Plane Crash Part 3

Have you ever given up in a search for a source? One could say that is what I did when trying to identify a clipping a cousin shared with me regarding the death of his father in a plane crash.

While I tried to locate the article in Newspapers.com, I did not broaden my search to other newspaper archives when I wrote the post, Killed in a Plane Crash. After a reader of my blog challenged me to look further, I checked Newspaper Archive and found several articles about the plane crash in the Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph.

“Tragedy Hits Home,” Gazette Telegraph (Colorado Springs, Colorado), 4 March 1991, page A1; digital images, NewspaperArchive (www.newspaperarchive.com : viewed online 1 January 2023).

Gazette Telegraph
March 4, 1991
page A3

Hope, Promise die with local passengers
by Raymond McCaffrey

As United Airlines Flight 585 turned toward the mountains and began its descent into Colorado Springs Municipal Airport on Sunday morning, the passengers were full of hope and promise.
Then suddenly, about 9:45 a.m., the jet veered nose first toward the ground, with all those dreams in the balance.
…
C. Clay Crawford and his wife, Jo, also were coming back from a trip to Hawaii. Crawford, former chief executive officer of CF&I Steel in Pueblo, was a well-know Colorado Springs community leader. He and Jo were living out their golden years in style — they had spent almost a month in Hawaii. They stopped in Denver on Sunday and had breakfast with a son.
Their daughter was to pick them up in Colorado Springs.
…
C. Clay Crawford had been at the helm of CF&I until 1976, when it was still thriving. He was known to go on the floor with the workers on a daily basis. He found out not only about what they were working on but also about them personally.
After leaving he spent time in Indonesia under the auspices of International Executive Service Corp., where he taught steel makers cost and accounting.
His wife, Jo, was a “beautiful and vivacious lady,” said Mary Beth Naye, a good friend. Jo frequently held parties in her home to help raise money for the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. She also helped with the fashion shows for the benefit of the Pioneers museum and was active in numerous community social affairs.
Naye said the Crawfords had changed their minds several times about when to return. They hadn’t been expected to get back until tomorrow. “I guess this was destined,” Naye said.
…

Hope, Promise Die with Local Passengers, Gazette Telegraph (Colorado Springs, Colorado), 4 March 1991, page A3; digital images, NewspaperArchive (www.newspaperarchive.com : viewed online 1 January 2023).

Gazette Telegraph
March 5, 1991

Businessmen, vactioners among United 585 passengers

C. Clay, 72 and Jo Crawford, 65, of Colorado Springs, were returning from a month’s vacation in Hawaii. Friends said the couple loved to travel and had made annual trips to the islands for the last few years. They had a fondness for the Far East.
He was the president of CF&I Steel in Pueblo until retiring in 1976. He then spent time in Indonesia with International Executive Service Corp., counseling workers there on how to set up and run steel mills.
He earned a degree in metallurgical engineering in 1940 from the Colorado School of Mines and worked for the Army Corps of Engineers form 1940-1946.
He was a member of the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo board of directors, a trustee of the Western Museum of Mining and Industry, a past chairman of the St. Mary Corwin Hospital Fund in Pueblo, and a member of the Colorado Association of Commerce.
Jo Crawford, described by friends as a “beautiful and vivacious lady,” was a volunteer for numerous community groups and raised money for the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo and Pioneers Museum.
She also served on the building committee of the First United Methodist Church and was a former member of the board of the Sangre de Cristo Arts and Conference Center in Pueblo.
Both belonged to the Garden of the Gods Club.
“She was always willing to do anything you asked her to do,” said friend Mary Beth Naye.
They are survived by his children, Crete Crawford Wood of New Canaan, Conn.; Wilson Clay Crawford and James Paul Crawford of Denver; and her daughters, Laurel Jo McLean and Dottie Stout of Colorado Springs and Mary Leslie Gray of Tulsa, Okla. Together they had 10 grandchildren.

“Businessmen, vactioners among United 585 passengers,” Gazette Telegraph (Colorado Springs, Colorado), 5 March 1991, page B2; digital images, NewspaperArchive (www.newspaperarchive.com : viewed online 1 January 2023).

Plane Crash Part 2

In my post, Killed in Plane Crash, I shared some clippings from unknown papers regarding the death of C. Clay Crawford in a plane crash in March 1991. A reader suggested that they might be able to locate the paper.

Thinking that the article might be from a Pueblo Colorado newspaper, I checked the archives of The Pueblo Chieftain and located three articles about C. Clay Crawford.

The Pueblo Chieftain (Pueblo, Colorado)
4 March 1991

Death comes in explosive crash

By Karen Vigil
25 people killed as
airliner disintegrates
in Widefield park

WIDEFIELD — United Airlines Flight 585 ended here Sunday morning in a fireball explosion that killed its 20 passengers and five crew members.

The plane that nose-dived into Widefield Community Park about 9:55 a.m. narrowly missed an apartment complex and homes in a residential area. An 8-year-old girl standing in her apartment was knocked to the ground by the impact of the crash, but that was the only injury on the ground.

The twin-engine Boeing 737-200 was making a southern approach to the Colorado Springs Municipal Airport when it slammed into the narrow park, leaving only charred grass and unrecognizable pieces of planes and body parts.

A twisted scrap of burned fuselage with the airlines’ red, white and blue logo, a tire and an engine were the biggest pieces of the plane scattered over the five-acre site.

The biggest part of the plane was partially buried in a crater — about 15 to 20 feet deep, said Louis Mathews, an emergency medical technician at the Security Fire Department.

Eight-year-old Michelle Summerson, who lives in the Widefield Apartment Complex about 100 yards from the accident, was thrown backward from the doorway where she was standing. Her head was slightly bruised. She was treated for the injury and released, according to a spokeswoman for Memorial Hospital.

Among the known dead were Puebloans Clay and Jo Crawford. Crawford was formerly the presi dent of CF&I Steel Corp.

The names of the plane’s 20 passengers were not released Sunday night. United is expected to release the passenger and flight crew list this morning, according to Sgt. Dean Kelsey of the El Paso County Sheriff’s Department.

Colorado Springs residents known to have been on the flight include three employees of the U.S. Olympic Committee, according to Mike Moran, a spokesman for the committee.

They were Dr. Peter J. van Handel, 45, a senior sports physiologist; Dr. Andrezj J. Komor, 39, a sports biochemist; and Dan Birknoltz, a cycling development coach and coordinator.

The plane’s pilot and co-pilot were from San Francisco. The three flight attendants were from the New York City area.

Speaking for United, Kelsey said, the relatives of the passengers were being housed by the airline at the Red Lion Inn in Colorado Springs.

Authorities at Stapleton International Airport in Denver, the plane’s last stop before the crash, set up a lounge where relatives of passengers could go for information and comfort, said airport official Richard Boulware.

Before arriving in Denver, the plane had stopped in Moline, Ill. The stop before that was Peoria, Ill.

As relatives and friends absorbed the news, the crash site — about 2 acres in size — was the focus of work by firefighters, sheriff’s deputies, Colorado State Patrol troopers, spectators and media.

While there were no official reports of the cause of the plane crash, witnesses and officials speculated that the pilot avoided hitting the apartment complex and the nearby residential area by skill — or luck.

“It was either one of those,” Kelsey said.

Mathews said it “looks like the plane came straight down.”

“It looks like the aircraft went in at a straight angle,” he said. “It looks like there are parts in the ground.”

Mathews said emergency crews arrived to find a “large amount of fire,” but “it was knocked out quickly.”

Several witnesses stated that they’d seen the plane nearly upside down fly between two buildings in the apartment complex. Some said the twin-engine jet actually clipped buildings. Six windows were broken by the explosion’s vibrations.

Then, witnesses said, the plane traveled up and then straight down into the park. Several apartment house residents said they saw flames coming from one of the plane’s engines.

Residents in the area weren’t questioning the pilot’s motive for crashing the plane in the park. They were shaken but relieved at the thought of what might have happened,.

