Page:Pen Pictures of Representative Men of Oregon.djvu/195



REPRESENTATIVE MEN OF ORECION. If.'",

lem, where he has resided ever Kince, and lias been favored with a hicrative practice in his profession. In 1880 he was nominated by the Republican Covmty Convention and was elected to represent Marion ct)iinty in the House of Representatives of the Oregon Legislature in that year. He was the author of the bill which passed at that ae&siou to erect the State Insane Asylum building at Salem. Mr. Ford was re-elected as one of the Representatives on the Republican ticket in 1882. At this session he was very active and energetic in procuring the passage of laws to complete and furnish the asylum and govern and controlthat institution under the charge of the State. He was a member of the Judiciary Committee of the House in 1880 and also in 1882. He became somewhat noted for being always on the side of economy upon all measures which required money to he paid out of the State treasviry, and to his financial ability is due many of the economical features of measures requiring expeuditiu-es of money by the State. He was not given to "much speaking" as a member, but whenever he did speak upon any question before that body he was clear and forcil)le as to the position which be occupied on the subject under debate, and al- ways received the close attention of the members while speaking upon any question before the House. It can be truthfully said of Mr. Ford that he was one of the real working members of that body.

PROFESSOR T. H. CRAWFORD.

Prominent among those who are in charge of the educational interests of our State stands the gentleman whose name heads this sketch. For years past he has been prominently connected with various institutions of learn- ing, until the profession of a teacher, than which there is no higher or no- bler, has become second nature to him, and none in the ranks of that pro- fession stand higher or more universally command the respect and esteem of the general public than does Prof. Crawfoid. His record as a teacher and as a man and citizen is without blemish, and his friends and admirers are legion. He was born in Clarksburg, Indiana, June 21, 1810, and with his parents crossed the plains and reached Oregon in 1852, and settled on a farm near Brownsville, in Linn county. He attended the district schools until 1858, when he entered the Santiam Academy, where he remained sev- eral months. He commenced teaching in the fall of 1859, in the Cowan dis- trict, near Albany, and in November of that year he entered the Willamette University and graduated in the classical course in the class of '03. The succeeding three years were spent in teaching at Sublimity, and in Septem- ber, 186G, he took charge of the public schools of Salem, where he remained until December, 1867, when he came to Portland and accepted a position in the Portland Female Academy, under Prof. T. M. Gatch. He remained here untilJuly, 1870, when he was appointed Principal of the North Port- land Public School, where he remained two years, when, in Sei)tember, 1872, having been elected Professor of Natuj-al Science in the Willamette I'ni- versity, he moved to Salem. This position he. resigned in December, 1H75, and for a few mouths devoted his attention to the real estate and insiirauce business. In September, 187(j, he was elected to the Principalsliip of ihe