Register entry 028a - Robert Crawford
Visited the Bell Farm on 14 September 1884 - Robert Crawford (1834-1897), was born in Port Glasgow, Scotland and moved to Canada in 1849. In 1863 he married Elizabeth Miles, daughter of Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) Chief Factor Robert S. Miles. Crawford joined the Company in 1855 and was promoted to Factor in 1867.
When Robert retired from the Hudson's Bay Company in 1877, they moved to Brockville, Ontario, where they eventually met Major and Katherine Bell. Crawford became one of the original Bell Farm investors, and in the spring of 1882 both Bell and Crawford went west to establish the Bell Farm on behalf of the Qu'Appelle Valley Farming Company.
While Major Bell was busy creating his Farm, Crawford set up a General Store in the new town of Indian Head, and became its first postmaster. He became interested in local and regional politics and was elected as a member of the 1886/1887 North-West Territorial Council. Ultimately, Robert Crawford became known as 'the Laird of Indian Head'.
Crawford's two adopted children (his niece and nephew - Margaret and William) were well known in Indian Head. Margaret was the Sunday school teacher and Willie (HBC) took over the general store, which burnt down in the early 1900's along with it's $25,000 worth of uninsured stock. William then moved to Kelowna, B.C. where he was known as 'the man in the white stetson hat'; so it seems he had his father's outgoing personality.
The following details on the Crawford family are provided by Linda and John Kort, of Indian Head:
A woman from Abernethy museum (maiden name of Stueck) wrote that the town of Balcarres was named by Robert Crawford, who was Indian Head's postmaster at the time, and took the mail to that area. She wrote that Balcarres was his middle name. There is a Scottish peerage Balcarres-Crawford.
Lizzie and Robert Crawford had no children of their own but his nephew, William Mooney Crawford ended up taking over the General Store here in Indian Head.
Robert's brother, Captain Matthew Crawford, died and his wife, Mary, brought their three daughters to Ottawa where she became the head mistress or principal of a ladies' college. The college burned to the ground and she was killed in the fire. Those daughters came to live here in Indian Head with Lizzie and Robert.
Margaret, (Maggie) the middle daughter, ended up married in Calgary.
The oldest, Anna Maud Mary (Maud) Crawford solicited Brassey for money to build a hospital at Indian Head (now the Kort house) and a reading room. She went to Kingston to train for a nurse to be the matron of the hospital.
The other sister, the youngest, Mary Elizabeth Crawford became a medical doctor and was chief inspector of schools in Winnipeg. She was also a suffragette.
Maud married Basil Hamilton. They lived at Invermere. Basil was a keen historian and discovered David Thompson's first trading post "Kootanae House". Basil bought the land, and after both Basil and Maud died, Mary had a cairn erected on the land. It is now a national historic site.
Mary never married. She retired to Invermere, B.C. and lived out her days at the house Maud and Basil had built.
Mary, Maud and Basil are buried in the Lake Windermere Cemetery, at Windermere, B.C.
SOURCES":
Photo: McCord Museum, Montreal / William Notman Collection
photo source: McCord Museum/William Notman
Canadian Parliamentary Companion: http://books.google.ca/books?id=VWUSAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA377&dq=%22Capt.+Andrew+Crawford%22&hl=en&ei=rSNvTe3LM8O2tgfgtuTuDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CEMQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=%22Capt.%20Andrew%20Crawford%22&f=false
"Indian Head: History of Indian Head and District", p. 332
Marriage: http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~maryc/leeds1863.htm - 23 Aug. 1863
Death Notice for Robert Crawford (died Sept 22 1897) Leader Post (middle page of front page~ zoom twice): http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=IjbvboqL_eAC&dat=18970923&printsec=frontpage
Canada Census: 1871 - Ontario, West Algoma District, Nipigon Sub-District, Thunder Bay
Death Notice for Robert Crawford Qu'Appelle Progress(bottom right hand corner of front page): http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=HOg0WoviCygC&dat=18970923&printsec=frontpage
'Morning Leader' (Crawford named Indian Head reference ) http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=MwZTAAAAIBAJ&sjid=0DcNAAAAIBAJ&pg=5006,2266106&dq=robt+crawford+indian-head&hl=en
"The Laird" of Indian Head: http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=5XhTAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ODgNAAAAIBAJ&pg=4711,3977647&dq=robt+crawford+indian-head&hl=en
Letter referring to "The Laird" of Indian Head: http://dev.glenbow.org/collections/search/findingAids/archhtm/macleod/scan_1890_01.htm
RESEARCH BY:
Michelle Cabana, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; and by Linda and John Kort, Indian Head, Sask.