“I am not going on a plane again,” said apartment resident Mike Miller. “It was too close to home.”

While residents dealt with the question of why they were spared, authorities combed through the park that had been marked by yellow barricade tape where they marked each plane fragment and other debris.

Hundreds of chards of glass and metal attached to the yellow tape dotted the park. An evergreen tree, whose branches were cut by the sharp metal, stood sentry near a human leg that had been propelled about 200 yards from the wreckage.

Emergency workers scoured the area for personal belongings of passengers. Only a few bags containing torsos were removed from the area. Kelsey said a decision was made to leave the body parts in the grass overnight to help investigators determine the direction of the explosion.

By sunset, large Air Force portable lights had been set up around the park to maintain security, Kelsey said. National Transportation Safety Board and United officials were at the scene with more expected to arrive Sunday night.

No work would be done Sunday night at the crash site, according to Kelsey, who confirmed that wind possibly contributed to the crash. The weather was clear but there were high, gusty winds in the area at the time of the crash, said Sheriff’s Lt. Bill Mistretta. The National Weather Service said winds were from the northwest — at 23 mph to 32 mph.

Airline and NTSB officials would continue sifting through the wreckage today, Kelsey said.

Arnold Scott of the NTSB’s Denver office said officials probably would be able to release the investigation results in about a week.

Emergency workers said both of the plane’s black boxes containing cockpit recordings had been pulled from the site, but Kelsey would not confirm those reports.

It was the third major accident involving U.S. airlines in three months. On Dec. 3, two Northwest Airlines jets collided on the ground at the Detroit Airport, killing eight people. On Feb. 1, a USAir jet landing at the Los Angeles airport struck a commuter plane on the runway, killing 34 people.

Boeing spokesman Craig Martin in Seattle said the Boeing 737-200 was delivered to now-defunct Frontier Airlines in May 1982.

Martin said United bought the plane in June 1986. He said the aircraft was “relatively young,” with only 26,000 air hours. It had a capacity of 109 passengers.

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The Pueblo Chieftain
March 4, 1991

Puebloans are among the victims

C. Clay Crawford

. . . returning home

Former CF&I Steel President C. Clay Crawford and his wife Jo were among the 25 people killed Sunday when a United Airlines Boeing 737 crashed in a suburban Colorado Springs neighborhood.

The Puebloans were returning from Hawaii, where they had been visiting family friends.

The Crawfords were on the final leg of their return journey. They had flown to California, then to Denver before boarding United Flight 585 bound for Colorado Springs Municipal Airport.

The news shocked CF&I President Frank Yaklich Jr.

“All of us at CF&I are sad dened. He was a great contributor to CF&I,” Yaklich said. “It’s a shock to all of us right now.”

Crawford headed CF&I for six years. He was elected president of the company in 1970. He retired in April 1976, after 30 years with the company.

Crawford joined CF&I in 1946 after having served in the Pacific as a major in the Army Corps of Engineers.

A graduate of the Colorado School of Mines, he held various managerial positions with CF&I before being named works man ager in 1961. He was named vice president for operations in 1965 and served as vice president and general manager of the Pueblo plant before ascending to the company’s presidency.

Active in civic affairs, Crawford served as chairman of St. Mary-Corwin Hospital’s Development Fund Campaign, as chairman of the Colorado Association of Commerce and Industry, as a trustee of the Western Museum of Mining and Industry in Colorado Springs, and as a board member of the Colorado Safety Association.

Robert J. Slater succeeded Crawford as CF&I president. Yaklich became the company’s president in 1980.

---

Crawford’s love of minerals shared with everyone

By Staff Writer
October 16, 1994
Publication: Pueblo Chieftain, The (CO)
Word Count: 576
By MARVIN READ

C. Clay Crawford

The Pueblo Chieftain

COLORADO SPRINGS – Tucked away amidst the gigantic and powerful tools of mining and smelting at the Western Museum of Mining and Industry is a small – tiny, in relation to everything around it – display of rocks, minerals, ores and crystals.

