EDWIN O. CRANDALL. Deceased – It is pleasant to give an epitome of a career that has been filled with good deeds and in which upright principles have been set forth and especially gratifying to all is it to be enabled to chronicle the items of the life of one who has made a pleasing success in a number of walks of life and has always manifested in the pure of life and has always manifested a kindness, geniality and faithfulness that are both enjoyable and praiseworthy. Of this class is the gentleman, whose life history we now essay to outline and whose enterprise and industry, as well as his wisdom and good judgment have been manifested in the pursuits that he has followed in our midst for over one-third of a century.
The Keystone state was the place of his birth and 1837 the year. A few years later he accompanied his parents to Chicago and there his energy and skill became apparent in that, during the time in which a young man is occupied in acquiring skill in one line of industry, he mastered three distinct crafts. He became an expert miller of flour, a confectioner, and a machinist. The C.R.I. railroad engaged his services as engineer on the railroad and he was master of an engine until the fall of 1863, when the call of patriotism became patent to him and he laid down the instruments and garb of the machinist and donned the military uniform and learned amid the stern realities of active warfare the skill of handling the musket and the saber. He enlisted in Company E., One Hundred and Twenty-Seventh Illinois Regiment, under Sherman and in that relation served faithfully till the winter of 1864, when he was honorably discharged on account of a wound received at Kenesaw Mountain. He was at St. Louis when the discharge came and thence he went to Omaha, where soon after he joined a train composed of ox teams and bound for the territory of Oregon. He completed the trip in good time and without accident or injury from the Indians. His stopping place was Lagrande, and there he at once set about the milling business and to him is due the credit of manufacturing the first barrel of flour that the county of Union ever produced. He steadily pursued this calling until about eight years since, having meantime been prospered in his endeavors, and then sold his entire interests in the plant and business and bought a farm one and one-half miles south from Lagrande. He did not stay long on this property but sold out and joined the Wilson colony of Field and Fireside which settled about thirty-six miles east from Los Angeles, California. In this project he did not remain long, but in 1896 returned to Lagrande and opened a confectionery store, where he remained until his death. He did a good business and his kind and genial ways won for him hosts of friends and his uprightness and uniform and deferential treatment of his patrons gave him a generous patronage which was merited by his fairness and untiring labors to please all.
Mr. Crandall married Miss Mary Ann Collins, a native of Virginia, in 1865, and they became the parents of two children, William I. And Charles H. Mr. Crandall was respected and esteemed by all and was one of the substantial and representative men of the county, and one of its most progressive and wide awake citizens.
On March 8, 1902, the messenger of death came, and Mr. Crandall lay down to rest from the labors of a long and enterprising career. His remains were interred in the I.O.O.F. cemetery of Lagrande, having been a charter member of that order.