George Seymour Crowe ^{1 2}

  General Notes:

Death Visits Our Home Friday Morning August 1st

Grandad Crowe has gone. He passed quietly away early in the morning of Friday, August 1st. Death came as a blessing following a period of pain such as frequently comes at the end when one has cancer.

To the friends of the family who read our paper in the different states to which they have moved during the past few years, I write this last message concerning my father.

Dad was born in Indiana, January 31, 1864. While still a babe, his folks moved west into Iowa. Here his mother died while he was yet a small boy. Together with five brothers and a sister he lived at home until he was a young man. An older sister was married. During this time he attended a rural school for a few winters where one teacher taught forty to sixty boys and girls in a crowded one room schoolhouse. This was the extent of his schooling.

As he grew older he worked at jobs that took him away from home and across the state line into Minnesota. At Lanesboro in that state he met and married my mother, Alice Ann Marshall, on February 17, 1886. They lived in southern Minnesota until 1906.

Dad came from a line of people in whom the pioneering instinct was strong. Grandparents from his mother's side crossed the Alleghenies on horse back, following their marriage in eastern Pennsylvania, to settle in Ohio. His parents came into Indiana and later into Iowa. So he too, had the desire to continue west into new land offered to homesteaders for settlement.

In 1905 he came with many who took the initial step in settling this West of the River prairie region in South Dakota. He homesteaded twelve miles south east of Cottonwood and his homestead remains a part of the land he owned at the time of his death.

My father's ancestry was largely British and some Dutch. You will recall that he had the Irish wit, the Scotch thrift and the Dutch diligence. There was always a humorous story at the tip of his tongue with which to aptly illustrate any point he wished to make. Economy and providence, which he considered cardinal virtues in his own life, also seemed to him to be essential in affairs of government. His ideas along these lines he expressed freely and his influence was always exerted to keep his town and his school district on an even keel.

His interest extended to county, state and nation and you older friends will remember his activities in these connections. To the last he read his daily paper and discussed world conditions and events. The nearest he came to expressing any regret at going was to remark that he would like to know how all these were going to turn out.

Another characteristic that will come to your memory was Dad's love of little children and young folks. He was never too busy to entertain his small friends and they in turn loved him, brought him their toys to mend and considered a visit to his store necessary when they were downtown. As they grew older and left for other places many remembered him with cards and letters on special days, to his great gratification.

Mother died twenty six years ago, and the only close relatives left of Dad's family are myself and my two children, Lyle and Geraldine (Mrs. K.W. Schoenwether) and the little great-grandson, Charles Austin, who brought so much pleasure to Grandad in his last year. Two brothers, John Crowe of Springfield, S.D.; J.B. Crowe of Springfield, Mo.; a sister, Mrs. Taylor Steele of Waukon, Iowa and a large number of nephews and nieces also survive. Three brothers and one sister preceded him in death.

Funeral services were held at the Congregational Church in Cottonwood Sunday afternoon. Rev. Wilson of this place officiated and a quartette, Forrest Jones of Kadoka, Mesdames Herbert Chamberlain and Fred Krueger of Quinn and Herbert Hunt of Cottonwood sang three of the lovely old hymns, with Miss Cowan accompanying.

A profusion of beautiful flowers from old friends at Cottonwood and newer ones he had made here and elsewhere spoke comfortably of the affection and respect which Dad knew and enjoyed while living.

S.W. Davis, Jas Bateman, Earl Erlandson, Claude Smith, C.C. Lingenfelter and Burt Fees, long time friends, were pall bearers, and we laid Dad to rest beside the small grave of the little first great grandson, as he had requested.

Besides his own family including Lyle's wife and my husband, relatives from a distance, who were here, included two nieces, Mrs., Albert Hintz of Chamberlain and Mrs., Wm. Koppelman of Rapid City, their husbands, and the son of a nephew, Lawrence Steele, of Rapid City.

Mrs. A.E. Schoenwether and Helen of Brookings were also here. Geraldine's husband, who is in Camp Robinson at Little Rock, Ark., could not come.


2nd mention of George's Passing

This community was saddened to learn of the death of Mr. George Crowe, who passed away at the home of his daughter in Quinn, Friday morning. Funeral services were held at the Congregational Church in Cottonwood Sunday afternoon and his body was laid to rest in the Cottonwood Cemetery.
Mr. Crowe homesteaded in this section of the country in the early days, later moving to Cottonwood where he owned and operated the hardware store. He had been in very poor health for the last two years, but was up and around until a short time before his death.

Our sympathy is extended to the sorrowing relatives.

**I presume George added and "e" to the end of his name, because of all of the Indian names of Crow, in South Dakota. His brother James Blackburn Crow, did this also.** ³

  Noted events in his life were:

• Resided: U.S. Census, 1880, Paint Creek, Allamakee, Iowa.

George married Alice Ann Marshall. (Alice Ann Marshall was born in Oct 1860 in Wisconsin, USA,³ died in 1915 ³ and was buried in Lanesboro Cemetery, Lanesboro, Fillmore County, Minnesota, USA ³.)