Myron H. Crafts, a\u00a0 descendant in the sixth generation of Elihu Crafts, who was one of the pilgrims brought over by the Mayflower, was the first settler in the place which bears his name.\u00a0 He located at Crafton in 1861, over five years before Dr. Ben Barton erected his brick residence near the Mission buildings (Dec. 1866).\u00a0 Mr. Crafts was born at Whately, Mass., in August, 1816.\u00a0 When thirteen years of age he left school and \u201cstruck out\u201d to make his own fortune.\u00a0 He went to New York City and was for some time a clerk in a dry good store, but eventually went into the business on his own account and was also in partnership with his brother, George Crafts.\u00a0 Leaving the metropolis, he was for a number of years in business with Leonard Woods, at Enfield, Mass., where, in 1843 he was married to Miss Miranda Capen, of the same place.\u00a0 They had four children, three of whom are now living \u2013 Mrs. Ellen Woods Meachem, Harry G., and George H. Crafts.<\/p>\n
After marriage he returned to new York, where he became one of the originators of the Five Points Mission, and where he remained in business until he went to Jackson, Mich., in 1853.\u00a0 After his store in that place had been burned three times, \u201con account of his abolition principles,\u201d he went to Dimondale, in the same state, and opened up another store and engaged in the real estate business.\u00a0 In this place his wife died, September 14, 1856.\u00a0 Soon after her death he went into a bank in Lansing, which place he left to become cashier of a bank in Detroit.<\/p>\n
In 1861 he resigned his position and came to California and to Crafton, as above noted.\u00a0 He first bought 450 acres of land and gradually increased this amount to 1,800 acres.\u00a0 The settlement which he created first bore the name of Altoona, but the inhabitants and visitors appropriately and unalterably made it Crafton.\u00a0 In 1886 he had forty acres surveyed into lots and the town platted.\u00a0 He secured a post office for the place and had other improvements in hand, when death intervened, September 12, 1886.\u00a0 Mr. Crafts was a zealous worker in the cause of Christ from his boyhood, and while at Crafton taught the Indians Christina burial and was one of the prominent advocates of the Homestead Law, which would enable them to own their own lands.\u00a0 He had unbounded faith in the possibilities of this valley and believed that it \u201cwould be peopled by thrifty Yankees and water would be found in abundance to cultivate the rich soil.\u201d\u00a0 He set out the second orange grove in San Bernardino valley, in 1870, and was the first man in the county to go into the bee business on a large scale.\u00a0 He was very public spirited and nobly generous.\u00a0 In 1864 he was married to Mrs. E.P. Robbins, who survives him and a sketch of whose life appears elsewhere in this volume.\u00a0 The had one child, a bright and loved boy, who died at the age of thirteen years.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
(Source: Illustrated Redlands<\/em>, 1897, p. 58.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":20703,"template":"","photo_tag":[],"gallery":[176],"awards_category":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rahs.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/photo\/20702"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rahs.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/photo"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rahs.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/photo"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rahs.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/photo\/20702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rahs.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rahs.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"photo_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rahs.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/photo_tag?post=20702"},{"taxonomy":"gallery","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rahs.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/gallery?post=20702"},{"taxonomy":"awards_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rahs.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/awards_category?post=20702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}