George Addison Crawford
Born: July 27, 1827. Died: January 26, 1891.
George Addison Crawford was born July 27, 1827, in Clinton County Pennsylvania, to George and Elizabeth (Quigley) Crawford. He graduated from Jefferson College in 1847. He taught school in Salem Kentucky, and Canton, Mississippi. He returned to Pennsylvania in 1848 to study law and became editor of the Clinton Democrat.
He was also a member of a firm building a railroad to the west. On his travels in 1857 he arrived in Leavenworth, Kansas. With several other men, he purchased 520 acres of land and helped to organize the Fort Scott Town Company. He served as town company president for nearly 20 years. He was nominated as a Democratic candidate for governor of Kansas in 1861. He served as commissioner of immigration for two years. He established the Fort Scott Daily Monitor in 1869 and a free reading room and museum in Fort Scott. He was appointed regent of Kansas university in 1871 and elected to serve on the executive committee of the Kansas Agricultural Society. President Ulysses S. Grant appointed him as a commissioner of the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia.
He was among the Kansas Editors and Publishers who organized the Kansas Historical Society in 1875. He served as a member of the board of directors and as president from 1877 to 1878.
He moved west to the former Ute Reservation and helped to found Grand Junction, Colorado, where he died January 26, 1891
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: October 2016
The author of this article is solely responsible for its content.