About 40 percent of the 100-plus items had been donated by the late C. Clay Crawford, who was president of CF&I Corp. from 1970 until he retired in April 1976. He and his wife, Jo Moore Crawford, died March 3, 1991, in a still-unexplained crash of a United Airlines Boeing 737 in Widefield, south of Colorado Springs, on final landing approach.

The crash site is less than 25 miles south of the WMMI, located directly east of the Air Force Academy. Crawford was first elected to the museum’s board of directors in 1974 and was elected president in 1977.

The display, established as a memorial last March, is both deceptively small and elaborately beautiful. Half the collection focuses on five metals which have brought wealth to many in Colorado: Gold, silver, molybdenum, lead and zinc.

The remaining items represent a rainbow of mineral wealth: The yellows of apatite, the lavender of amethyst, the blue-greens of turquoise, the rich red of vanadite and the flower-like detailings of the rose-colored barite.

“Mr. Crawford’s great love was to educate children, especially about minerals. He loved to take his grandchildren and other youngsters on rock hunts,” said Linda LeMieux, executive director of the museum, located in four buildings on 27 acres just off Interstate 25’s exit 156A.

“It’s nice that we can still use a good share of what was his collection,” Ms. LeMieux said, adding, “We love to show what he collected and so much enjoyed.”

Most of the specimens are from Colorado, Ms. LeMieux said.

The museum itself is an impressive collection of working machinery – including a CF&I steam shovel that operated at the Sunrise Mine in southeastern Wyoming from 1927-1939 – photos, memorabilia, faux mine shafts, an old-time bar, and several displays of what mined metals can be fashioned into.

Centerpiece of the main building, the Schisler-Molloy Library and Exhibit Building, is a huge Corliss Steam engine, so large that its flywheel alone weighs in at 17 tons.

The museum contains an 11,000-book library, which can be used on-site by researchers and students.

Museum vistors, students and outreach students total about 35,000 yearly, Ms LeMieux said.

In such a setting, the Crawford memorial exhibit seems overshadowed, but the cases in which the specimens are contained also hold magnifying glasses, enabling viewers to “get lost” in the eons-old complexities of nature and her elaborate fashionings of grains, glitters, specks, colors and textures.

Members of Crawford’s family cooperated with the exhibit, Ms LeMieux said, and they were present at a formal, low-key, by-invitation-only opening of the exhibit today.

“The family is very pleased with the exhibit,” she said, adding that “This just seemed to be the right time to have the display.”

The museum is open Monday-Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

While perhaps not many but the most avid of rock and gem hunters would fully appreciate the fragile beauty of the Crawford exhibit, no one can fail to put it in perspective among the other displays, implements and tools of the mining industry.

Crawford, an avid collector not only of rocks and minerals, but also of pueblo pottery, contemporary lithographs, 19th-century folk oils and Oriental art, would have exulted in the juxtaposition of the fragile and the mammoth.

While the two articles from 1991 about the plane crash are very similar to what I’ve already found, the third article about Clary Crawford’s love of minerals would not have been located if not for the prompt to locate the unidentified article!

William C Crawford

Have you ever had cause to go back thru your research to make sure the father/son relationship is accurate? Well, that’s my situation with Nelson G. Crawford’s son William. Since a descendant of William recently completed a yDNA test, I find that I want to verify the lineage. Unfortunately, Nelson’s son, William, died before the birth of his son. Thus, records proving the relationship are difficult to find.

Below is the information I have on William, his wife, Mary and their son, William.

William C. Crawford was born on 28 Nov 1835 in Warren County, Indiana.[i]

William C Crawford was the son of Nelson G. Crawford and Martha Smith.[ii]

He lived in Washington Township, Warren County, Indiana on 1 Jul 1850.[iii]

William C Crawford was listed in the household of Nelson G Crawford on the 1850 census. According to the census, William was 14 years old and born in Indiana.

