C. C. CROWELL, SR., IS DEAD

C. C. Crowell, Sr., formerly of Blair and president of the Crowell Lumber & Grain Co., died at his residence in Los Angeles, Cal. at one o’clock Monday afternoon.

Mr. Crowell has been in ill health for some four or five years, and moved to Los Angeles in the hope that the climate there would benefit him. The reports up to about three weeks ago were very encouraging for his recovery, but new complications set in from which he sank very rapidly to the end.

He is survived by a widow and Mrs. Dale, a daughter, who resides in Los Angeles; Mrs. Lawrence Weaver, a daughter, who lives at Spokane, Washington; Nathan F., a son, who is cashier of the First National Bank of Stuart, Nebr.; Harland, a son, who represents the Crowell Lumber & Grain Co. at Creston, Nebr.; and C. C. Crowell, Jr., who is vice president of the Crowell Lumber & Grain Co and resides in Omaha.

Mr. Crowell was born in East Dennis, Mass. in 1844, and lived in Nebraska over forty years.

He was a man of sterling characteristics and a businessman of marked ability.

He was the pioneer in the lumber and grain business in Nebraska starting at the old village of DeSoto and later at Blair. The business grew rapidly to large proportions with extending branches throughout northeastern Nebraska. In 1885 he merged them into the Crowell Lumber & Grain Co. and became its president, which position he has held ever since, although not in active management for the last few years.

When he moved to California he gave his beautiful home in Blair, one of the finest residences in the state, to the Methodist Society for a permanent home for superannuated preachers.

He will be remembered by his business associates and friends as a noble man of unswerving fidelity and stern integrity.

No arrangements have been made for the funeral.

#2-7 Apr, 1910 - Blair Democrat - Christopher C. Crowell

CROWELL DIES IN LOS ANGELES

Word reached Blair last Saturday of the serious illness of C. C. Crowell, Sr., a former citizen of Blair and president of the Crowell Lumber & Grain co., coming through the Omaha office. The report was current on the streets Saturday that Mr. Crowell had died, but later developments proved that the message was one to Chris, Jr., asking him to come to Los Angeles immediately as his father was very ill and not expected to live.

On Monday word reached here that Mr. Crowell had died that afternoon, but as yet nothing has been learned about the funeral arrangements, and it is not known whether the body will be shipped to Blair for interment.

Christopher C. Crowell was born in East Dennis, Massachusetts May 19, 1844, and came to Blair in 1869, soon after engaging in the lumber and grain business, from which grew the mammoth firm now known as the Crowell Lumber & Grain co. with elevators and offices in many Nebraska towns. It was not until about one year ago that the main offices of the company were moved to Omaha to be nearer to the grain market, it being a pride of Mr. Crowell’s to keep the head offices here where he had secured its start so many years before.

While still holding the office of president of the company, Mr. Crowell has not been actively identified with the business for the past several years, the bulk of the management falling to his son, Chris, and J. B. Adams, who now live in Omaha.

Mr. Crowell built the large home on the hill at the west edge of town a number of years ago, which has always been considered one of the finest residences in eastern Nebraska, but after the children were all grown, Mr. and Mrs. Crowell decided to make their future home in Southern California and the mansion and the beautiful grounds were deeded to the Methodist church, and are now used as a home for their old folks. The place is called the Crowell Memorial Home, and will ever stand as a monument to the generosity of the man who came here in the early days and by careful management built up a business that reached far out into the state and thus accumulated a vast amount of this world’s goods.

In his life here Mr. Crowell was classed as one of the most charitable and progressive citizens. There was no public enterprise started that the Crowell Lumber & Grain Co. was not a large subscriber to, and many deeds of charity to the poor can be traced to the hands of this generous old gentleman. He was popular with all classes and served the people as mayor of Blair for one term a number of years ago.

Besides a wife, deceased leaves five children, all grown: Grace Dale at Los Angeles; C. C., Jr., Omaha; Lillian Weaver, Spokane, Wash.; Harland of Creston, Neb.; and Nathan, who lives at Stuart, Neb.

~~~Obituaries courtesy of the Nebraska Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair, Nebraska Public Library~~~

Note: From Ancestry website:

Spouse: Polly Dillingham Crowell
Father: Prince S Crowell
Mother: Polly D. Crowell
Birth: May 1844 Dennis, Barnstable, Massachusetts, USA
Death: 4 Apr 1910 Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA

Find a Grave Memorial #115027740