Enlisted as a private on May 10, 1861, in Company C, Third Regiment Pennsylvania Reserves. Married Alice M. Hale.
Benjamin F. CROASDALE - It is not an easy task to describe adequately a man who has led an eminently active and busy life and who has attained a position of relative distinction in the community with which his interests are allied. The subject of this sketch has for many years been engaged in the retail merchandise business and is known widely and well throughout this section. His honorable methods and kindly disposition have won for him a wide circle of friends. He has some time since passed the allotted "threescore-and-ten" mark and is today one of the most active and well-preserved men of his years anywhere in the county.
Benjamin F. CROASDALE was born in Richboro, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, on March 4, 1837, of sterling Scotch and English ancestry. He was a son of Benjamin and Agnes (HARDING) CROASDALE and was the youngest of a family of nine children. All have passed into the Great Beyond with the exception of one sister, Ann E. BLAKER, who resides in New Town, Pennsylvania, and is in her ninety-sixth year. She is wonderfully well preserved for her years, active and in full possession of all faculties. Mr. CROASDALE's parents were farmers and he received his earliest training in that vocation. The CROASDALE family is one of the oldest families in the country of which there is definite tracing. They are all descended from one Ezra CROASDALE, who came from England to the American colonies about the year 1682. He too was a farmer. His grandson, Joseph CROASDALE, was the grandfather of the immediate subject of this sketch. All trace has been lost of the name of Joseph's father, but the record is clear since that time.
Mr. CROASDALE's mother, Agnes HARDING, was the daughter of Thomas and Tacy (ROBERTS) HARDING, Tacy ROBERTS being the daughter of Thomas and Sarah (KIRK) ROBERTS. The genealogy of the KIRK family has been carefully traced and prepared in book form, giving the family history from 1687 to 1912. All of the family in America are descended from one John KIRK, who came to America in 1682 or 1683 and located in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, on the tract of land granted to William PENN by the king of England. Tacy ROBERTS HARDING lived to be ninety-seven years of age.
Benjamin F. CROASDALE remained under the parental roof until he was nineteen years of age, when he decided to venture into life on his own account and his first independent enterprise was school teaching. He had received a good education for his day but after one year's labor as an instructor of youth, he decided that vocation was not his forte and for the following two years he did clerical work in a lumber office. These three years of his life were passed in Bridgewater, Shane county, of his native state. Still he had not found his proper place and went back to agricultural work, engaging in this for two more years. This labor he abandoned to become one of the preservers of the nation at the outbreak of the great civil struggle, enlisting as a private on May 10, 1861, in Company C, Third Regiment Pennsylvania Reserves. This body of men was later known as the Thirty-second Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. Mr. CROASDALE served almost two years in the Army of the Potomac and was in all of the battles in which his division was engaged up to the battle of Antietam where he was wounded severely and has since been partially disabled. Throughout his service he was color guard and was right under the flag at the time he received his wound. For a year he was compelled to go on crutches and later used a cane, abandoning that in August of 1864. Shortly after that he started westward in search of greater opportunities and for a time located at Brazil, Indiana, where for eight months he worked as a clerk in a general store. In June of 1865 he arrived in Council Bluffs, this state, and for a year and a half was employed in a retail store. It was in November of 1866 that he became a citizen of Harrison county, locating at Little Sioux and in that town he passed another two years as clerk in a general store. By the end of that time he had saved some money and acquired a good store of general information along commercial lines, with which equipment he felt justified in engaging in the retail store business on his own account. It was in 1868 that he opened his store with a small stock of general merchandise and in this business he has since continued. In 1908 he admitted his son-in-law, C. B. SMITH, as a partner and the two have since that time conducted the business successfully. Mr. SMITH does the active work and Mr. CROASDALE takes care of the books and accounts and when his labors in that line are finished he greatly enjoys the out-of-doors. Mr. CROASDALE's success has not been spectacular, but it has been a steady growth and in his old age he finds himself comfortably situated. In the spring of 1914 he erected a very pretty-six-room cottage just south of his old home.
Mr. CROASDALE was married on January 1, 1873, to Alice M. HALE, who was a native of the state of Michigan, born August 15, 1855, in Cass county, a daughter of Rollin C. and Sloa (BASSETT) HALE, natives of Vermont and New York, respectively. The HALES were engaged in agricultural work and in 1857 came to this state and made their home in Little Sioux.
