Individual Page

Person Info

• Name: Augustus L CROCKER
• Sex: M
• Birth: 4 Mar 1850 in Paris, Maine ^b
• Death: 1925 in Minnesota ^d


Parents:

• Father:
  
• Thomas CROCKER
Mother:

• Almira DAVIS

Family:
Marriage:

• Clara Todd PEABODY on 3 Jan 1883 .^m1
  
• Clara Todd PEABODY Birth: 22 Jun 1853 in Eastport, Maine Death: 1923 in Minnesota

Children:

1. Ruth CROCKER Death: 1900
2. Katherine CROCKER
3. Thomas CROCKER

Bibliography

Sources for birth and parent Information

date:

[Ref: Shutter Minneapolis v2p77],

place:

[Ref: Shutter Minneapolis v2p77],

parents:

[Ref: Shutter Minneapolis v2p77]

Sources for death Information

date:

[Ref: Raisndustbunys 5/10/2003],

place:

[Ref: Raisndustbunys 5/10/2003]

Sources with Information about marriage to Clara Todd PEABODY

date:

[Ref: PeabodySH PEABODY p153, Shutter Minneapolis v2p77],

child:

[Ref: Shutter Minneapolis v2p77]

Research Notes:
1873: graduated Bowdoin College, A.M. [Ref: Shutter Minneapolis v2p77]

received a graduate degree in mechanical engineering [Ref: Shutter Minneapolis v2p77]

----- AUGUSTUS LUTHER CROCKER
One of the most popular citizens of Minneapolis is Augustus Luther Crocker, who has contributed in a great degree to the commercial, industrial and financial development of this metropolis of the Northwest. He is a descendant of an old and honored American family, his ancestors having emigrated from England and located in New England in the early colonial period. His father, Thomas Crocker, resided in Paris, Oxford county, Maine, for many years and was a man who owned considerable property. He was prominent in both business and financial circles and achieved substantial success in life. Thomas Crocker's wife was Almira Davis, whose family was also prominent in the annals of New England.
Augustus Luther Crocker was born on the 4th of May, 1850, at Paris, Maine, and upon attaining school age entered the public schools of his native town. Subsequently he enrolled in the Paris Hill Academy, where he prepared for Bowdoin College and he was graduated from the latter institution with the degree of A. M. in 1873. He then took a postgraduate course in mechanical engineering and after receiving his degree he went to Europe, in 1875, there to pursue his engineering studies and to gain the advantages of travel. He journeyed to many places on the continent until 1877, when he returned to America and made his initial step in the business world, becoming interested in the construction and management of Open Hearth and Bessemer steel works at Springfield, Illinois, and St. Louis, Missouri. In the fall of 1889 he came to Minneapolis and has since resided here. He was first engaged in the manufacturing and machinery line and subsequently he entered the real estate business. He is now active in this connection and is conceded to be one of the most reliable real estate dealers in the city.
Mr. Crocker is essentially a public-spirited man and has attained a leading position among the enterprising citizens of Minneapolis. He has always taken an active interest in any movement for the benefit of the city at large and it was at his suggestion and largely through his efforts that the Business Men's Union was organized in 1890. He became first secretary of that body, the purpose of which was to promote manufacturing and trade in Minneapolis and but for the coming of hard times would have proved of incalculable value in the city. In January, 1893, he took an active part in the reorganization of the board of trade and was its president, which important office he held for four years. In January, 1895, the Northwest Business Federation-was organized and Mr. Crocker was elected president, representing the Minneapolis board of trade. He was the principal leader of the municipal good government movement, and he was the moving spirit in the arbitration which settled the Great Northern strike. He was instrumental in the bringing of a delegation of British farmers to Minnesota and this resulted in the immigration here of a large number of industrious and well-to-do English farmers, who are now numbered among the permanent and prosperous citizens of the state. Mr. Crocker was the chief promoter of the great carnival festival of 1892 and he was the leader in the work of securing the city census of 1895. He has been most active in the efforts to boom the live stock interests, and his active connections with and valuable services in the deep waterways movement won for him a national reputation. He has given a great deal of his time and attention to the development of deep waterways and the project of connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic ocean by ship canal. In 1894 he was sent to the Toronto convention, as a representative of the board of trade, and was there chosen chairman of the executive committee. He has made a special and thorough study of the deep waterways and inland navigation and prior to the Cleveland convention of 1895, he carried on an active campaign among the representatives of the northwestern and New England states in congress, enlisting their interest in the project and pledging them to support legislation favorable to the construction and maintenance of deep waterways between the lakes and from the lakes to the Atlantic coast. The success of the Cleveland convention of 1895, therefore, was largely due to his efforts, in recognition of which he was continued as chairman of the executive committee. The work which Mr. Crocker accomplished in securing the reduction of city taxes to the amount of one hundred thousand dollars was one of the other important matters of public interest to which he gave a great deal of attention. Mr. Crocker represented the board of trade in the municipal reform convention at Philadelphia in 1894, which organized the National Municipal Reform League and also represented the same body in the national municipal reform convention in Minneapolis in December of the same year.
On the 3d of January, 1883, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Crocker to Miss Clara Peabody, a daughter of Leonard and Mary (Hill) Peabody, natives of Maine. To their union three children were born: Ruth, whose demise occurred in 1900; Katherine, who was Y. M. C. A. secretary of the League Island Navy Yard during the World war; and Thomas, who was married in 1919 to Miss Margaret McLeod of St. Paul. Thomas graduated from the Macalester College at St. Paul and subsequently took a course at the McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago. He is now a Presbyterian missionary in Bucaramanga, Colombia, South America.
Mr. Crocker has always strictly adhered to the principles of the republican party. When he was a candidate for mayor of this city, the following appeared in the editorial columns of the Minneapolis Times, showing him to possess all the qualifications required of a man to fill the position: "..*.. He knows more concerning the principles of municipal government and has a wider grasp of its practical needs than Pratt and Webster (rival candidates) combined, and has done more to promote the interests of the city and add to its prosperity at home and its good name abroad, than a regi-ment of them. . . * . . Mr. Crocker is a man of education, in the prime of his life, an enthusiastic advocate of municipal reform and of clean politics, and in every conceivable respect is vastly superior to either of his rivals. He has been a consistent friend of labor . . * . . There is no question of his integrity and his entire trustworthiness in every relation of life." The religious faith of Mr. Crocker is that of the Presbyterian church, to the support of which he has always been a generous contributor. He is a life member of the executive committee of the National Municipal League and a life member of the American Institute of Mining Engineers. He is likewise a member of the Minneapolis library board. A man of great energy and industry, possessing a most active mind, Mr. Crocker well merits the success he has achieved in life and the confidence and esteem in which he is held by all who know him. He has wielded a great influence for good in this city and no history of Minneapolis or of the state would be complete without mention of him. [Ref: Shutter Minneapolis v2p77]



Pedigree of Augustus L CROCKER
 /-----Thomas CROCKER
Augustus L CROCKER
 \-----Almira DAVIS



Descendants of Augustus L CROCKER