He lived in Liberty Township, Warren, Indiana, United States on 1 Jul 1860.[iv]

William C Crawford was listed as a 24 year old farmer born in IN with $2000 in real estate. His household included Mary E. Crawford, aged 24 and Ephraim Bremer, as 23 year old farm laborer.

William died on 6 Nov 1860 at the age of 24 in Warren County, Indiana.1

He was buried after 6 Nov 1860 at West Lebanon Cemetery in West Lebanon, Indiana.1

He had his estate probated on 16 Nov 1860 in Warren, Indiana, United States.[v]

William C. Crawford and Mary E. Bell were married on 26 Dec 1858 in Warren County, Indiana.[vi], [vii], [viii], [ix]

Mary E. Bell, daughter of Thomas Bell and Melissa Newell, was born on 8 Oct 1835.

She lived in Pike Township, Warren County, Indiana in 1850.[x]

She lived in Liberty Township, Warren, Indiana, United States on 1 Jul 1860.[xi]

Mary witnessed the probate of William C. Crawford on 16 Nov 1860 in Warren, Indiana, United States.5

She lived in Pike Township, Warren County, Indiana on 1 Aug 1870.[xii]

She died on 3 Jun 1880 at the age of 44 in Warren County, Indiana.[xiii], [xiv]

Mary was buried after 3 Jun 1880 at West Lebanon Cemetery in West Lebanon, Indiana.13, 14

William C. Crawford and Mary E. Bell had the following child:

11. William Clay Crawford was born on 30 Jan 1861 in West Lebanon, Indiana.[xv], [xvi]

He lived in Pike Township, Warren County, Indiana on 1 Aug 1870.[xvii]

On 24 Jul 1885, he was the proprietor of Brashear Lumber yard in Brashear, Adair, Missouri, United States.[xviii]

William lived in Brashear, Adair, Missouri, United States in 1887.[xix]

He lived in Aspen, Pitkin, Colorado, United States.

Between 1890 and 1929 he was an ore shipper’s agent for A. V. Smelter in Colorado, United States.16

William lived in Leadville, Lake, Colorado, United States in 1890.16

He lived in Pueblo, Pueblo, Colorado, United States between 1893 and 1908.16

About 1893–1925 he was Inspector for the united States government looking after ore shipped here from Canada and other places  in Colorado, United States.20

William lived in Pueblo, Pueblo, Colorado, United States in 1893.16

He lived at Precinct 17 in Pueblo, Pueblo, Colorado, United States on 1 Jun 1900.[xx]

In 1907, he received a letter from his uncle, James H. Crawford, about the family history.16

William lived at Precinct 2 in Pueblo, Pueblo, Colorado, United States on 15 Apr 1910.[xxi]

He lived in Leadville, Lake, Colorado, United States on 8 Jan 1920.[xxii]

Before 1925 he was a director American National Bank of Leadville in Leadville, Lake, Colorado, United States.16

In 1925 William was director Carbonate American National Bank after merger between American National Bank and Carbanate National Bank in Leadville, Lake, Colorado, United States.16

Before 1929, he was a member in Leadville, Lake, Colorado, United States.16

Before 1929, he was a member in Leadville, Lake, Colorado, United States.16

Before 1929, William was a member in Leadville, Lake, Colorado, United States.16

He died on 15 Apr 1929 at the age of 68 at 133 East 8th St. in Leadville, Lake, Colorado, United States.15, 16

He was buried at Mountain View Cemetery in Longmont, Boulder, Colorado, United States.15, 16

William Clay Crawford and Anna Elizabeth Paul were married on 4 May 1886 in Brashear, Adair, Missouri, United States.[xxiii], 16, [xxiv]

Anna Elizabeth Paul was born in Jun 1865 in Illinois.20

She lived in Precinct 17 in Pueblo, Pueblo, Colorado, United States on 1 Jun 1900. 20

She lived in Precinct 2 in Pueblo, Pueblo, Colorado, United States on 15 Apr 1910.21

Anna lived in Leadville, Lake, Colorado, United States on 8 Jan 1920.22

She died on 5 Sep 1935 at the age of 70 in Leadville, Lake, Colorado, United States.[xxv], [xxvi]

She was buried at Mountain View Cemetery in Longmont, Boulder, Colorado, United States.25, 26

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[i] Find a Grave, database and images, Find a Grave (www.findagrave.com : viewed online 26 November 2022), memorial for William C Crawford (1835-1860), Find a Grave Memorial no. 237818353, created by Shirley Benham, citing West Lebanon Cemetery, West Lebanon, Warren County, Indiana; accompanying photograph by Shirley Benham, William C Crawford.

