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MISS SARAH JANE CRAWFORD
DIES AT THE AGE OF 94
YEARS. *
Member of Noted Family Passes
Away at Homestead Near Ap
pling—Was Remarkable
Woman.
(Special Dispatch to The Journal.)
Harlem, Ga. r Aug. 2.—Miss Sarah
Jane Crawford died this morning at
the Crawford homestead, near Ap
pling, in Columbia county, at the age
of 94 years. She is survived by her
sister, Miss Pemelia, aged 88; her
brother, Mr. Nathan Crawford, of
Lincolnton, aged 84, and her nephews,
Mr. Remsen Crawford, the author,
and Dr. W. H. Crawford, of Lincoln
ton, a physician.
THhe death of Miss Sarah Jane
Crawford removes the oldest and best
loved person in Columbia county, and
one of the most remarkable women
in the state. The scene of her death
was also the place of her birth. She
was born in the Crawford homestead,
which has been continuously occu
ied by Crawfords for over 125
years.
At the time of her death, Miss
Crawford was surrounded by her im
mediate kin, and a number of warm
friends from all sections of the coun
ty. She has been in failing health
for some time, and her death was
the result of a complication of trou
bles too much for her old age.
Miss Sarah Jane Crawford was a
cousin of the late distinguished Wil
liam Harris Crawford, who failed of
election as president of the United
States by a single vote, and whom
Napoleon stamped as the greatest
man he had ever met.
Talked of Distinguished Cousin.
“We remember William H. Craw
ford very well,” said Miss Sarah
Jane to Governor Hoke Smith, upon
the occasion of his visit to the Craw
ford homestead during the campaign.
“He w T as our cousin, and lived in
this county. He was getting along in
years, however, when we —Pemelia
and I —were young ladies, and died
in Elbert county before we knew
much of him or his doings as a
statesman. ’ 1
When Governor Smith visited the
Misses Crawford, April 23, 1906, he
was en route from Lincolnton to Ap
pling. He was accompanied by Dr.
W. H. Crawford, and the pleasant
stop at the Crawford homestead came
as a pleasant surprise to him.
The following is taken from an ac
count of the governor’s visit to the
Misses Crawford, written for The
Journal at the time:
As Dr. Crawford and Mr. Smith
approached the house, the door
opened and there, standing in the
door, with her hands folded in front,
was a beautiful woman —a woman
nearly ninety years of age —with well
preserved features, set off by pretty
snow white hair. And she was so
glad to see the doctor and to meet
his distinguished friend.
Inside the room, in an easy chair,
was seated even a more remarkable
woman—a woman ninety-three years
of age, but still enjoying fairly good
health, active and energetic enough
to manage one of the largest planta
tions in Columbia county. She, too,
was glad to meet the doctor, and to
make the acquaintance of his friend.
The Misses Crawford.
Mr. Smith himself expressed pleas
ure at meeting two of the most re
markable women in Georgia—the
Misses Crawford. Miss Sarah Jane
Crawford, aged ninety-three, and
Miss Pemelia Crawford, aged eighty
eight years —these were the women
the candidate for governor had met,
and these were the women, who, de
spite their age and the remote loca
tion of their home from a railroad,-
sat for an hour or more and discussed
the political campaign with interest.
Dr. Crawford presented the wom
en, one after the other.
“I am so glad to meet you, Mr.
Smith,” said Miss Sarah Jane, at
tempting to arise from her chair.
“I have been reading about your
wonderful campaign, and I am for
you. I have been lectioneering for
you ever since you announced and
you will get the five votes on my
plantation.”
“Yes, Mr. Smith,” added Miss
Pemelia, “the Crawfords of Colum
bia county are for you for governor,
and you know we are all politicians.
I think you will carry Columbia, all
right. ’ ’
Dr. Crawford is the nephew of the
Misses Crawford, the son of Uncle
Nathan Crawford, who’ though eighty
three years old, is one of the leading
and most active men in the adjoin
ing county of Lincoln, and he plan
ned to agreeably surprise Mr. Smith
by having him spend the night at the
home of his remarkable aunts. He
had informed them that Mr. Smith
would be their guests on that partic
ular Monday night.
“We were afraid you were not
coming,” remarked Miss Sarah Jane.
“We waited supper a long time, but
finally Pemelia and I became so hun
gry we could wait no longer. How
ever, w T e put something aside for you
all, and if you haven’t had your sup
per we will gladly sene you.”
And that night Hoke Smith ate a
delightful meal from a mahogany ta
ble which had been in service for
nearly one hundred years, from which
the hostesses ate their meals when
little children. And he slept in a
bed, a big, old-fashioned mahogany
bed, older than either of the women.
An Old, Old Residence.
The Crawford homestead is the
oldest in Columbia county. It has
been standing over 125 years, during
all of which time a Crawford has
occupied it. The house is a large one,
and is still in first-class condition,
the landlord, Miss Sarah Jane, de
lighting in keeping it in repair.
The residence sits at the top of a
high hill, and from the broad veran
da in front the scenery is grand. The
road may be seen for miles winding
its way in either direction until it
seems a small ribbon and is finally
lost in the woods on either side in the
distance.
Just across the road is the spring
—the spring from which the Craw
fords have for over a century been
obtaining all of their water for do
mestic use. It is at the bottom of a
steep decline, and there about the
spring may be seen the wash tuhs,
the tops and the ash hooper.
