CHARLES CRAWFORD

This is a newspaper article that appeared in a Benton Co newspaper in Missouri dated May 25, 1888 for Charles CRAWFORD of Baltimore, MD
This article was submitted by Dawnya.

The article as follows:
CHARLES CRAWFORD
THE 100-YEAR-OLD MAN OF ALEXANDER TOWNSHIP
Enterprise, May 25, 1888

Charles Crawford, who lives near Fairfield, was born in Baltimore on February 20, 1788, and is now in his 101st year. His father was Irish and his mother English. They were both Episcopalians, in which church Charles was reared. His mother's father died in Baltimore at the age of 114 and his mother died in the same city at the age of 104. His father was drowned in 1812, when Charles was 24 years of age. Charles has been married three times. He had only one child by his first wife and it died in infancy; five children by the second wife--only one living, a daughter aged 56. His eldest son that reached manhood would be 76 if living. Three children by his third wife, two of whom are living, boys aged 30 and 32. His third wife died last February, aged 73. His first wife, if alive would be 98 and second wife, 104.
Mr. Crawford was in the Baltimore artillery at the Battle of North Point, in 1814, where the British were beaten and the city saved from capture. In the fight, he was wounded by a musket ball in the leg. He lived in Meigs county, Ohio, until 1859, when he removed to Arkansas, but being a Union man was compelled to leave there during the war. He then came to Fairfield, where he has lived over 25 years. He has voted for all the Democratic candidates for president. He remembers having seen Washington, Madison, Jefferson, and Charles Carroll. He is temperate in his habits but not a prohibitionist and thinks most of the whisky of the present day is miserable stuff. His nerves are steady and his appetite good. Recently, on an invitation from the editor of the Enterprise, he rode a spirited horse from his home to Warsaw, a distance of ten miles, ate a hearty dinner, sat for his picture, chatted with his many friends, got a prescription for a slight stiffness in his leg and as evening approached, mounted his horse and rode off on a canter, as easily as a man of 60. His friends believe him to be the most active, and in every way, mentally and physically, the best-preserved man in the United States. His hearing is good and, at the summer picnics, he likes to amuse the young folks by dancing, and the inspiring notes of the fiddle rekindles his love of the "light fantastic toe."
His neighbors, and friends who knew him in Ohio, do not doubt his age. John Horton, an intelligent farmer of Pettis County, who is about 70, knew Uncle Charley in Ohio. He says that when he was quite a young man, Charley was certainly 50 years or more. Surveyor Whit Cherrington, with whose grandfather Uncle Charley was acquainted in Ohio, has often heard Charley talk about local events which assured him he is right about his age. The old man has lived a laborious life, eaten simple food, prefers cold bread made of coarse flour, does not care for sweets, has always
chewed tobacco but cannot smoke. Has never been sick at all until within the last few years. He bids fare to live many years. At the late Democratic county mass convention, Uncle Charlie occupied a front seat and voted on every question, staying until adjournment. It is supposed that he is a Francis man, because he is popular with the "boys" and believes in giving them a chance.

 

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