[ii] Warren County Historical Society (Warren County Ind.), Combined Atlas of Warren County, Indiana: illustrated 1877 (Mt. Vernon, IN: Windmill Publishers, 2001), page 27 – Biographical sketches, Nelson G. Crawford.

[iii] 850, Warren County Indiana, Population Schedule, Washington Township, Warren County, Indiana, page 177 Image 6 of 13, household 41, Nelson G Crawford; digital image, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : viewed online November 2017); NARA microfilm publication M432.

[iv] 1860 U.S. Census, Warren County, Indiana, population schedule, Liberty Township, Warren County, Indiana, page 25 Image 10 of 27, household 179, William C Crawford; digital image, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : viewed online November 2017); NARA microfilm publication M653.

[v] Warren County, Indiana, Probate Case Files, Probate File 35 William C Crawford (November 1860), William C. Crawford, 16 November 1860; Warren County (IN) Courthouse, Williamsport, Indiana.

[vi] “Indiana, Select Marriages Index, 1748-1993,” database, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : viewed online April 2017), William C. Crawford – Mary E Bell.

[vii] “Indiana Marriages, 1780-1992,” database, MyHeritage (www.myheritage.com : viewed online April 2017), Mary E Bell – William C Crawford.

[viii] U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900 database, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/7836/). Yates Publishing. U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900 : viewed online 27 November 2022.

[ix] “Indiana, Marriage Index, 1800-1941,” Ancestry.com, (www.ancestry.com : County Court Records at Williamsport, IN, Warren County, Indiana, viewed online (28 January 2020), Mary E Bell.

[x] 1850, Warren County Indiana, Population Schedule, Pike Township, Warren County, Indiana, page 6 Image 9 of 14, family 58, James Bell; digital image, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : viewed online 27 November 2022); NARA microfilm publication M432.

[xi] 1860 U.S. Census, Warren County, Indiana, population schedule, Liberty Township, Warren County, Indiana, page 25 Image 10 of 27, household 179, William C Crawford; digital image, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : viewed online November 2017); NARA microfilm publication M653.

[xii] 1870 U.S. Census, Warren County, Indiana, population schedule, Pike Township, Warren County, Indiana, page 34 Image 2 of 25, household 266, Crawford Mary E; digital image, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : viewed online February 2018); NARA microfilm publication T132.

[xiii] Find a Grave, database and images, Find a Grave (www.findagrave.com : viewed online 18 October 2021), memorial for Mary E Crawford (? – 1880), Find a Grave Memorial no. #1971679950, created by Shirley Benham, citing West Lebanon Cemetery, West Lebanon, Warren County, Indiana; accompanying photograph by Shirley Benham, Mary E Crawford.

[xiv] Jenkins, Rosella Rasmussen, editor, Warren County Cemeteries Volume 2 (Pine Village, Indiana: Rosella Jenkins, 1985)

[xv] Find a Grave, database and images, Find a Grave (www.findagrave.com : viewed online April 2017), memorial for William C. Crawford (1861-1929), Find a Grave Memorial no. #60879591, created by Longmont Genealogical Society, citing Mountain View Cemetery, Longmont, Boulder County, Colorado; accompanying photograph by MKL, William C. Crawford.

[xvi] “Death Took Good Citizen,” obituary of W. C. Crawford, newspaper clipping, from Herald Democrat (Leadville, Colorado) 16 April 1929; Crawford Family Papers, photocopy from James Paul Crawford; privately held 2022 by owner, Marcia Philbrick, Seneca, KS 66538.