To Mr. and Mrs. CROASDALE were born three children, two of whom are now living. Ivey S., born on January 6, 1879, is located at Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she is a teacher in the grade schools. Clara M., the other surviving child, was born February 19, 1885, and is the wife of Carl B. SMITH, of Little Sioux, Mr. CROASDALE's business partner.
Mr. CROASDALE holds his fraternal affiliation with the ancient order of Freemasonry and is the only living charter member of Frontier Lodge No. 382. He received his first instruction in Masonry in 1867 in the old Magnolia lodge. Both Mr. and Mrs. CROASDALE are members of the order of Eastern Star. Mr. CROASDALE is also a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, holding membership in Mitzsch Post No. 139, at Little Sioux. Mr. CROASDALE and his family are active members of the Methodist Episcopal church, although his parents were both Quakers. Politically, Mr. CROASDALE is aligned with the Republican party and has always taken a keen interest in politics, especially as related to local matters. In 1888 he was elected auditor of Harrison county, and served one term efficiently and to the satisfaction of all. Since then he has felt that his business interests demanded his entire attention and has never since aspired to public office.
This pioneer merchant of Harrison county very properly possesses the highest regard of all the people throughout the wide range of territory which his trade covers, few men in the county having a wider acquaintance. He has been so long identified with the business interests of the county that its needs are as familiar to him as an open book and his advice and suggestions on matters relating to the development of the community with which he has been so prominently connected during the greater part of Harrison county's history are regarded as valuable in the various departments of the county's administration.
Source: 1915 History of Harrison County Iowa, pp. 648, 649, 650
B. F. CROASDALE, dealer in general merchandise, was born in Pa. in 1839; moved to Council Bluffs, Iowa, in 1864, and was employed as salesman in a mercantile house until 1866, when he came to Little Sioux and engaged in his present business. (source: "History of Western Iowa, Its Settlement and Growth: A Comprehensive Compilation of Progressive ...", 1882, page 340)
BENJAMIN F. CROASDALE, merchant doing business at Little Sioux, will form the subject of this sketch. He is a native of Pennsylvania, born in Bucks County March 4, 1837,and is the son of Benjamin and Agnes (Harding) Croasdale, both deceased. They were also natives of the Keystone State of English descent, who came to America with William Penn. Our subject's early life was spent in Pennsylvania, where he received his education in his native county and at West Chester, Pa. He taught school in 1856 in Bucks County, continuing for one year, then spent two years in a lumber office.
He enlisted May 20, 1861, the month after the breaking out of the Civil War, becoming a member of Company C, Third Pennsylvania Reserves, in the Army of the Potomac. He was at the seven days' fight in front of Richmond, Bull Run, South Mountain, and at Antietam, where he was wounded, placed in the hospital, and discharges for disability. June 25, 1863, he returned to Pennsylvania, remained until 1865, and then came to Council Bluffs, where he was engaged as a clerk in a store until the fall of 1866, and then came to Little Sioux and clerked for J. B. Tabor for two years, after which he went into business for himself and continued until 1887. In the fall of that year he was elected Auditor of Harrison County at a closely contested election, in which he received a majority of forty-five over W. H. Wood, of Logan. He served in this capacity for two years, to the satisfaction of the whole county.
He was married June 1, 1872, at Little Sioux, to Miss Alice E. Hale, daughter of R. C. and S. (Basset) Hale. The father died in 1868; he came from Erie County, N Y., in 1857.
Mr. and Mrs. Croasdale are the parents of two children -- Inez, aged fifteen years, and Clara, aged eight years.
Mr. and Mrs. Croasdale are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he belongs to both the Masonic Lodge and Grand Army of the Republic. Politically, he is a Republican.
Upon coming to the county our subject was a poor man, having a very small capital, but gradually advancing, by his own efforts, he is now comfortably situated.
source of biographical sketch: “History of Harrison County, Iowa”, 1891, page 642
Benjamin F. CROASDALE - It is not an easy task to describe adequately a man who has led an eminently active and busy life and who has attained a position of relative distinction in the community with which his interests are allied. The subject of this sketch has for many years been engaged in the retail merchandise business and is known widely and well throughout this section. His honorable methods and kindly disposition have won for him a wide circle of friends. He has some time since passed the allotted "threescore-and-ten" mark and is today one of the most active and well-preserved men of his years anywhere in the county.
