Henderson Crawford, Esq., who first came to this town in 1839, and has been a resident here between thirty and forty years, was born in Seneca, Ontario county, New York, August 11, 1818 ; purchased a farm in Wayne county soon after his arrivd here, and devoted his time alternately to the business of farming and teaching. Two years were thus occupied, when he married Miss Sarah W. Wood, also a native of western New York, born at Perrinton, Monroe county, October 23, 1822, She was one of the pupils in the first school he taught in this State. She came with her parents to the State in 1825, settling in the town of Farmington, then a wild, new country. Losing her fiither within a year after his coming here, after many privations and hardships her mother became the wife of Ahijah Wixom, Esq., and removed to the township of Commerce, in 1836. The relations of teacher and pupil were exchanged for husband and wife December 30, 1841. Since the spring of 1845 they have been permanent residents of the village of Milford, and have been most thoroughly identified in the history of this township and village. They are the parents of eight children, two daughters and six sons, now all grown to years of manhood and womanhood : Lucy A. Crawford, born August 30, 1844, now wife of Edward Cahill, Esq , prosecuting attorney of Ingham county, and resident of Lansing the State capital. Charles A. Crawford, born August 30, 1846, has been a resident of Traverse City, Grand Traverse county, since 1865; has been connected since that time with the heavy mercantile and lumbering firm of Hannah, Lay & Co. Theron C. Crawford, born November 30, 1849, is a journalist, being now a resident of Washington, D. C, and is Washington correspondent of the Chicago Tmies, Sarah E. Crawford, born September 2, 1852, has been a resident of Lansing since August, 1874; has a position in the auditor-general office, and resides with her sister, Mrs. Cahill. Reuben H. Crawford, born October 18, 1854, is now a resident of Chicago, Illinois, in the employ of the same firm as his elder brother, Charles. Willard H. Crawford, born July 23, 1857, has been a resident of Detroit two years ; is with E. W. Stoddard, an old pupil of his father's, in the hardware trade. The next son, George S. Crawford, born June 18, 1859, quite recently entered the employ of Hannah, Lay & Co., at Chicago, with his brother Reuben. The youngest son, Fred. C. Crawford, born September 15, 1861, is still with his parents, a resident here.

Mr. Crawford has held various offices of trust ; was justice of the peace from 1854 to 1858 ; was in the legislature during the sessions of 1861, 1863, and 1865 ; was enrolling officer for the town during the war of the Rebellion, and after completing the enrollment, was ordered to report to the provost-marshal's office at Pontiac for duty, and continued in that office during the war. At the session of the legislature of 1865 he procured the passage of the enabling act for the building of the Holly, Wayne and Monroe railway, and was elected chairman of the board of commissioners for the subscription of stock for the building of that road. He spent four years in the prosecution of this enterprise, and to his efforts, constant and untiring, more than to any other single individual, in the expenditure of time and means, is this section of the country indebted today for railway communications with the outer world. This railway was consolidated with the Flint and Pere Marquette, under the general name of the latter, in May, 1872, that company, the Flint and Pere Marquette railway company, by the terms of the consolidation, agreeing to assume the indebtedness and pay all the outstanding liabilities of the Holly, Wayne and Monroe railway company. This contract they have shamefully ignored, and those who have faithfully labored for the success of the railway company are compelled to resort to litigation to secure their just rights or let them go by default, a case of peculiar hardship, for a single individual to attempt to cope with a wealthy corporation, made so by the hard labor and expenditure of money by those whom they thus attempt to defraud. Such dealings of railway companies with their employees have been the fruitful cause of the strikes and riots which lately devastated and destroyed millions of property and countless lives. It will be understood that Mr. Crawford was working under a contract made in writing, entered into in accordance with a vote of the stockholders at a regular meeting of the same, and called for that purpose.