Bio of CROCKER, Augustus Luther (b.1850), Hennepin Co., MN
=========================================================================
USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information
on the Internet, material may be freely used by non-commercial entities,
as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is
obtained from the contributor of the file.
These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or
presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to
use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written
consent of the contributor, OR the legal representative of the submitter,
and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent.

If you have found this file through a source other than the MNArchives 
Table Of Contents you can find other Minnesota related Archives at:
http://www.usgwarchives.net/mn/mnfiles.htm
Please note the county and type of file at the top of this page to find 
the submitter information or other files for this county.
FileFormat by Terri--MNArchives

Made available to The USGenWeb Archives by: Laura Pruden
Submitted: June 2003
=========================================================================
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
========================================================
EXTRACTED FROM: History of Minneapolis, Gateway to the Northwest; 
Chicago-Minneapolis, The S J Clarke Publishing Co, 1923; Edited by: Rev. 
Marion Daniel Shutter, D.D., LL.D.; Volume I - Shutter (Historical); 
volume II - Biographical; volume III - Biographical
========================================================

AUGUSTUS LUTHER CROCKER - Vol II, pg 77-78
One of the most popular citizens of Minneapolis is Augustus Luther Crocker, who
has contributed in a great degree to the commercial, industrial and financial
development of this metropolis of the Northwest. He is a descendant of an old
and honored American family, his ancestors having emigrated from England and
located in New England in the early colonial period. His father, Thomas Crocker,
resided in Paris, Oxford county, Maine, for many years and was a man who owned
considerable property. He was prominent in both business and financial circles
and achieved substantial success in life. Thomas Crocker's wife was Almira
Davis, whose family was also prominent in the annals of New England.
Augustus Luther Crocker was born on the 4th of May, 1850, at Paris, Maine, and
upon attaining school age entered the public schools of his native town.
Subsequently he enrolled in the Paris Hill Academy, where he prepared for
Bowdoin College and he was graduated from the latter institution with the degree
of A. M. in 1873. He then took a postgraduate course in mechanical engineering
and after receiving his degree he went to Europe, in 1875, there to pursue his
engineering studies and to gain the advantages of travel. He journeyed to many
places on the continent until 1877, when he returned to America and made his
initial step in the business world, becoming interested in the construction and
management of Open Hearth and Bessemer steel works at Springfield, Illinois, and
St. Louis, Missouri. In the fall of 1889 he came to Minneapolis and has since
resided here. He was first engaged in the manufacturing and machinery line and
subsequently he entered the real estate business. He is now active in this
connection and is conceded to be one of the most reliable real estate dealers in
the city.
Mr. Crocker is essentially a public-spirited man and has attained a leading
position among the enterprising citizens of Minneapolis. He has always taken an
active interest in any movement for the benefit of the city at large and it was
at his suggestion and largely through his efforts that the Business Men's Union
was organized in 1890. He became first secretary of that body, the purpose of
which was to promote manufacturing and trade in Minneapolis and but for the
coming of hard times would have proved of incalculable value in the city. In
January, 1893, he took an active part in the reorganization of the board of
trade and was its president, which important office he held for four years. In
January, 1895, the Northwest Business Federation-was organized and Mr. Crocker
was elected president, representing the Minneapolis board of trade. He was the
principal leader of the municipal good government movement, and he was the
moving spirit in the arbitration which settled the Great Northern strike. He was
instrumental in the bringing of a delegation of British farmers to Minnesota and
this resulted in the immigration here of a large number of industrious and
well-to-do English farmers, who are now numbered among the permanent and
prosperous citizens of the state. Mr. Crocker was the chief promoter of the
great carnival festival of 1892 and he was the leader in the work of securing
the city census of 1895. He has been most active in the efforts to boom the live
stock interests, and his active connections with and valuable services in the
deep waterways movement won for him a national reputation. He has given a great
deal of his time and attention to the development of deep waterways and the
project of connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic ocean by ship canal. In
1894 he was sent to the Toronto convention, as a representative of the board of
trade, and was there chosen chairman of the executive committee. He has made a
special and thorough study of the deep waterways and inland navigation and prior
to the Cleveland convention of 1895, he carried on an active campaign among the
representatives of the northwestern and New England states in congress,
enlisting their interest in the project and pledging them to support legislation
favorable to the construction and maintenance of deep waterways between the
lakes and from the lakes to the Atlantic coast. The success of the Cleveland
convention of 1895, therefore, was largely due to his efforts, in recognition of
which he was continued as chairman of the executive committee. The work which
Mr. Crocker accomplished in securing the reduction of city taxes to the amount
of one hundred thousand dollars was one of the other important matters of public
interest to which he gave a great deal of attention. Mr. Crocker represented the
board of trade in the municipal reform convention at Philadelphia in 1894, which
organized the National Municipal Reform League and also represented the same
body in the national municipal reform convention in Minneapolis in December of
the same year.
On the 3d of January, 1883, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Crocker to Miss
Clara Peabody, a daughter of Leonard and Mary (Hill) Peabody, natives of Maine.
To their union three children were born: Ruth, whose demise occurred in 1900;
Katherine, who was Y. M. C. A. secretary of the League Island Navy Yard during
the World war; and Thomas, who was married in 1919 to Miss Margaret McLeod of
St. Paul. Thomas graduated from the Macalester College at St. Paul and
subsequently took a course at the McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago. He
is now a Presbyterian missionary in Bucaramanga, Colombia, South America.
Mr. Crocker has always strictly adhered to the principles of the republican
party. When he was a candidate for mayor of this city, the following appeared in
the editorial columns of the Minneapolis Times, showing him to possess all the
qualifications required of a man to fill the position: "..*.. He knows more
concerning the principles of municipal government and has a wider grasp of its
practical needs than Pratt and Webster (rival candidates) combined, and has done
more to promote the interests of the city and add to its prosperity at home and
its good name abroad, than a regiment of them. . . * . . Mr. Crocker is a man of
education, in the prime of his life, an enthusiastic advocate of municipal
reform and of clean politics, and in every conceivable respect is vastly
superior to either of his rivals. He has been a consistent friend of labor . . *
. . There is no question of his integrity and his entire trustworthiness in
every relation of life." The religious faith of Mr. Crocker is that of the
Presbyterian church, to the support of which he has always been a generous
contributor. He is a life member of the executive committee of the National
Municipal League and a life member of the American Institute of Mining
Engineers. He is likewise a member of the Minneapolis library board. A man of
great energy and industry, possessing a most active mind, Mr. Crocker well
merits the success he has achieved in life and the confidence and esteem in
which he is held by all who know him. He has wielded a great influence for good
in this city and no history of Minneapolis or of the state would be complete
without mention of him.