Benjamin F. CROASDALE was born in Richboro, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, on March 4, 1837, of sterling Scotch and English ancestry. He was a son of Benjamin and Agnes (HARDING) CROASDALE and was the youngest of a family of nine children. All have passed into the Great Beyond with the exception of one sister, Ann E. BLAKER, who resides in New Town, Pennsylvania, and is in her ninety-sixth year. She is wonderfully well preserved for her years, active and in full possession of all faculties. Mr. CROASDALE's parents were farmers and he received his earliest training in that vocation. The CROASDALE family is one of the oldest families in the country of which there is definite tracing. They are all descended from one Ezra CROASDALE, who came from England to the American colonies about the year 1682. He too was a farmer. His grandson, Joseph CROASDALE, was the grandfather of the immediate subject of this sketch. All trace has been lost of the name of Joseph's father, but the record is clear since that time.
Mr. CROASDALE's mother, Agnes HARDING, was the daughter of Thomas and Tacy (ROBERTS) HARDING, Tacy ROBERTS being the daughter of Thomas and Sarah (KIRK) ROBERTS. The genealogy of the KIRK family has been carefully traced and prepared in book form, giving the family history from 1687 to 1912. All of the family in America are descended from one John KIRK, who came to America in 1682 or 1683 and located in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, on the tract of land granted to William PENN by the king of England. Tacy ROBERTS HARDING lived to be ninety-seven years of age.
Benjamin F. CROASDALE remained under the parental roof until he was nineteen years of age, when he decided to venture into life on his own account and his first independent enterprise was school teaching. He had received a good education for his day but after one year's labor as an instructor of youth, he decided that vocation was not his forte and for the following two years he did clerical work in a lumber office. These three years of his life were passed in Bridgewater, Shane county, of his native state. Still he had not found his proper place and went back to agricultural work, engaging in this for two more years. This labor he abandoned to become one of the preservers of the nation at the outbreak of the great civil struggle, enlisting as a private on May 10, 1861, in Company C, Third Regiment Pennsylvania Reserves. This body of men was later known as the Thirty-second Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. Mr. CROASDALE served almost two years in the Army of the Potomac and was in all of the battles in which his division was engaged up to the battle of Antietam where he was wounded severely and has since been partially disabled. Throughout his service he was color guard and was right under the flag at the time he received his wound. For a year he was compelled to go on crutches and later used a cane, abandoning that in August of 1864. Shortly after that he started westward in search of greater opportunities and for a time located at Brazil, Indiana, where for eight months he worked as a clerk in a general store. In June of 1865 he arrived in Council Bluffs, this state, and for a year and a half was employed in a retail store. It was in November of 1866 that he became a citizen of Harrison county, locating at Little Sioux and in that town he passed another two years as clerk in a general store. By the end of that time he had saved some money and acquired a good store of general information along commercial lines, with which equipment he felt justified in engaging in the retail store business on his own account. It was in 1868 that he opened his store with a small stock of general merchandise and in this business he has since continued. In 1908 he admitted his son-in-law, C. B. SMITH, as a partner and the two have since that time conducted the business successfully. Mr. SMITH does the active work and Mr. CROASDALE takes care of the books and accounts and when his labors in that line are finished he greatly enjoys the out-of-doors. Mr. CROASDALE's success has not been spectacular, but it has been a steady growth and in his old age he finds himself comfortably situated. In the spring of 1914 he erected a very pretty-six-room cottage just south of his old home.
Mr. CROASDALE was married on January 1, 1873, to Alice M. HALE, who was a native of the state of Michigan, born August 15, 1855, in Cass county, a daughter of Rollin C. and Sloa (BASSETT) HALE, natives of Vermont and New York, respectively. The HALES were engaged in agricultural work and in 1857 came to this state and made their home in Little Sioux.
