San Diego County
Biographies
J. H. CRAWFORD,
one of the best farmers of Perris, was born near Norwich, Canada, January 27, 1860. His father, John B. Crawford, is a resident and orange grower of Riverside; his mother, Anna P. (Schooley) Crawford, was also born in Canada. They had six children. The subject of this sketch went to the public schools and finished at the Norman School in Dundass. In 1874 he came to California; he landed at Sacramento and went from there to San Francisco, where he staid two weeks and then bought a mule team and traveled all over Southern California for three months, finally arriving at San Diego, and from there he came to Riverside. His father bought there, in 1875, when it was only a little place, in Arington Settlement, a forty-acre ranch, and planted twenty. acres to oranges and the balance to apricots and alfalfa. Since, it is all oranges. Mr. J. H. Crawford left there in 1883, and bought forty acre:, at $25 per acre, in Elsinore, planted twenty acres to apricots, ten to alfalfa, and the balance was reserved for nursery. When land advanced he sold the twenty acres of trees for $750 per acre; for the remaining twenty acres he was offered $12,000, but did not accept. He took the money he received for his land and bought eighty acres of land three-quarters of a mile northeast of Perris. Mr. Crawford's regular business is that of fruit-growing. He moved to Perris in 1887, and built a good house and barns, planted grounds, and has one of the most home-like nice places in the whole valley. This is another of the many ranches on which there is no waste land. October 24, 1888, he was married to Miss Lucy A. Hume, a native of Carleton County, Province of Canada, daughter of John Hume, also a native of Canada. Mr. Crawford is a Presbyterian, and Mrs. Crawford belongs to the Congregational Church. They are both very worthy citizens of Perris.
SOURCE: An Illustrated History of Southern California: Embracing the Counties of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the Peninsula of Lower California… Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1890. p.- 310
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
OLIVER NASON SANFORD,
a prominent citizen of San Diego, was born September 21,
1847, and has been a resident of San Diego since September, 1872. His father,
Oliver S. Sanford, for many years interested in railroads, was a native of
Newark, New Jersey. The family is of English and Scotch descent. He married Miss
Nason, of Hallowell, Maine, daughter of Bartholomew Nason. They had a family of
three children, of whom Oliver Nason was the oldest. He was a graduate of the
Institute of Technology of Boston. After graduating he went into the New
York & New England railroad office, where he remained about two years, and after
this had charge of the general ticket office for the same corporation until he
came to California, twenty years ago. He settled in Oakland, surveying in that
vicinity; the last two years with the Southern Pacific Railroad. In September,
1872, he came to San Diego and was with the Texas Pacific until they gave up
work in Southern California.
Then for the next few years he spent
a large share of his time at El Cajon, where he bought and improved what is now
known as the Chrisitan Place. He was with the California Southern during the
time of their building. On leaving that road he was elected County Surveyor,
which position he held for four years. The first true graded county roads
started under his administration. He has also, for six years held the office of
City Engineer which position he resigned January 1, 1889. During his city
administration the first graded streets were made, the first street paving and
the first sewering of the city. The first motors and street railroad were built
during his administration. He was married in Oakland, California, October 21,
1876, to Miss Fannie Newell Egan, of Hyde Park, Massachusetts, daughter of
William Egan. Their union was blessed with two children, both born in El Cajon:
William Oliver, born May 30, 1878, and Helen Nason, born February 2, 1880. Mr.
Sanford is a Good Templar, a member of the Congregational Church and a member of
the Chamber of Commerce. They are a family of culture, refinement and integrity.
SOURCE: An Illustrated History of Southern California: Embracing the Counties of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the Peninsula of Lower California… Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1890. p.- 310-311
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler