Sacramento Valley Biographies

JAMES WILSON CRUTCHER

Transcribed by Sally Kaleta, August 2009.

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

         From their early home in Virginia, where their ancestors had become
established during colonial days, the Crutcher family removed to the
frontier of Kentucky and later took up a timber claim in Missouri, where
father and sons worked together in the heavy task of grubbing and preparing
the soil for cultivation. In time the place was brought into a high state of
cultivation and contained improvements that greatly enhanced its value. The
father lived to be very aged, and in his last days enjoyed the comforts of a
pleasant home in a rapidly developing community. Among his children was a
son, Samuel, born during the residence of the family in Kentucky, and for
years an extensive farmer of Montgomery county, Mo., where he died at
seventy-three years of age. An active member of the Baptist Church, he
exemplified in his upright life and charitable deeds the principles of
Christianity to which he adhered.

        The marriage of Samuel Crutcher united him with Eliza Ann Holliday,
who was born in Kentucky and died in Missouri. The Hollidays were among the
early settlers of Virginia and came from England. Stephen Holliday, a native
of the Old Dominion, married Annie Hickman, daughter of James and Hannah
(Lewis) Hickman, also pioneer Virginians. In the family of Stephen Holliday
was a son, Elliott, who was born in Culpeper county, Va., in 1786, and at
the age of two years was taken by his parents to Clark county, Ky. There, in
1810, he was converted and united with the Christian Church, of which he
continued a member until death. In 1812 he volunteered in Capt. John
Martin's Company at Winchester, Ky., and served actively until the River
Raisin defeat, January 18-22, 1813, when after having maintained a brave
fight for two days he was taken prisoner by the Indians, who subjected him
to the most cruel treatment and to intense suffering by cold. In order to
save his life he gave up his gun. After returning home in April, 1813, he
took up farm pursuits. The following year he married Rachel Johnson, who was
born in Maryland in 1791, of German descent, and died in 1874, having
survived her husband five years. Among their eleven children the eldest,
born in 1815, was Eliza Ann, Mrs. Crutcher.

         In the family of Samuel Crutcher there were three sons and a
daughter. The sons came west, E. W. settling in Idaho, O'Bannon dying in
Nevada, and James W. becoming a pioneer of California. The last-named, who
was the youngest of the family, was born in Montgomery county, Mo., April
17, 1842, and passed his boyhood years uneventfully on the home farm. April
15, 1863, two days before attaining  his majority, he left home for the long
trip across the plains to the coast. After five months he arrived at
Sacramento. The trip was made with horses and mules, via Omaha, the north
side of the Platte river, across the Rockies and through South Pass, on to
Salt Lake, along the Reese river, from Austin, Nev., via the Carson route
and Muddy Springs into Eldorado county and the Sacramento valley. His first
location was in Placer county, where he had charge of Jeff Wilcoxon's toll
road for more than four years. In the spring of 1868 he went to Sacramento,
where he spent two years in Mr. Wilcoxon's office. From 1870 to 1874 he was
bookkeeper for Major J. T. Glenn, in Jacksonville, Oregon. On his return to
California he was employed in the ranch store of Dr. H. J. Glenn at Jacinto,
Colusa county. While there he was married, in June, 1875, to Miss Annie E.
Houchins, who was born in Monroe county, Mo., and about 1873 accompanied her
father, Samuel, and other members of the family to California, settling upon
a farm at Jacinto.

        After two years as manager of Dr. Glenn's store, in 1876 Mr.
Crutcher started the second store at Williams, Colusa county, where he
engaged in general mercantile pursuits and also in 1878 was elected justice
of the peace. The store continued to be in his possession until his election
as county clerk and recorder in 1898. on a majority of eight hundred and in
January of 1899 took the oath of office, entering upon the duties which he
has since efficiently discharged. As evidence of the success of his first
term it may be mentioned that in 1902 he was elected without opposition, to
serve until January, 1907. In his official capacity he has proved himself
reliable and trustworthy, prompt and accurate, winning the approval of his
own party and the opposition as well. As a Democrat he has been active for
years in local politics. Through his service as a member of the county
central committee, and in other ways, he has been a contributor to his
party's success in the county. Educational affairs have always received his
assistance and interested support, and for many years he filled the office
of school trustee. Though not a member of any denomination, he has been a
contributor to religious enterprises, and especially to the Christian
Church, with which his wife is identified. Made a Mason in Jacksonville
Lodge, he afterward became a charter member of Williams Lodge, F. & A. M.,
and officiated as its secretary until his removal from the town. His family
consists of nine children, namely : Clarence W., deputy county clerk, in
charge of the recording; Samuel E., who is connected with the Sunset
Telephone Company at Marysville; Leona, Nellie, James, Crawford, Harry,
Glenn, and Annabel.

"History of the State of California and Biographical Record of the
Sacramento Valley, Cal.," J. M. Guinn, The Chapman Publishing Company,
Chicago, 1906, Pages 988-989.