To Mr. and Mrs. CROASDALE were born three children, two of whom are now living. Ivey S., born on January 6, 1879, is located at Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she is a teacher in the grade schools. Clara M., the other surviving child, was born February 19, 1885, and is the wife of Carl B. SMITH, of Little Sioux, Mr. CROASDALE's business partner.
Mr. CROASDALE holds his fraternal affiliation with the ancient order of Freemasonry and is the only living charter member of Frontier Lodge No. 382. He received his first instruction in Masonry in 1867 in the old Magnolia lodge. Both Mr. and Mrs. CROASDALE are members of the order of Eastern Star. Mr. CROASDALE is also a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, holding membership in Mitzsch Post No. 139, at Little Sioux. Mr. CROASDALE and his family are active members of the Methodist Episcopal church, although his parents were both Quakers. Politically, Mr. CROASDALE is aligned with the Republican party and has always taken a keen interest in politics, especially as related to local matters. In 1888 he was elected auditor of Harrison county, and served one term efficiently and to the satisfaction of all. Since then he has felt that his business interests demanded his entire attention and has never since aspired to public office.
This pioneer merchant of Harrison county very properly possesses the highest regard of all the people throughout the wide range of territory which his trade covers, few men in the county having a wider acquaintance. He has been so long identified with the business interests of the county that its needs are as familiar to him as an open book and his advice and suggestions on matters relating to the development of the community with which he has been so prominently connected during the greater part of Harrison county's history are regarded as valuable in the various departments of the county's administration.
Source: 1915 History of Harrison County Iowa, pp. 648, 649, 650
B. F. CROASDALE, dealer in general merchandise, was born in Pa. in 1839; moved to Council Bluffs, Iowa, in 1864, and was employed as salesman in a mercantile house until 1866, when he came to Little Sioux and engaged in his present business. (source: "History of Western Iowa, Its Settlement and Growth: A Comprehensive Compilation of Progressive ...", 1882, page 340)
BENJAMIN F. CROASDALE, merchant doing business at Little Sioux, will form the subject of this sketch. He is a native of Pennsylvania, born in Bucks County March 4, 1837,and is the son of Benjamin and Agnes (Harding) Croasdale, both deceased. They were also natives of the Keystone State of English descent, who came to America with William Penn. Our subject's early life was spent in Pennsylvania, where he received his education in his native county and at West Chester, Pa. He taught school in 1856 in Bucks County, continuing for one year, then spent two years in a lumber office.
He enlisted May 20, 1861, the month after the breaking out of the Civil War, becoming a member of Company C, Third Pennsylvania Reserves, in the Army of the Potomac. He was at the seven days' fight in front of Richmond, Bull Run, South Mountain, and at Antietam, where he was wounded, placed in the hospital, and discharges for disability. June 25, 1863, he returned to Pennsylvania, remained until 1865, and then came to Council Bluffs, where he was engaged as a clerk in a store until the fall of 1866, and then came to Little Sioux and clerked for J. B. Tabor for two years, after which he went into business for himself and continued until 1887. In the fall of that year he was elected Auditor of Harrison County at a closely contested election, in which he received a majority of forty-five over W. H. Wood, of Logan. He served in this capacity for two years, to the satisfaction of the whole county.
He was married June 1, 1872, at Little Sioux, to Miss Alice E. Hale, daughter of R. C. and S. (Basset) Hale. The father died in 1868; he came from Erie County, N Y., in 1857.
Mr. and Mrs. Croasdale are the parents of two children -- Inez, aged fifteen years, and Clara, aged eight years.
Mr. and Mrs. Croasdale are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he belongs to both the Masonic Lodge and Grand Army of the Republic. Politically, he is a Republican.
Upon coming to the county our subject was a poor man, having a very small capital, but gradually advancing, by his own efforts, he is now comfortably situated.
source of biographical sketch: “History of Harrison County, Iowa”, 1891, page 642
Enlisted as a private on May 10, 1861, in Company C, Third Regiment Pennsylvania Reserves. Married Alice M. Hale.
Benjamin F. CROASDALE - It is not an easy task to describe adequately a man who has led an eminently active and busy life and who has attained a position of relative distinction in the community with which his interests are allied. The subject of this sketch has for many years been engaged in the retail merchandise business and is known widely and well throughout this section. His honorable methods and kindly disposition have won for him a wide circle of friends. He has some time since passed the allotted "threescore-and-ten" mark and is today one of the most active and well-preserved men of his years anywhere in the county.