In the yard immediately In front*
of the house flowers of many colors
may be seen in profusion. Miss
Pemelia takes a pride, a delight in
cultivating flowers.
Miss Sarah Jane, Farmer.
The plantation is the property of
WATSON’S WEEKLY JEFFERSONIAN.
Miss Sarah Jane. Miss Pemelia has
her money invested in Georgia rail
road bonds. The former manages the
farm and assumes all of the respon
sibilities. She has an overseer to ex
ecute her orders, but she attends to
all the financing, says what shall be
planted, the number of acres in cot
ton, the number in corn, etc. And,
too, she says when the cotton shall
be sold, and directs the expenditures.
Even while Mr. Smith was at the
home, Miss Sarah Jane excused her
self long enough to direct the pay
ment of certain bills and to exam
ine receipts for money she had had
the overseer expend that day.
Women Well Informed.
“Yes, we are well informed,” said
Miss Sarah Jane, “but not nearly so
well as we w’ould like to be. You
see, we are getting old —I am 93 and
my sister is 88 —and we can’t see to
read as in years gone by. We get
The Atlanta Journal here, and man
age to keep up with the times.”
Miss Sarah Jane remarked that
she felt very well, although she suf
fered at times from rheumatism, and
Mi«s Pemelia had a like complaint.
Mr. Smith left the Crawford
homestead the following morning,
after a good breakfast, and the sis
ters followed him to the front door
to bid him goodby and wish him suc
cess in his campaign.
SOME GOOD THOUGHTS.
To the Editor of The Georgian:
As the Fourth of July is approach
ing, the date when we celebrate an
nually the birth of this nation, it
seems appropriate to call attention
to that document which converted the
thirteen colonies into an independent,
self-governing community. Os course,
every schoolboy knows that the doc
ument referred to is the “Declara
tion of Independence.” But very few
schoolboys, and, for that matter, very
few grown citizens of this country,
are as intimately acquainted as they
ought to be with the principles laid
down in that immortal document
which created this nation. On the
principles laid down in that immor
tal declaration, this nation was found
ed. It is for the realization of these
principles that the Constitution of
the United States was afterwards
formulated. And it is for the real
ization of these principles merely,
that any constitution or laws of this
countiy, whether state or national,"'
ought to be enacted, and ought to
serve.
We have long’recognized the fact
that any law enacted in conflict with
the constitution of the state or na
tion is void.
The constitution of a state or of
the nation purports to set forth and
safeguard the rights and duties of
the individual and of the community
to each other. And any law’s, which
are rules and regulations, enacted by
the people through their delegates or
representatives, must conform to the
principles laid down in the constitu
tion, and any law in conflict there
with would be void.
No law has any binding force if
in conflict with the constitution; that
is, with the rights and duties of the
individuals and the community to
each other, as laid down in the con
stitution.
It seems almost superfluous to call
special attention to this well recog-
nized principle, that any law in con
flict with the constitution is void.
In fact, it has gone so far, that
we have made a fetich of our consti
tution, especially of our national con
stitution.
We have lost sight of the fact that
the constitution of the United States
is merely a device for carrying into
effect the principles of the “Decla
ration of Independence.” As no
creature can rise superior to its cre
ator, so any interpretation of the
provisions of the constitution, whether
state or national, in conflict with the
principles laid down In the “Declara
tion of Independence,” is a perver
sion of the spirit of this country, is
against the safeguarded rights of the
individual, fundamentally wrong and
void.
Not the constitution of the United
States, but the “Declaration of In
dependence,” and the principles laid
down in that document, which called
this nation into existence, is the
fountain-head from which all con
stitutions and laws in this land de
rive their authority, and to whose
spirit they must conform, to be in
harmony with the spirit of this coun
try and binding on its citizens, indi
vidually and collectively. Never let
us forget for a moment that the cit
izens of this country are the country,
and that there ought to be only real
self-government “of the people, by
the people, for the people ’’; and that
interpretations of the constitution in
any "ways conflicting with this, or
with any of the principles of the
“Declaration of Independence,” con
stitute a usurpation of pow’er, a
tyranny not to be tolerated in this
republic.
It is a curious fact that the “De
claration of Independence” cannot
be found in any text books of our
primary schools. Every child, I sup
pose (I am not certain) is taught
that there was such an event as the
declaration of independence, but of
the real contents of this document,
which ought to be the supreme law
of the land, not one citizen in a hun
dred, I may say, has any real concep
tion, and net one in a thousand has
any accurate, intimate knowledge.
It is this shameful condition of
things which prompts me to suggest
that the full text of the “Declara
tion of Independence” ought -to have
a prominent place in the text books of
our schools, and that the words and
the spirit of that document ought to
be in the zealous care of every teach
er, to be made by him into an inte
gral part of the brain and spirit of
the future cititen of this republic.
CARL HENRICH.
—Atlanta Georgian
It looks as if Tom Watson has
about cornered Bishop Candler on
the prohibition question. The bishop
may have been a prohibitionist all
of his life, but he has certainly made
some great blunders. When the
Willingham bill was up for passage,
in the Senate a few years ago, a card
from Bishop Candler in which he
declared for local option, was used
by one of the leaders who opposed the
bill and made the text for his entire
speech. He used what the bishop
had said as an argument against a
state prohibition bill.—Talbotton
New Era.