Davis County IA Archives Biographies.....Davis, Crawford Freeman 1854 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ia/iafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 November 29, 2011, 6:57 pm Source: See below Author: Lewis Publishing Co. (1896) CRAWFORD FREEMAN DAVIS, of Bloomfield, the subject of this sketch, was born in Iroquois county, Illinois, January 29, 1854, and was brought by his parents to Davis county, Iowa, the following summer, who settled on a farm in Perry township, that county. They lived there till the fall of 1864, when they moved to Bloomfield, where Mr. Davis has since made his home. His father, John R. Davis, is an inventor, now living in Chicago. His mother's maiden name was Barsheba J. Crawford. Mr. Davis' father is a Canadian and his mother Scoth-Irish. Mr. Davis, whose name introduces this outline, received only a common-school education; in 1872 was Assistant Postmaster at Bloomfield; in the spring of 1873 learned telegraphy and was operator at the Wabash depot for nearly a year; in the summer of 1874 began learning the printer's trade in the office of the Grangers' Advocate; and in the summer of 1876 began studying law (in connection with his work as a type-setter), studying under the instructions of General Weaver and M. H. Jones, and was admitted to the bar at the April term (1878) of the circuit court at Bloomfield. In the fall of 1877 and winter following he taught school. The next June he established the Legal Tender Greenback, at Bloomfield, continuing the publication under that name till 1890, when it was changed to the name it now bears, Bloomfield Farmer. He has been editor and proprietor of the paper continuously since its first issue in 1878. March 30, 1880, he was married to Miss Mamie Hagan, of Bloomfield. Of their union four children have been born, two of whom are living and two deceased. In August, 1885, he was appointed a Special Examiner in the United States Pension Bureau, and after going to Washington and passing a civil-service examination he was sent into the field with headquarters at Moberly, Missouri, and held the office till April 30, 1889. He was a delegate to the Pomeroy national convention at St. Louis in 1880 and also a delegate to the Greenback national convention at Chicago the same year. He was reading secretary of the Greenback national convention at Indianapolis, in 1884, and was also a delegate to the Populist national convention at Omaha, in 1892. He has been reading secretary of nearly every State convention of the reform party in Iowa since 1878, and has been, honored by his party with the nomination for State Auditor. In 1892 he was appointed Pacific Express Agent at Bloomfield, which position he now holds. He cast his first vote in 1876, voting for Peter Cooper for president, and ever since then has acted with the finance and labor reform party. Of late years, in connection with his other business, he has engaged in raising road horses. Additional Comments: Extracted from: A MEMORIAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF IOWA ILLUSTRATED CHICAGO: THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY 1896 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ia/davis/bios/davis245nbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/iafiles/ File size: 3.5 Kb