Benjamin F. CROASDALE was born in Richboro, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, on March 4, 1837, of sterling Scotch and English ancestry. He was a son of Benjamin and Agnes (HARDING) CROASDALE and was the youngest of a family of nine children. All have passed into the Great Beyond with the exception of one sister, Ann E. BLAKER, who resides in New Town, Pennsylvania, and is in her ninety-sixth year. She is wonderfully well preserved for her years, active and in full possession of all faculties. Mr. CROASDALE's parents were farmers and he received his earliest training in that vocation. The CROASDALE family is one of the oldest families in the country of which there is definite tracing. They are all descended from one Ezra CROASDALE, who came from England to the American colonies about the year 1682. He too was a farmer. His grandson, Joseph CROASDALE, was the grandfather of the immediate subject of this sketch. All trace has been lost of the name of Joseph's father, but the record is clear since that time.
Mr. CROASDALE's mother, Agnes HARDING, was the daughter of Thomas and Tacy (ROBERTS) HARDING, Tacy ROBERTS being the daughter of Thomas and Sarah (KIRK) ROBERTS. The genealogy of the KIRK family has been carefully traced and prepared in book form, giving the family history from 1687 to 1912. All of the family in America are descended from one John KIRK, who came to America in 1682 or 1683 and located in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, on the tract of land granted to William PENN by the king of England. Tacy ROBERTS HARDING lived to be ninety-seven years of age.
Benjamin F. CROASDALE remained under the parental roof until he was nineteen years of age, when he decided to venture into life on his own account and his first independent enterprise was school teaching. He had received a good education for his day but after one year's labor as an instructor of youth, he decided that vocation was not his forte and for the following two years he did clerical work in a lumber office. These three years of his life were passed in Bridgewater, Shane county, of his native state. Still he had not found his proper place and went back to agricultural work, engaging in this for two more years. This labor he abandoned to become one of the preservers of the nation at the outbreak of the great civil struggle, enlisting as a private on May 10, 1861, in Company C, Third Regiment Pennsylvania Reserves. This body of men was later known as the Thirty-second Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. Mr. CROASDALE served almost two years in the Army of the Potomac and was in all of the battles in which his division was engaged up to the battle of Antietam where he was wounded severely and has since been partially disabled. Throughout his service he was color guard and was right under the flag at the time he received his wound. For a year he was compelled to go on crutches and later used a cane, abandoning that in August of 1864. Shortly after that he started westward in search of greater opportunities and for a time located at Brazil, Indiana, where for eight months he worked as a clerk in a general store. In June of 1865 he arrived in Council Bluffs, this state, and for a year and a half was employed in a retail store. It was in November of 1866 that he became a citizen of Harrison county, locating at Little Sioux and in that town he passed another two years as clerk in a general store. By the end of that time he had saved some money and acquired a good store of general information along commercial lines, with which equipment he felt justified in engaging in the retail store business on his own account. It was in 1868 that he opened his store with a small stock of general merchandise and in this business he has since continued. In 1908 he admitted his son-in-law, C. B. SMITH, as a partner and the two have since that time conducted the business successfully. Mr. SMITH does the active work and Mr. CROASDALE takes care of the books and accounts and when his labors in that line are finished he greatly enjoys the out-of-doors. Mr. CROASDALE's success has not been spectacular, but it has been a steady growth and in his old age he finds himself comfortably situated. In the spring of 1914 he erected a very pretty-six-room cottage just south of his old home.
Mr. CROASDALE was married on January 1, 1873, to Alice M. HALE, who was a native of the state of Michigan, born August 15, 1855, in Cass county, a daughter of Rollin C. and Sloa (BASSETT) HALE, natives of Vermont and New York, respectively. The HALES were engaged in agricultural work and in 1857 came to this state and made their home in Little Sioux.
To Mr. and Mrs. CROASDALE were born three children, two of whom are now living. Ivey S., born on January 6, 1879, is located at Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she is a teacher in the grade schools. Clara M., the other surviving child, was born February 19, 1885, and is the wife of Carl B. SMITH, of Little Sioux, Mr. CROASDALE's business partner.