[xvii] 1870 U.S. Census, Warren County, Indiana, population schedule, Pike Township, Warren County, Indiana, page 34 Image 2 of 25, household 272, James Bell; digital image, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : viewed online November 2017); NARA microfilm publication T132.

[xviii] “Lumber,” Kirksville Graphic (Kirksville, MO), 24 July 1885, page 3; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : viewed online 29 November 2022).

[xix] “Local News,” Dodge City Times (Dodge City, Kansas), 15 December 1887, page 5; Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : viewed online November 2019).

[xx] 1900 U.S. Census, Pueblo County, Colorado, population schedule, Precinct 17, Pueblo, Pueblo County, Colorado, ED 101, sheet 1B Image 2 of 46, household 17, Crawford William C; digital image, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : viewed online April 2017).

[xxi] 1910 U.S. Census, Pueblo County Colorado, population schedule, precinct 2, Pueblo City, Pueblo County, ED 167, Sheet 1A Image 1 of 35, household 11, Wm C Crawford; digital image, Ancestry.com (www.ancestr.com : viewed online March 2017); NARA microfilm publication T624.

[xxii] 1920 U.S. Census, Lake County, Colorado, population schedule, 4th Precinct, Leadville, Lake County, Colorado, ED 75, sheet 1B Image 2 of 9, household 13, William C. Crawford; digital image, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : viewed online April 2017).

[xxiii] Missouri, Missouri, Marriage Records, 1805-2002, William C Crawford – Anna E Paul, digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : viewed online April 2017).

[xxiv] “Married,” Kirksville Graphic (Kirksville, MO), 7 May 1886, page 3; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : viewed online 29 November 2022).

[xxv] Find a Grave, database and images, Find a Grave (www.findagrave.com : viewed online April 2017), memorial for Anna E. Paul Crawford (1864-1935), Find a Grave Memorial no. #60879564, created by Longmont Genealogical Society, citing Mountain View Cemetery, Longmont, Boulder County, Colorado; accompanying photograph by MKL, Anna E. Paul Crawford.

[xxvi] “Anna E. Crawford Dies at Leadville,” Longmont Times (Longmont, CO), 6 September 1935, page 1; digital images, Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection (coloradohistoricnewspapers.org : viewed online 28 November 2022).

Clarence Clay Crawford

Do you have photocopies of obituaries in your files that don’t have any documentation with them? As I’m going thru my Crawford files, I uncovered several obituaries that are likely from Colorado newspapers.

This set of clippings includes two for Clarence Clay Crawford and are likely from a Longmont, Colorado newspaper. Unfortunately, I can’t find a digital copy of the paper and thus can’t determine exactly which paper the clippings are from.

Community Shocked to Learn of Death of C. C. Crawford

The grim reaper again called in the Johnstown community. Clarence Clay Crawford, superintendent of the local sugar factory, passed away in a Longmont hospital at 6 o’clock this morning. Internal hemorrhages resulting from a ruptured pancreas were responsible.
Mr. Crawford has been seriously ill the last week and was rushed to the hospital Sunday.
He is survived by his widow and two children, Clay and Ann, brother, Paul, a Denver attorney. He graduated from Pueblo high school and Colorado School of Mines.
Members of the family were at the bedside of Mr. Crawford when he passed away.
At the time we go to press no further arrangements had been made. In our next issue we shall give more complete details.
Heartfelt sympathy is extended to the bereaved family.

C. C. Crawford Funeral Largely Attended by Host Sorrowin Acquaintenances

Funeral services for C. C. Crawford, 50, manager of the local sugar factory, were held Saturday at 2 o’clock at Shaw’s mortuary in Longmont, Rev. E. E. Emmoss of the Berthoud Presbyterian church officiated. Mrs. Orvin Eberhart of Johnstown sang “Prayer Perfect.”
Mr. Crawford was born at Beshear, Mo. He was educated in the Pueblo School of Mines at Golden where he was a member of Beta Theta Pi. He was also a member of Golden Masonic Lodge No. 1. He was a member of the Presbyterian church.
He served the Great Western Sugar company for several years in Longmont and Greeley in the capacity of chemist. He came to Johnstown 11 years ago as assistant superintendent, succeeding C H Criswell as manager when the latter went to Denver about four years ago. He ranked high as one of the ablest men in the company’s personnel of executives.
Mr. Crawford was a member of the city council at the time of his passing.
He is survived by his widow, son Clay, 19 and daughter, Ann , 16.
Interment was at Longmont cemetery, with the Masons in charge.

