Gladwin County MI Archives Obituaries.....CROWELL, MARTHA E. November 11, 1965
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Thomas Ladner tomdladner@yahoo.com May 17, 2008, 7:35 am

Gladwin County Record dated 11-17/1965 Column - 3 Page - 1
COUNTY'S OLDEST RESIDENT DIES

   Mrs. Martha E. Crowell, 101, Gladwin County's oldest inhabitant, passed 
away Thursday, November 11, at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Nellie 
Brushaber, in Billings Township. She had been ill only a short time. Mrs. 
Crowell is survived by four sons, Lewis of Owosso, Enos, and Frank of 
Billings, and John of Tobacco Township; four daughters, Mrs. Cora PHILLIPS of 
Grand Ledge, Mrs. Beatrice Snyder of Hay Township, Mrs. Mary Woodruff and Mrs. 
Nellie Brushaber of Billings Township; one brother, George Harvey of 
Nashville; two sisters, Mrs Anna Linsea and Mrs. Mina Barnes, both of 
Vermontville; 26 grandchildren, 37 great grandchildren, and 31 great great 
grandchildren.
   Services were held Sunday, November 14, at 1:30 p.m., in the Billings 
Community Church. The Rev. Neil G. Keyes and the Rev. Margaret Smith 
officiated, with burial in the Billings Cemetery. Mrs. Crowell was 101 years, 
2 months, and 8 days old. She was born, September 3, 1864, in Van Wert County, 
Ohio, to Hezekiah and Mary Ann Harvey and came to Michigan with them as a 
child in a covered wagon. They first settled at Spicerville, in Barry County.
   In 1884, she married Ruben Crowell, after a 2-year courtship. They lived on 
a farm near Woodland before coming to Gladwin County in the late 1800's. They 
homesteaded wild, virgin land in Billings Township, later moving to the Dale 
vicinity in Tobacco Township for several years, and then back to Billings.
   Mrs. Crowell was truly a pioneer woman. She had told of how she and her 
husband cut logs all winter in those early days. "I helped Ruby saw three to 
four cords of wood a day. That's the way we earned our living. Ruby would sell 
the wood and bring home a sack of flour, a strip of salt pork, lard, coffee, 
sugar, and other foods." Mr. Crowell died in 1911 leaving his wife with their 
eight small children and an $8.00 monthly pension check to feed and clothe 
them.
   Mrs. Crowell known to her family and friends as Grandma Crowell, in spite 
of her advanced years retained her mental alertness and physical activity 
until her last illness. 

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