The Crowley Family
Pioneers Of the Downriver Area
by Frank Rathbun, September 11, 1952
Courtesy of The News Herald (originally published in The Mellus Newspapers)
ALTHOUGH MOST pioneer families of the Downriver area trace their nationality stock back to French or German sources, the Crowley clan of Taylor Township claims descent from an Irish emigrant who left County Cork more than a century ago. Cornelius Crowley, born in 1824, left old Erin in 1844 as part of a huge wave of Europeans, chiefly Irish and German, who came to the United States in the mid1800s to escape despotism and famine In their native lands. Crowley settled in Boston where he met and married Ellen Sweeney, daughter of another Irish emigrant.
The Crowley Family
This photo, taken on Belle Isle sometime prior to 1900, shows seven children of Cornelius Crowley, pioneer resident of Taylor Township. Standing, from left, are Cornelius, junior; Jerry, John and Michael. Seated, from left, are Mrs. Ellen Kean, Mrs. Julia Crouch and Mrs. Mary Wolfe. Last survivor of the family was Jerry, who died last July at the age of 90. The Crowley family originally came from County Cork, Ireland.
SEVERAL YEARS later, lured by reports of the rich farmlands available in the Great Lakes region, Crowley packed his family and belongings into a covered wagon and began the long trek to Michigan.
The immigrant family ended their weary journey in the newly-formed township of Taylor, where Crowley purchased an 80-acre farm on Pardee road between Wick and Goddard roads.
Possessed of a typical Irish love of the land, Crowley, before his death on December 4, 1882, purchased other farms in the township, bringing his entire holdings to more than 300 acres.
ALTHOUGH his original home has long since disappeared, a dwelling constructed on the property by Crowley's children about 1890 still stands near the original site, where it serves as a home for elderly women.
One of Cornelius Crowley's grandchildren, Herbert Crowley, still resides on land owned by his grandfather, while another portion of the original homestead site was purchased last year by the Taylor Township Businessmen's Association and has been transformed into a beautiful park adjoining Pardee Park.
Cornelius Crowley's eight children included three daughters and five sons, one of whom, Daniel, died in 1884, two years after his father, at the age of 17.
THE DAUGHTERS were Julia, who married Arthur Crouch and had three children; Mary, who married Joseph Wolfe and had six children, and Ellen, who married Michael Kean.
The oldest son was Cornelius, junior, born in 1852 who married Elizabeth Reed, a member of one of Dearborn's pioneer families. A farmer like his father, Crowley was township constable in 1876 and served as Justice of the Peace and school inspector for many years.
Cornelius Crowley, junior, died in 1920, leaving two sons, Herbert and Cornelius III, who has been an engineer on the Michigan Central Railroad for 35 years.
HERBERT CROWLEY is a retired Taylor Township businessman who operated a hardware store in the township for nearly 20 years.
The second son of the pioneer Cornelius was Michael Crowley, born in 1854, who married Julia Gasco. Also a township farmer, Crowley died in 1934, leaving five children and his wife, who still resides with her daughter in the township.
Michael Crowley's children include Michael, junior; Richard, Raymond, Irene, Dewar and Charles, proprietor of a tavern on Ecorse road in Taylor Township.
THIRD SON of Cornelius Crowley was John, born in 1856, who was one of the township's leading figures for more than a quarter of a century.
Elected as township clerk in 1895, John Crowley later became township supervisor, an office which he held, on and off, for almost 30 years.
The pioneer township official, who married Ellen Galloway, died in 1942 after a long career of public service. His six children included Edward, Winfred, Margaret, deceased, Gertrude Livernois, Esther Jarvis and Sister Florence Gillet, presently teaching in a Detroit parochial school.
EDWARD, WHO died in 1950, was Michigan fuel administrator during the second world war.
Winfred, now a Lincoln Park real estate broker, began his adult life as a farmer in Taylor Township but moved to Lincoln Park in 1924 to enter the real estate business.
Winfred Crowley, who has served on the Lincoln Park school board since the several school districts were consolidated in 1925, when the city was incorporated, had served previously one of the smaller school districts, when Lincoln Park was still a village.
IN 1933, Crowley was elected to the Lincoln Park council, but did not file for re-election in 1935. He served as president of the council in 1937, and was re-elected for another two-year term in 1939.
During the mid-1930s, Crowley served as local Civilian Works Administration director and in 1935 was named Works Progress Administration director, a post which he held for two years.
Cornelius Crowley's other son was Jeremiah (Jerry), born in 1862, who married Anna McMahon and moved to Dearborn, where a park has been named in his honor.
JERRY CROWLEY died last July 5 at the age of 90 years, leaving a son and a daughter. One son, Daniel, preceded him in death.
His daughter, Evelyn Bay, who taught school in Lincoln Park for more than 15 years, now resides in Dearborn, while his son, Leo F., died last week.
Leo Crowley, member of the Detroit city engineering staff since 1917, served in the Civil Engineer Corps during the first world war and was a lieutenant commander in the Naval Construction Battalions (Seabees) in the second world war.
A past national commander of the Seabee Veterans, Crowley was cited by the secretary of the navy for distinguished service and for heroic conduct in 1944, when he risked his life to help fight a huge gasoline storage tank fire at Falmouth, in Cornwall, England.