Thanks!

Do you have a private tree on the Internet? Is your tree private because you are uncertain about some of your data? My tree is not private, but public. However, I know that it likely contains errors. Thus, when I receive an email correcting one of my error, I am THANKFUL!

Today, I received such an email regarding the family of Clarence Clay Crawford. Not only did this email prompt me to make a correction, but also to do additional research. That’s when I discovered that the death of Clay Crawford made the national news. A search of Newspapers.com found that several newspapers reported the crash of United Airlines Flight 585 outside of Colorado Springs, Colorado on March 3, 1991.

A list of those killed in the crash was published in papers on March 5, 1991.

Clay Crawford and his wife, Jo Crawford, were included in that list of passengers.

Although I couldn’t find an obituary for Clay or Jo Crawford on Newspapers.com, I was able to find a transcription of an obituary on Genealogy Bank.

Businessmen, vacationers among United 585 passengers
Gazette, The (Colorado Springs, CO) – Tuesday, March 5, 1991
C. CLAY, 72, and JO CRAWFORD, 65, of Colorado Springs, were returning from a month’s vacation in Hawaii. Friends said the couple loved to travel and had made annual trips to the islands for the last few years. They had a fondness for the Far East.
He was the president of CF&I Steel in Pueblo until retiring in 1976. He then spent time in Indonesia with International Executive Service Corp., counseling workers there on how to set up and run steel mills.
He earned a degree in metallurgical engineering in 1940 from the Colorado School of Mines and worked for the Army Corps of Engineers from 1940-1946.
He was a member of the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo board of directors, a trustee of the Western Museum of Mining and Industry, a past chairman of the St. Mary Corwin Hospital Fund in Pueblo, and a member of the Colorado Association of Commerce.
Jo Crawford, described by friends as a “beautiful and vivacious lady,” was a volunteer for numerous community groups and raised money for the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo and Pioneers Museum.
She also served on the building committee of the First United Methodist Church and was a former member of the board of the Sangre de Cristo Arts and Conference Center in Pueblo.
Both belonged to the Garden of the Gods Club.
“She was always willing to do anything you asked her to do,” said friend Mary Beth Naye.
They are survived by his children, Crete Crawford Wood of New Canaan, Conn.; Wilson Clay Crawford and James Paul Crawford of Denver; and her daughters, Laurel Jo McLean and Dottie Stout of Colorado Springs and Mary Leslie Gray of Tulsa, Okla. Together, they had 10 grandchildren.
Three members of the United States Olympic Training Center were also among the victims.

At some point, I might have gone back to this third cousin once removed and done this additional research. The likelihood of that occurring in the near future would be small. Thus, I’m thankful for the prompting of this email!

• Footnotes:
  “All 25 on United Jetliner Die in Fiery Crash,” The Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, Florida), 4 March 1991, page 1; digital image, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : viewed online August 2019). 
• “Air Fatalaties Investigated: Crash of Boeing 737 Claims 25 Lives,” The Republic (Columbus, Indiana), 4 March 1991, page 2; digital image, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : viewed online August 2019). 
• “Searchers Continue to Look for Clues to Airplane Crash,” The San Francisco Examiner (San Francisco, California), 5 March 1991, page A-9; digital image, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : viewed online August 2019).
• “Obituary for C. Clay and Jo Crawford: Businessmen, vacationeers among United 585 passengers,” transcription, The Gazette, (Colorado Springs, CO), 5 March 1991; Public Member Story, , submitter, linked to , Genealogy Bank, http://www.genealogybank.com.