Mr. CROASDALE holds his fraternal affiliation with the ancient order of Freemasonry and is the only living charter member of Frontier Lodge No. 382. He received his first instruction in Masonry in 1867 in the old Magnolia lodge. Both Mr. and Mrs. CROASDALE are members of the order of Eastern Star. Mr. CROASDALE is also a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, holding membership in Mitzsch Post No. 139, at Little Sioux. Mr. CROASDALE and his family are active members of the Methodist Episcopal church, although his parents were both Quakers. Politically, Mr. CROASDALE is aligned with the Republican party and has always taken a keen interest in politics, especially as related to local matters. In 1888 he was elected auditor of Harrison county, and served one term efficiently and to the satisfaction of all. Since then he has felt that his business interests demanded his entire attention and has never since aspired to public office.
This pioneer merchant of Harrison county very properly possesses the highest regard of all the people throughout the wide range of territory which his trade covers, few men in the county having a wider acquaintance. He has been so long identified with the business interests of the county that its needs are as familiar to him as an open book and his advice and suggestions on matters relating to the development of the community with which he has been so prominently connected during the greater part of Harrison county's history are regarded as valuable in the various departments of the county's administration.
Source: 1915 History of Harrison County Iowa, pp. 648, 649, 650
B. F. CROASDALE, dealer in general merchandise, was born in Pa. in 1839; moved to Council Bluffs, Iowa, in 1864, and was employed as salesman in a mercantile house until 1866, when he came to Little Sioux and engaged in his present business. (source: "History of Western Iowa, Its Settlement and Growth: A Comprehensive Compilation of Progressive ...", 1882, page 340)
BENJAMIN F. CROASDALE, merchant doing business at Little Sioux, will form the subject of this sketch. He is a native of Pennsylvania, born in Bucks County March 4, 1837,and is the son of Benjamin and Agnes (Harding) Croasdale, both deceased. They were also natives of the Keystone State of English descent, who came to America with William Penn. Our subject's early life was spent in Pennsylvania, where he received his education in his native county and at West Chester, Pa. He taught school in 1856 in Bucks County, continuing for one year, then spent two years in a lumber office.
He enlisted May 20, 1861, the month after the breaking out of the Civil War, becoming a member of Company C, Third Pennsylvania Reserves, in the Army of the Potomac. He was at the seven days' fight in front of Richmond, Bull Run, South Mountain, and at Antietam, where he was wounded, placed in the hospital, and discharges for disability. June 25, 1863, he returned to Pennsylvania, remained until 1865, and then came to Council Bluffs, where he was engaged as a clerk in a store until the fall of 1866, and then came to Little Sioux and clerked for J. B. Tabor for two years, after which he went into business for himself and continued until 1887. In the fall of that year he was elected Auditor of Harrison County at a closely contested election, in which he received a majority of forty-five over W. H. Wood, of Logan. He served in this capacity for two years, to the satisfaction of the whole county.
He was married June 1, 1872, at Little Sioux, to Miss Alice E. Hale, daughter of R. C. and S. (Basset) Hale. The father died in 1868; he came from Erie County, N Y., in 1857.
Mr. and Mrs. Croasdale are the parents of two children -- Inez, aged fifteen years, and Clara, aged eight years.
Mr. and Mrs. Croasdale are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he belongs to both the Masonic Lodge and Grand Army of the Republic. Politically, he is a Republican.
Upon coming to the county our subject was a poor man, having a very small capital, but gradually advancing, by his own efforts, he is now comfortably situated.
source of biographical sketch: “History of Harrison County, Iowa”, 1891, page 642
Benjamin F. CROASDALE - It is not an easy task to describe adequately a man who has led an eminently active and busy life and who has attained a position of relative distinction in the community with which his interests are allied. The subject of this sketch has for many years been engaged in the retail merchandise business and is known widely and well throughout this section. His honorable methods and kindly disposition have won for him a wide circle of friends. He has some time since passed the allotted "threescore-and-ten" mark and is today one of the most active and well-preserved men of his years anywhere in the county.
