Bio of CROCKER, George W. (b.1832), Hennepin Co., MN
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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
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GEORGE W. CROCKER - Vol III, pg 735-736
Mr. Crocker was born in the state of Maine, in the town of Hermon, Penobscot
county, in 1832. He was the son of Asa and Matilda Crocker. His father kept a
small inn on the road to Bangor and had a farm as well. His mother was in poor
health, so when the boy was only seven years old he went to live with a
neighbor's family. He stayed here for ten years, his mother dying soon after he
left home and shortly afterward he lost his father. He had to work his way even
from his seventh year, and only went to school when there was nothing particular
for him to do on the farm. In this way he acquired a fairly good education, for
he was ambitious and made every moment of his school time count. When he was but
seventeen years old he went out into the world to earn his way by his own
exertions, in theory as well as in fact. He went to Providence, Rhode Island,
and found employment in the Butler Hospital there. In the summer of 1852, when
he was but twenty years of age, he started out with his brother to go to the
gold fields of California. The route taken was the only practical one at the
time, across the Isthmus of Panama, crossing the Isthmus on foot. He did some
placer mining there with very satisfactory returns and soon went into the
mercantile business for himself. This was in Merced, California. He was
successful and soon returned to New York, via the Isthmus route, with a
comfortable accumulation of money for so young a man. From there he and his
brother came directly to Minneapolis in 1855, and it was with the money brought
from California that he bought an interest in the City Mill.
This was the old government mill at the west end of the Falls which had been
built by the garrison at Fort Snelling in 1822 and used for sawing lumber and
later for grinding grain. This had fallen into disuse and was in a forlorn and
dilapidated condition. Thomas H. Perkins, from western New York, arrived in
Minneapolis in 1854 and secured the property and fitted it up as a grist mill.
He took in Smith Ferrand, as partner, and soon after Mr. Crocker purchased the
latter's interest. This was the beginning of Mr. Crocker's milling career at St.
Anthony Falls. Toll was taken for the service of the mill and everything was
arranged on the most primitive plan. When it is said that Mr. Crocker was a
practical miller it means that he put on the dusty garments of the trade and did
everything that there was to do about the mill. He was not a miller when he went
in with Mr. Perkins. But time soon made him so, for he worked to master all that
there was to learn. What he did in the early days, with the poor equipment, he
did throughout his experience. He worked through all the years, of new methods
and improved equipment, to know all the details of everything pertaining to the
business, whether mechanical or otherwise. What he did not know about milling,
no one knew. In 1865 he sold the City Mill and built a stone mill on the Mill
Company Canal with a capacity of three hundred barrels a day. In this he was
associated with a Mr. Rowlandson. It was known as the Arctic Mill. Mr. Crocker
sold his interest in this in 1870 and bought an interest in the Minneapolis
Mill. This mill was destroyed by fire twice while Mr. Crocker owned it and each
time it was rebuilt, its capacity was increased, and its equipment was improved.
The flour from this mill was branded "Crocker's Best," and was known all over
the country. It has been on the market continuously since. Besides the milling
concerns before mentioned Mr. Crocker was identified with many of the big firms
of the city, as manager and senior partner, among them being: Perkins. Crocker &
Tomlinson; Crocker, Tomlinson & Company; Gardner, Pillsbury & Crocker;
Pillsbury, Crocker & Fiske; and Crocker, Fiske & Company. In 1893 the
Minneapolis Mill was leased and finally sold to the Washburn-Crosby Company.
Mr. Crocker was married to Sarah Perkins Moore on Christmas day in 1862. Two
children were born to them: William G. and George Albert. The latter died in
1902 and Mrs. Crocker died in 1908. William G. Crocker, whose death occurred
April 17, 1922, was associated with his father in the milling business in
earlier days and a complete record of his career follows this sketch.
George W. Crocker was in every sense a self-made man. He was always widely
respected for his uprightness of purpose, his honesty and reliability. He knew
the milling business as one knows his A B Cs, and was always a ready and wise
counselor to younger men in all lines, but especially in the milling industry.
He is today living, at the age of ninety-one years.