Matthew Crawford (18_-1894) 

Twenty-five and thirty years ago, a Cecil township man who believed that Matthew Crawford was an uncommonly wicked man for keeping the seventh day of the week as the Sabbath and the first day as a week day and that long life could not be the portion of anyone practicing such profanity, was wont, whenever he heard of a death about Venice to exclaim, "Well Matthew Crawford will go next." And so for years we used to hear from that man, who never could forget Mr. Crawford's heterodox faith and practice, that that same old refrain at regular intervals, "Matthew Crawford will go next." But Matthew Crawford lived on, a man of influence and character, and the man who predicted a short life for him passed away and nearly two more decades came and went before the venerable Seventh Day Baptist went to his eternal Sabbath of rest, September 30, 1894, when he was in the 93rd year of his age: and upon the scribe coming to record this rushes the circumstances noted in this paragraph.

Mr. Crawford's house was about one and a half miles southwest of Primrose.  He had been in fairly good health until near his death. A bad cold and the weakness of old age brought him to his end. The funeral was on Wednesday at 1 o'clock and the interment at the Covenanter Cemetery near Venice [Pa]. He leaves a family of 12 children: Wm. of Washington, Iowa; Mrs. Nancy Reed, Cedar Rapids, Iowa; and these attended the funeral; Matthew of Clarion, Iowa who was here on a visit last summer; Thomas, postmaster at Primrose; Mrs. Annie Allen of Primrose; John, who lives at Midway; Mrs. Margaret Ewing, living on the Glass place near Primrose; Oliver of Paradise Valley, Nevada; Mrs. Mary David of Redding, California; Mrs. Eliza Erskine, of Steubenville; Mrs. Martha McQuitty of Carnegie, and Dr. Jas. Crawford of Taylorstown, who we now recall while writing died some time ago. The deceased was married three times.

Matthew Crawford was noted throughout the whole country for half a century as a man of strong character. He had many convictions on religious truth brought about by his own reading and study of the Bible, and he rigidly
adhered to them. Long before Seventh Day Adventists were ever heard of here he kept Saturday as the Sabbath and won the respect and admiration of everyone by his calm, conscientious insistence upon this point; and
hundreds of people who knew him are more than half convinced that he was right. On most other points in religion he was a Covenanter, except that he did not agree with them as to baptism.

This stalwart Scotch-Irish patriarch - he was six feet two inches tall, of
iron like frame and constitution, and he came from the North of Ireland 80
years ago- left sons and daughters who are among the best people and most useful citizens in a dozen communities between this and the Pacific Ocean, and the influence of this old man's character will abide forever.

He had a great record as an Abolitionist too. Many a run-away slave he
helped on towards freedom and until slavery was abolished he would not
purchase or use cotton or sugar or any other produce of slave labor. He was genial in manners, an entertaining conversationalist, a strong man in
argument, and he was readier to back up his statement with apt scriptural
quotations than any man he ever met.

NOTE:  In the above list of Mr. Crawford's children has been omitted the name of his son George, who still lives on the old homestead; so that there are 12 children still living.

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