Escambia-Wakulla County FlArchives Biographies.....Crawford, William Bloxham 1882 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 2, 2008, 10:30 pm

Author: B. F. Johnson

William Bloxham Crawford

    William Bloxham Crawford, lawyer and editor, was born in Crawfordville,
Fla., February 18, 1882, son of Henry Clay Crawford, Secretary of the State of
Florida, and of Anna Moring, daughter of John C. Moring of Wakulla county,
Florida. He is editor and manager of the Pensacola Evening News, president of
the News Publishing Company, exchange editor of the Kappa Alpha Magazine, and
Director of the Baldwin-Escambia Land Company. He is Vice-President of the
Pensacola Chamber of Commerce, and a member of the Florida Press Association.
Socially, he is connected with the Elks, Osceola, Concordia and Country clubs.
Politically he is a Democrat. In 1904 was made presidential elector (Democratic)
by election of electors. He is a member of the Methodist Church.

    Mr. Crawford comes of a distinguished Southern family, his first American
ancestor, on his father's side, settling in Virginia in 1611, afterwards
emigrating to South Carolina, then to North Georgia, where his paternal
grandfather was born and reared, who later in life moved to South Georgia, and
then to Florida in 1840, settling at New Port, in Wakulla county.

    Among the brilliant members of this family was William H. Crawford, great
uncle of the subject of this sketch, who served his country as Secretary of
Treasury, War, Minister to France, U. S. Senator, etc., who was the first man
ever made President of the Senate, being elected to this office pro tempore,
during Vice-President Clinton's illness. His magnetic personality and lofty
character won him the regard of the great Napoleon who was heard to remark of
him that he was the only man to whom he always felt like taking off his hat.
Another relative was George W. Crawford, Secretary of War, and twice elected to
the gubernatorial chair of Georgia, under whose wise administration the State's
credit was restored; who pledged his personal property for the building of the
State railroad. John L. Crawford, Secretary of the State of Florida for
twenty-one years, whose son, Henry Clay Crawford is Secretary of the State of
Florida at the present time, and father of the subject of this sketch.

    William B. Crawford's boyhood was spent in the beautiful city of Tallahassee
where he prepared for college at Leon Academy, subsequently entering the State
college in that city, which he represented in the Florida Oratorical
Association. In 1901 he matriculated at the Washington and Lee University,
winning there the Graham-Lee medal for oratory, and representing the institution
in the Virginia Oratorical Association. He took a course in law at the Stetson
University at Deland, Fla., was president of law class in 1904, and was the
first editor of the University Weekly.

    Mr. Crawford was admitted to the bar in 1904 and began the practice of law
in Tallahassee in June of that year, removing two years later to Pensacola,
where he became senior member of the legal firm, Crawford and Crawford. He
withdrew from this firm in July, 1907 to become editor and manager of the
Evening News, and shortly after was elected president and general manager of the
News Publishing Company.

    Asked his opinion as to how the best interests of Florida and the nation may
be promoted, Mr. Crawford made answer: "By a return to the simple life,—we are
living too fast." His bent is towards journalism. He says: "It is my ambition to
publish a newspaper on which the people can rely for authentic news, uncolored
by personal prejudice, or political partisanship, and unpurchasable when it
involves a question of editorial expression.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

FLORIDA EDITION
MAKERS OF AMERICA
AN HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL WORK BY AN ABLE CORPS OF WRITERS
VOL. III.
Published under the patronage of 
The Florida Historical Society, Jacksonville, Florida

ADVISORY BOARD:
HON. W. D.  BLOXHAM
COL. FRANK HARRIS
HON. R. W. DAVIS
SEN. H. H. McCREARY
HON. F. P. FLEMING
W. F. STOVALL
C. A. CHOATE, SECRETARY

1909
A. B. CALDWELL
ATLANTA, GA.

COPYRIGHT 1909
B. F. JOHNSON

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