Crandall, Paul

Born: 1802-09-20 Connecticut

Died: 1889-01-09 Salem, Oregon

Paul Crandall was a local and state politician and an early pioneer of Oregon. Crandall received his education at schools in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1823, he accompanied his parents and siblings in a move to Allegany County, New York , where he purchased land for farming. In April 1824, Crandall married Sally Stillman, with whom he would have eight children. He continued to work his farm until 1839, when the after effects of the Panic of 1837 convinced him to sell his farm and join his relatives who had moved to the Wisconsin Territory. Crandall and his family arrived in the Wisconsin Territory shortly after the presidential election of 1840. Crandall established a homestead in Rock County and commenced clearing his land for farming. In addition to agricultural pursuits, Crandall became involved in local and state politics. In February 1845, he played a role establishing a new town out of the town of Milton which, at Crandall's suggestion, was called Lima, and in the first town elections held in April, he won election as town clerk and commissioner of highways. In October 1847, he represented Rock Island at the second constitutional convention for the state of Wisconsin. In 1849, Crandall represented Rock County in the Wisconsin State Assembly. In March 1852, Crandall and his family moved by wagon train from Wisconsin to the Oregon Territory, settling eventually in Salem.

J. D. Beck, comp., The Blue Book of the State of Wisconsin (Madison, WI: Democratic Printing, 1909), 19, 43, 908; William Fiske Brown, Rock County Wisconsin (Chicago: C. F. Cooper, 1908), 2:692; Kenneth L. Holmes and David C. Duniway, eds. and comps., Covered Wagon Women: Diaries and Letters from the Western Trails 1852 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1986), 5:174, 175, 201-4; "Paul Crandall," Salem Pioneer Cemetery Records, accessed 28 April 2020, http://www.salempioneercemetery.org/records/pf_display_record.php?id=1782; Gravestone, Salem Pioneer Cemetery, Salem, OR.