While many of the more ancient grist and saw mills of the town have now disappeared, some have been greatly improved and modernized and new ones have been built.
MILITARY HISTORY.
On this topic little can be said with reference to the early history of this separate section, as the town came into existence some time after the close of the wars with foreign nations. All such data is hopelessly buried in the ancient annals of Wallkill and Montgomery so far as the Crawford chronicler is concerned. There were doubtless patriots of this section who served in the Continental army of Washington, and others who went out in the military company during the second outbreak in 1812. But the records contain no separate lists of these and this roll of honor cannot therefore be presented here. Philip Decker, David Rainey and Joseph Elder, the only names we can positively identify as being residents of what is now the town of Crawford, who served in the Revolution.
But in the War of the Rebellion the record is more complete. While, like most other towns in nearly every county in the northern States, there were misguided men in Crawford, partisans, politicians and abject followers of that class, servile men with little principle and less brains, who opposed the war on political principle, or through ignorance of the situation, without regard to the safety of the American Union of States, the great majority of the citizens, here as elsewhere, were loyal Union men. And when the first secession gun belched forth on Fort Sumter the old spirit of patriotism which had animated their ancestors was fired anew. The town furnished 188 men for the Union army and navy under the various calls of President Lincoln and the draft. Sixty-nine men went forward at once under Captain Samuel Hunter, who organized a company of volunteers in the town known as Co. H, which was attached to the 124th Regiment. The sum of $525 was raised by subscription in 1862 for bounties paid to 21 volunteers who enlisted in the 168th Regiment, and $50 was raised for a like purpose in connection with the regiment first named. In 1863 $3,000 was raised and $27,610 the following year. Then, under the last call, $16,500 was added to these cash contributions from this town, making the total sum $47,685. On the final settlement with the State after the war, $11,700 of this amount was returned to the town for excess of years and bounties. A tax of $30,000 was authorized in January, 1865, but as is seen above only a portion of this amount was required.
The record contains a detailed list of the men furnished by the town from which it appears that ten enlisted in the 56th Regiment in 1861, one in the 18th, five in the 19th, and twelve in other regiments during the first year. Then in 1862, twenty-one went out in the 124th, and thirty in the 168th. Twenty-nine enlisted in various other organizations in 1863 and 1864, and twenty-nine others were drafted into the service, most of whom furnished substitutes.
As showing who were among the leading farmers in this town in the early part of the 19th century, it will be of interest perhaps to quote a few items from an old list of agricultural premiums awarded at the county fairs held in that period. In 1820 Daniel Bull was awarded $20, for the best farm of 100 acres in the town. He also had the second best fat oxen. The next year Henry Bull got $10 for the second best farm, and Daniel Bull $15 for the best working oxen. In 1822 Henry Bull had the best three acres of winter wheat, for which he was awarded a prize of $10. Moses Crawford then received a like award for 2,051 pounds of butter from twenty cows. In 1823 Moses Crawford received a four-dollar prize for the third best piece of dressed woolen cloth, also various other prizes for white flannel, linen, etc. William Gillespie then had a fine exhibit of sewing-silk, for which he received a prize. These items are taken at random from an old record which, strangely enough, does not contain the first awards in many cases.
The population of Crawford, according to the national census of 1880, was 1,951, which was a decrease from that of 1870 of seventy-three.
The Pine Bush Library Association was organized November 10, 1899, at a meeting held in Wallace Hall for the purpose of considering the practicability of establishing a public library in the village. H. J. McKinney, Mrs. Joel Whitten, J. E. Ward, Mrs. J. L. Acheson, D. T. Bowen, Miss Emma B. Shaper, S. K. Seybolt and Mrs. Nelson Van Keuren were chosen trustees. H. J. McKinney was elected president, retaining the office until his death, September 24, 1907. While ably discharging the duties of the position, he was a liberal contributor to the support of the library. He supervised the construction of the building it now occupies.
The library was incorporated December 21, 1899, receiving from the State University a provisional charter. December 1, 1904, a permanent charter was granted.
Through the kindness of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of Pine Bush the library was kept in the rooms of that organization without cost to the association, until the summer of 1907, when it was removed to its present home. This was remodeled from a building presented to the Library Association by H. P. Taylor, a resident of the village, and is a substantial edifice with an attractive interior, admirably arranged for library purposes.