Eli Crum, son of John Crum & grandson ofMatthias Crum (emigrants) was born in Clark co, Indiana, on the 24th day of May, 1817.
He chose for his bride Miss Mary (Polly) Robnet, of whom the writer's mother said "She was the sweetest dispositioned woman I ever knew." They were married in the same neighborhood in which they were reared in the year of 1837, in his 20th year, and migrated to Palmyra, Illinois about 1847, coming through in a covered wagon. They brought six of their first seven children with them, the first born having died in infancy. Mrs. Crum gave birth to eighteen children, and died in her forth-sixth year.
Mr. Crum was a raw boned man about six feet tall, square shouldered and of great strength. He never met the man that could beat him chopping wood. He had a favorite axe that he called his "sweet little axe." One of his favorite stories was about his going down on the Mississippi Bottom to chop in the big timber. The logging camp's champion chopper bantered him for a match. He accepted, and chopped his log nearly twice in two while his rival cut his in two once.
Papaws suited his taste exactly after he had hid them by a log a few days to darken, down by the 'ole fishin hole.' His favorite sports were fishing & hunting, and the finny tribe and the bushy tails learned to be cautious when he dropped a hook in or pulled a triger. "Don't let touser bark" was his caution to the little lad that loved to accompany him.
Mr Crum was a farmer, and it seems a wagon maker, a man of sterling character, honest, and morally clean. He was never known to curse or swear, or let an unclean word pass his lips.
He passed away at the home of his oldest daughter, Mrs. Ellen Pinkerton, where he made his home in New Providence (Belltown), Greene County, Illinois, and about the middle of Feb. 1899, his mortal remains were laid to rest by the side of his wife in the old cemetery at Oxville, Scott co, Ill.
In religion he was Baptist, and knew what it was to vitally contact God in prayer. In his last days he testified to saving grace.