top of page

Agnes Vivian Crawford, McLean County

Agnes Vivian Crawford began life at Randalls Island, New York City, where she lived with her mother and twin sister, Mary. It was not the most auspicious of beginnings. On Randall’s Island her mother, Mary, was a laundress. (Residents of Randall's Island had to work for their keep.) Her mother had come to America from Ireland, but her father James, was an American and a painter according to her birth certificate. Agnes, and possibly Mary, according to the New York State archives, was surrendered to the American Female Guardian Society on the 19th of March 1886 at the age of six. The next record of Agnes was a letter written by her in Seneca, Illinois on the 22nd of October in 1894, where she apparently lived with the P.G. Thomas family. This letter mentioned the “Juvenile Asylum.” Another letter, written in January 1896 came from Kankakee, Illinois, where Agnes lived with another family headed by Edgar Hawkins. We do not know that Agnes came to Illinois via the New York Juvenile Asylum, but her story is one that is too interesting to pass up! (The ledgers of the Asylum have an Agnes and a Mary Crawford.)

From these letters it seems that Agnes’ life was following an all too familiar trajectory of multiple foster homes and a bouncing trail between cities. But in 1900 Agnes’ story took an unexpected turn – she attended Illinois State Normal University from 1900 to 1902 and received a teaching degree. She left no clues behind that tell us how she managed to acquire her education, but she left a postcard of the ISNU campus with an inscription: "during a color rush I climbed one dark night to the top of the cupola and tied our colors there." In 1903 she wrote a letter that is noted in the NY State archives where she is quoted as saying “I am a teacher of good standing here in the West!” She was living in Earlville, Illinois at that time, boarding with the J. A. Harris family.

Agnes’ granddaughter knows that after 1910 Agnes moved to Ash Fork, Arizona, where she became a Harvey Girl. Only the most adventurous women became Harvey Girls – they were young single women who moved West, seeking adventure and independence serving in The Harvey House railroad restaurants on the Kansas Pacific Railroad and the Atcheson Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad. This chain of restaurants served tourists coming to the national parks of the Southwest and travelers en route to California.

Agnes married John Hendrix, the chef of the Escalante Hotel in Ash Fork in 1919 and had to leave her waitressing days behind – the Harvey House waitresses could not be married women. Agnes and John continued to live in Arizona and later moved to California, where she raised her granddaughters, Vivian and Jacki.

Agnes died February 20, 1960 at the age of 80 in Fairfield, California. She is remembered fondly by her granddaughters, Vivian and Jacki.

Tags:

Featured Posts
Recent Posts
Archive
Search By Tags
Follow Us
  • Facebook Basic Square
  • Twitter Basic Square
  • Google+ Basic Square
bottom of page