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Charles Augustus
Crow
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Charles married Mary C.
Crow and they had six children:
* Garland Crow (22 September 1894 - 3 December 1894)
* Homer Crow (17 September 1986 - 11 December 1952)
* Ray Levi Crow (21 January 1898 - 7 February 1898)
* Alfreda Crow (12 October 1900 - 22 June 1902)
* Virginia Crow (9 September 1903 - 1973)
* May Crow (1908 - 1908)
Mary C. Crow (1
February 1871 - 10 June 1909) is buried in the Dexter Cemetery by her daughter Alfreda.
Charles' first son, Homer, died at age 55. During WWI he was a
pilot and was said to have smoked 3 packs of Chesterfields per day. Virginia had been a
nurse at the Baptist Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. She died at the age of 70 due to a
stroke. It was said that she too smoked cigarettes - but did not inhale!
Charles was born in
Sikeston, Missouri on 31 March 1873 and he died in Campbell, Missouri on 20 March 1938.
Charles was elected to Congress in 1908, to represent the old 14th District (now the 10th
District) of Missouri. The District was comprised of Butler, Cape Girardeau, Christian,
Douglas, Dunklin, Howell, Mississippi, New Madrid, Pemiscot, Ripley, Scott, Stoddard, Stone,
and Taney. The population in all 16 counties in 1988 was 250,614. The vote for the
61st Congress was 25,951 for Charles A. Crow [Republican], 25,187 votes for Joseph J. Russell
[Democrat], and 3,147 votes for Morris B. Wilkerson [Socialist]. In 1910, Joseph Russell
defeated Charles Crow by a vote of 23,612 to 22,463.
Charles had two bad experiences before his term in Congress
ended. The first was the loss of his right eye when a cinder came in the window as he
was riding the train back to Washington, DC. The second ws the loss of his wife
Mary. It was ironic, but the head nurse who trained his daughter Virginia, had been the
same nurse who cared for Congressman Crow when his eye was removed.
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Charles married Emma
Gardner (27 October 1877 - 23 July 1996). She was the daughter of Hiram Absolom Gardner
of Four Mile, Missouri. Four Mile later became Campbell, Missouri when Four Mile
relocated down to the Cottonbelt Railroad around 1885. Emma's mother's maiden name was
Seitz, and she was the daughter of Jacob Seitz. Both Jacob and his brother Isaac
operated the Chalk Bluff Ferry in St. Francis, Arkansas. St. Francis was just over the
St. Francis River from Campbell, Missouri. The battle of Chalk Bluff took place there
and both brothers were running the operating during this period of the Civil War. The
old military road coming down from Cape Girardeau passed through this area.
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Hiram Gardner had married
Elizabeth Seitz at Four Mile, Missouri. Their daughter Emma had known James Levi Crow
and his son Charles. Both James and Charles had passed through Campbell on several
occasions to buy cattle. Emma was 12 years old when she met Charles. She had been
a food server and waited on their table. As stated, she later became the wife of
Charles. James Levi and Hiram Gardner had known each other since boyhood in
Illinois. Emma later taught school until she was 33 years old. In 1910 Charles was
in Congress, and Emma was teaching high school in Caruthersville, where Charles had served as
Postmaster for 8 years before he was elected to Congress. Charles and Emma honeymooned
by buggy to the Oklahoma State Line. This was the distance that the 14th District
stretched across in 1910. Charles and Emma had four children:
* Charles A. Crow, Jr.
* Wendell Hiram Crow
* Eugene Gardner Crow
* Elizabeth Amanda (Betty) Crow
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Wendell Hiram Crow
relates that his father, Charles A., hated cigarettes with a passion. Wendell once saw
him make Homer finish a cigar that he had caught him smoking until he became ill.
Wendell says his father would walk to the other side of the street in downtown Campbell to
avoid passing the drugstore where men would be smoking. He was not an entire prude
however, as he bought Wendell a bottle of home brew when Wendell was 18! He just seemed
to have a sixth sense about tobacco.
Sheryl Crow's father passed on the following story about staying at
Grandpa Charles' house as a child. He said that he always slept on the couch, and every
night Charles would place both his watch and glass eye on the fireplace mantel. One
night, he got up the nerve to ask Charles why he did that. Charles' response was
"so that he could always see what time it was!"
Homer Lincoln Crow was the oldest child of Charles A. Crow from his
first marriage to Mary C. Crow. Homer was born on 17 September 1896 and died 11 December
1952 from a heart attack. He was a patient at the VA Hospital in Poplar Bluff, Missouri
at the time. Both are buried in the Cemetery in Campbell, Missouri.
Homer and Hazel lived most of their lives in Campbell,
Missouri. When Homer died, he was Manager of the Gideon Anderson Stores in Gideon,
Missouri. He traveled most of his life selling dry goods and shoes, until he took the
position at Gideon. Hazel was Manager of Sherman House in Gideon, which was the
Anderson-family hotel. Upon the death of Homer, Hazel moved into a home near her
daughter in Neelyville, Missouri, where she remained until her death.
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Homer and Hazel had two children:
* Marinelle Crow
* Robert Raymond Crow (Robert had two children)
* Roxanne Crow Beahan
* Roberta Gourley |
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