Job Hampton Crabtree Biography - Grant County Wisconsin

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Submitted by David W. Taft, dtaft@cowtown.net

Commemorative Biographical Record of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa, and
Lafayette Counties, Wisconsin
J. H. Beers, 1901, Pages 965-6

JOB HAMPTON CRABTREE is a pioneer resident of Bloomington, Grant county, who made 
his home there when that thriving and busy locality was almost a wilderness, and 
who has been conspicuously identified with its growth and development.

By birth Mr. Crabtree is a Kentuckian, the name being an old and honored one in 
the South. His parents, John and Middy Ann (Goff) Crabtree, were natives of South 
and North Carolina, respectively.  John Crabtree was a boy at the beginning of the 
Revolutionary war, but, like Gen. Andrew Jackson, whom he knew well, he fought 
against the enemy during the closing scenes of that great struggle in his native 
State.  He attained the age of eighty-four, and at the time of his death was about 
to receive a pension from the government on account of his services.  From South 
Carolina he went to Georgia, where his residence was burned, and in that fire he 
lost his discharge from the Patriot army.  His first wife, who belonged to the 
Hawkins family, died in Georgia, the second wife being the mother of our subject.  
From Georgia Mr. Crabtree removed to Kentucky, but both he and his wife passed 
away in Montgomery county, Ill., he at the age of eighty-four, and she at the age 
of seventy-five.  John Crabtree was the father of twenty children, twelve of whom 
were born to the second marriage.  All the children of the first marriage have 
passed away, and but five of the second survive, viz,: Job H., of this record; 
Isaac Jackson, a wealthy resident of California, where he located in 1850; Middy 
Ann, a resident of Litchfield, Ill.; Nancy Jane, of the same place; and Allen, who 
settled in California.

The birth of Job H. Crabtree took place in Muhlenberg County, Ky., March 14, 1819, 
and he was about ten years of age when the family removed from Kentucky to 
Illinois, where he resided until he came to Grant county, Wis., in 1845.  On March 
6, 1846, he was united in marriage to his present estimable wife, whose maiden 
name was Mary Ann Walker, and who is a daughter of George Walker.  They have been 
permitted to pass a happy life of fifty-five years together, and together have 
borne the deprivations and hardships of pioneer life.

By trade Mr. Crabtree was a carpenter, and he followed same for some twenty years.  
When he first came to Grant county and landed in Potosi, in 1845, he was possessed 
of twenty-five cents in money, his other capital being his trade, his health and 
his determination to succeed.  Pawning his trunk for his first weeks board, he 
searched for any kind of employment, as laborers were more plentiful than 
employers, but by dint of strict economy, industry and his pleasing personality he 
soon became occupied, and his present fine farm of 320 acres is a testimony to his 
success.  His first entry of land was eighty acres, and as he was able he 
increased it, cultivating, clearing and improving as the years went by.  Since his 
marriage Mr. Crabtree has been a resident of Beetown and Bloomington, she 
surviving children of our subject and wife are Allen, Frank, Eddie and one 
daughter, Mary Jane, the wife of Webster Cook.  Mr. Crabtree and his wife were 
deeply bereaved in the death of their son, John Quincy, in 1876, at the age of 
twenty-two.  His life was just opening into manly usefulness, and he was an 
estimable young man in every way.  Emma died in babyhood.  Charles in childhood, 
and the eldest child died at birth.

Mr. and Mrs. Crabtree are among the oldest living pioneers of Bloomington, and are 
ranked with the most worthy and highly esteemed citizens in southwestern 
Wisconsin. Their recollections of that life of yesterday are vivid and 
interesting, and admiration is not wanting for those who so bravely struggled 
against adverse conditions and so successfully overcame almost insurmountable 
difficulties in the way of making life easier for their descendants.

Webster Cook, of Bloomington, the son-in-law of Mr. Crabtree, was born in Buffalo, 
N.Y., in 1841, and came West with his fathers family about 1844.  The father was a 
miller by trade, and his first location in Wisconsin was in the town of Waterloo, 
where he operated a mill for some time, but later he came to Beetown, Grant 
county.  There he engaged in farming for some years, finally removing to 
Platteville, where he and his wife passed their last years.

On Aug. 19, 1862, Mr. Cook enlisted for service in the Civil War, in Company F, 
7th Wis. V. I., which regiment formed a part of the distinguished Iron Brigade, 
and took part in many of the most severe campaigns and battles in the War for the 
Union.  These include Gainesville, Chancellorsville, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, 
the Wilderness, and the siege of Petersburg.  As the army was forming for the 
great attack for the possession of the Weldon Railroad, which was the key to the 
enemy's position, Mr. Cook was prostrated by a sunstroke, which rendered him unfit 
for further service, and from the effects of which lie has never fully recovered.  
He is a member of the Will Hickok Post, No. 134. G. A. R.  A brother, William 
Cook, now a resident of Boscobel, served in the Civil war as a member of the 10th 
Wisconsin.  Webster Cook married Miss Crabtree in 1865.  They have no family.