The death of the husband and father occurred in McMinnville, Oregon, in March, 1899, but he was laid to rest in Mountain View cemetery in Walla Walla. He was a self-made man and deserved much credit for what he accomplished. At the time of his death he owned several hundred acres, constituting one of the excellent stock ranches of the Inland Empire. Since his demise his widow and her family have removed to Walla Walla, where they took up their abode in 1904, and she now owns an attractive home on Boyer avenue.
Mrs. Adams belongs to the Baptist church, of which Mr. Adams was also a devoted member and an active church worker, doing all in his power to further the cause and extend the influence of the church. In politics he was an earnest republican and took a helpful interest in promoting party successes. He held several county offices while in Umatilla county, Oregon, and at all times was true and loyal to the trust reposed in him. In a word, his was an honorable and upright career and his memory remains enshrined in the hearts of all who knew him. He possessed many sterling characteristics, was straightforward in every business transaction, was patriotic in citizenship, held friendship inviolable and was devoted to the happiness of his wife and children.
C. S. CREWS.
C. S. Crews, who is perhaps better known to his hundreds of friends on the Pacific coast as "Doc" Crews, has a most wide acquaintance as a theatrical manager. He is now manager of the Crews Amusement Company, operating the Liberty Theater in Walla Walla, which is the only vaudeville theater in the city.
He was born in Montrose, Henry county, Missouri, October 13, 1881, a son of Tyson M. and Elizabeth (Reed) Crews, the former a native of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, while the latter was born in Henry county, Missouri. The paternal grandfather, Edward Crews, was the owner of a large tobacco plantation and many slaves in North Carolina. In young manhood Tyson M. Crews removed westward to Henry county, Missouri, where he was married and resided until 1881, when he returned to North Carolina. In 1888 he came to Walla Walla, where he engaged in the coal and wood business, but the panic of 1892-3 forced him to suspend operations in that line. He then went to work as a stationary engineer in a laundry and subsequently removed to Olympia, Washington, where he established himself in the laundry business. In 1913 he went to Roy, Idaho, where he has since been engaged in farming.
C. S. Crews was educated in the public schools of Walla Walla, having been brought to the west during his early boyhood days. The spirit of western enterprise and progress has always been a dominant factor in his career. From an early age he has been dependent upon his own resources and whatever success he has achieved is the direct reward of his labors. As a boy he worked in a livery stable for a wage of twenty-five cents per day. Subsequently he was employed in a laundry at fifty cents per day and later he secured the position of cashier in the mercantile house of the Schwabacher Company. He was endowed by nature with musical talent and during these years he became identified with the Walla Walla Band as drummer and in the years following he accumulated musical instruments to the value of about a thousand dollars. These included xylophones, saxophones, aluminum chimes, bamboo chimes, marimbaphones and sonorophones. In fact he acquired everything in the musical novelty line. The mercantile company with which he was employed refusing to allow him vacations in order to attend to his band duties, he accordingly resigned and later took up a position with the Mottee-Wheeler Company as credit man, continuing his musical work. In 1903 and 1904 he toured the country on the vaudeville circuit as a novelty musical artist with pleasing success. He then returned to Walla Walla and again entered the employ of the Mottee-Wheeler Company. The moving picture business became a feature of entertainment and Mr. Crews associated himself therewith, opening up a moving picture house in a modest way, and from this small start was developed what is now the Strand, the Arcade and the Liberty, all of which Mr. Crews established, but in October, 1916, he sold the Strand and the Arcade and now operates only the Liberty, where he puts forth nothing but the highest class pictures and also gives a vaudeville show of equal worth. In the days of the Western Tri-State Baseball League, of which he was one of the organizers, he was the vice president and the secretary. He is thus well known in sporting as well as in entertainment circles.
In April, 1906, Mr. Crews was united in marriage to Miss Mary A. Connors, of Walla Walla, and to them have been born three sons and three daughters, known as the Golden Stairway, all being of blond complexion with golden hair, while Mr. Crews has black hair. The children are Naomi, Norma, Francis, Mignon, Clarence E. and John. Mrs. Crews is gifted musically, being a graduate in music of St. Vincent's Academy, and she possesses notable skill in piano playing.
Mr. Crews belongs to Walla Walla Lodge, No. 287, B. P. O. E. He is also a member of the Loyal Order of Moose and of the Knights of Columbus. He likewise belongs to the Turkey Reds, an organization comprising the most progressive men of the Commercial Club, and his religious faith is that of the Catholic church.