Volume 15 , Issue 39

Crowell Bros. of Kansas & Oklahoma Territory

It was back in 2007, November 24, Vol. 9, Iss. 47 that we spoke of George Washington Crowell and his civic, industrial development and progress of Woods County, in NW Oklahoma.

As to George's big house on 8th & Flynn Ave., in Alva, Oklahoma, legend has it Crowell wanted to build the biggest house in Alva so he constructed the house in 1906 and succeeded for about a year, until another man (Nickels) built a slightly larger house on the west side of town.

George W. Crowell brought in an Italian artist, who was charged with scrolling in gold leaf on the walls and ceilings on the first floor and up the stairs. He also carved rail posts and the glass doors leading into the house. All the wood and the tile roofing for the house was shipped in from Kansas. Crowell also had several chandeliers shipped in from Europe. Crowell took copper from a bank in Kansas and installed it in two of the rooms.

The man of such affairs was George W. Crowell, vice president of the First National Ban of Alva, and founder of the firm of Crowell Brothers. The Crowell Bros. engaged in dealing in lumber and grain. Crowell's extraneous capitalistic interests were of a broad scope and importance, which was shown by his being president of the Panhandle Grain Company of Amarillo, Texas, and president and treasurer of the Centennial Coal company of Denver, Colorado.

George Washington Crowell was born in Stanly County, North Carolina, 2 February 1861, when the Civil war was precipitated. It was a conflict that was destined to bring his native state into prominence as a stage of military activities and ultimately to bear to it much of desolation and material loss. George was the son of James and Catherine (Russell) Crowell, both natives of North Carolina and members of an old and honored families of that commonwealth.

George's father, James, was born in Stanly county, 29 April 1827, a prosperous agriculturist at the outbreak of the Civil War. James promptly subordinated all personal interests to tender his aid in defense of the Confederate cause. He enlisted as a private in a North Carolina regiment and with the same gave faithful an valiant service in the commands of Gen. Stonewall Jackson and Gen. Robert E. Lee. James also took part in many important engagements, including the battles of Bull Run and Gettysburg, though he left the south within a short period after the close of the war.

James Crowell, in 1849, married Miss Catherine Russell, who was born 9 SEptember 1829, and whose parents were also natives of North Carolina. James Crowell devoted his entire active career to agricultural pursuits, and at the closing years of his life were passed at Pittsburg, Kansas, where he died on 25 January 1906. His devoted wife, Catherine, died 17 March 1904.

James and Catherine Crowell had five sons and six daughters: Margaret, born 9 September 1851; James Robert, born 27 July 1853, died 22 July 1884; Josephine, born 25 February 1854, died 9 March 9, 1914; Estella, born 7 February 1858; David Henry Baxter, born 10 December 1856; Franklin, born 18 May 1859, was a physician ; George Washington Crowell born 1861; ThomasJefferson, born 20 May 1863; Samantha, born 27 January 1866; Sarah Catherine, born 14 June 1868; and Mary, born 27 April 1871.

David Henry Baxter and George WAshington Crowell were associated with each other in the lumber and grain business under the firm name of "Crowell Brothers" with residences being Attica, Harper county, Kansas.

In 1886 the Crowell Bros. engaged in the lumber business in an independent way, by purchasing the yard and business of the company at Attica, Kansas, where he effected the organization of the Crowell Brothers, in which his associate was his elder brother, David H. B. Crowell. The firm maintained a series of well equipped lumber yards, at different points in Kansas and Oklahoma. The business had expanded to large and substantial proportions under the careful, progressive and honorable management of the enterprising proprietors of the Crowell Brothers.

In 1893 George W. Crowell became one of the large concourse of prospective settlers who participated in the run into the famous Cherokee Strip (Outlet) of Oklahoma, at the time it was thrown open to settlement. He established his residence at Alva, the present thriving little metropolis and judicial center of Woods County, and the governor of Oklahoma Territory appointed him chairman of the first board of county commissioners of the new county.

Mr. Crowell played an important part in formulating the system of government for the county and also was influential in the progressive movements made by the board for the furtherance of the best interests of the ambitious county and its people. Mr. Crowell gave effective service in behalf of the public, and especially through his several years incumbency of the office of member of the city council of Alva. He was unswerving in his allegiance to the Democratic party and was an active worker in its ranks during the years of his residence in Oklahoma, as he has served as chairman of its county committee in Woods county and also as a member of the Democratic committee for the congressional district of which Woods County is a part.

In 1896 Mr. George W. Crowell represented Oklahoma as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention, in Chicago, and in all things he was to be designated as a loyal, progressive and public spirited citizen as well as a straightforward, alert and substantial business man. In the time honored Masonic fraternity he received the chivalric degrees and besides being actively affiliated with the various York Rite bodies, including the commandery of Knights Templars, he was identified also with the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.

George W. and Etta C. Friend) were married at Girard, Kansas, 16 September 1885. Miss Etta C. Friend was born on a farm in Macoupin County, Illinois, on 7 April 1862, and was a daughter of Daniel M. and Charlotte (Lewis) Friend. Mrs. Crowell, a woman of gentle and gracious personality and a lifelong member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, died 9 June 1911, and she was survived by six children:

• Frank Dee, who was born at Attica, Kansas, on the 24 December 1886, completed his education in the Northwestern State Normal School at Alva, Oklahoma, and he still retains his residence in Woods County. He has received the thirty-third degree in the Masonic fraternity, besides being affiliated with the Mystic Shrine. On the 4f October 1911, at Alva, he wedded Miss Ethel Noble, who was born at Medicine Lodge, Kansas, November 21, 1887, and they have one child, Robert Dee, Jr., who was born March 30, 1914.
• Ralph Baxter Crowell, the second son, was born at Attica, Kansas, on the 15 July 1888, and his educational advantages included those of both the University of Kansas and Vanderbilt University, at Nashville, Tennessee. August 27, 1912, he married Miss Isis Stone, who was born in Bourbon County, Kentucky, on 15 December 1893.
• Hazel May, who was born at Attica, Kansas, December 14, 1889, remained at the parental home, both having taken courses of study in the Northwestern State Normal School at Alva, Oklahoma.
• James Monroe and George Washington, Jr., are both natives of Alva, where the former was born July 10, 1900, and the latter October 2, 1903.

On the 1 October 1913, Mr. Crowell contracted a second marriage, by his union with Mae Wilcox, who was born at Neosho, Missouri, on 6 April 1884, and who is the popular chatelaine of their pleasant and hospitable home in Alva.   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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