [database on-line], http://ancestry.com (accessed November 19, 2016).
[6] Obituary, Bertha L. Meier, Anchorage Daily News, December 8, 1988, C-4; and “Former Resident Dies,” Anchorage Daily Times,” July 22, 1964, 2.
[7] “Nellie Crawford, 66, Dies at Home,” Anchorage Daily Times, November 8, 1957, 1.
[8] “Former Resident Dies,” Anchorage Daily Times,” July 22, 1964, 2; and John Horatio Crawford, U.S., Find a Grave Index, 1600s-Current [database on-line], http://ancestry.com (accessed November 19, 2016).
Sources
This biographical sketch of John H. "Jack" or "J.H." Crawford is based on an essay which originally appeared in John Bagoy's Legends & Legacies, Anchorage, 1910-1935 (Anchorage, AK: Publications Consultants, 2001), 149. See also the J.H. Crawford file, Bagoy Family Pioneer Files (2004.11), Box 2, Atwood Resource Center, Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, Anchorage, AK. Photographs courtesy of the Crawford family. Edited by Mina Jacobs, 2012. Note: edited, revised, and expanded by Bruce Parham, November 23, 2016.
Preferred citation: Bruce Parham, ed., “Crawford, John H. ‘Jack’,” Cook Inlet Historical Society, Legends & Legacies, Anchorage, 1910-1940, http://www.alaskahistory.org.
Major support for Legends & Legacies, Anchorage, 1910-1940, provided by: Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, Atwood Foundation, Cook Inlet Historical Society, and the Rasmuson Foundation. This educational resource is provided by the Cook Inlet Historical Society, a 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt association. Contact us at the Cook Inlet Historical Society, by mail at Cook Inlet Historical Society, Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, 625 C Street, Anchorage, AK 99501 or through the Cook Inlet Historical Society website, www.cookinlethistory.org.