Benjamin F. CROASDALE was born in Richboro, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, on March 4, 1837, of sterling Scotch and English ancestry. He was a son of Benjamin and Agnes (HARDING) CROASDALE and was the youngest of a family of nine children. All have passed into the Great Beyond with the exception of one sister, Ann E. BLAKER, who resides in New Town, Pennsylvania, and is in her ninety-sixth year. She is wonderfully well preserved for her years, active and in full possession of all faculties. Mr. CROASDALE's parents were farmers and he received his earliest training in that vocation. The CROASDALE family is one of the oldest families in the country of which there is definite tracing. They are all descended from one Ezra CROASDALE, who came from England to the American colonies about the year 1682. He too was a farmer. His grandson, Joseph CROASDALE, was the grandfather of the immediate subject of this sketch. All trace has been lost of the name of Joseph's father, but the record is clear since that time.
Mr. CROASDALE's mother, Agnes HARDING, was the daughter of Thomas and Tacy (ROBERTS) HARDING, Tacy ROBERTS being the daughter of Thomas and Sarah (KIRK) ROBERTS. The genealogy of the KIRK family has been carefully traced and prepared in book form, giving the family history from 1687 to 1912. All of the family in America are descended from one John KIRK, who came to America in 1682 or 1683 and located in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, on the tract of land granted to William PENN by the king of England. Tacy ROBERTS HARDING lived to be ninety-seven years of age.
Benjamin F. CROASDALE remained under the parental roof until he was nineteen years of age, when he decided to venture into life on his own account and his first independent enterprise was school teaching. He had received a good education for his day but after one year's labor as an instructor of youth, he decided that vocation was not his forte and for the following two years he did clerical work in a lumber office. These three years of his life were passed in Bridgewater, Shane county, of his native state. Still he had not found his proper place and went back to agricultural work, engaging in this for two more years. This labor he abandoned to become one of the preservers of the nation at the outbreak of the great civil struggle, enlisting as a private on May 10, 1861, in Company C, Third Regiment Pennsylvania Reserves. This body of men was later known as the Thirty-second Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. Mr. CROASDALE served almost two years in the Army of the Potomac and was in all of the battles in which his division was engaged up to the battle of Antietam where he was wounded severely and has since been partially disabled. Throughout his service he was color guard and was right under the flag at the time he received his wound. For a year he was compelled to go on crutches and later used a cane, abandoning that in August of 1864. Shortly after that he started westward in search of greater opportunities and for a time located at Brazil, Indiana, where for eight months he worked as a clerk in a general store. In June of 1865 he arrived in Council Bluffs, this state, and for a year and a half was employed in a retail store. It was in November of 1866 that he became a citizen of Harrison county, locating at Little Sioux and in that town he passed another two years as clerk in a general store. By the end of that time he had saved some money and acquired a good store of general information along commercial lines, with which equipment he felt justified in engaging in the retail store business on his own account. It was in 1868 that he opened his store with a small stock of general merchandise and in this business he has since continued. In 1908 he admitted his son-in-law, C. B. SMITH, as a partner and the two have since that time conducted the business successfully. Mr. SMITH does the active work and Mr. CROASDALE takes care of the books and accounts and when his labors in that line are finished he greatly enjoys the out-of-doors. Mr. CROASDALE's success has not been spectacular, but it has been a steady growth and in his old age he finds himself comfortably situated. In the spring of 1914 he erected a very pretty-six-room cottage just south of his old home.
Mr. CROASDALE was married on January 1, 1873, to Alice M. HALE, who was a native of the state of Michigan, born August 15, 1855, in Cass county, a daughter of Rollin C. and Sloa (BASSETT) HALE, natives of Vermont and New York, respectively. The HALES were engaged in agricultural work and in 1857 came to this state and made their home in Little Sioux.
To Mr. and Mrs. CROASDALE were born three children, two of whom are now living. Ivey S., born on January 6, 1879, is located at Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she is a teacher in the grade schools. Clara M., the other surviving child, was born February 19, 1885, and is the wife of Carl B. SMITH, of Little Sioux, Mr. CROASDALE's business partner.
Mr. CROASDALE holds his fraternal affiliation with the ancient order of Freemasonry and is the only living charter member of Frontier Lodge No. 382. He received his first instruction in Masonry in 1867 in the old Magnolia lodge. Both Mr. and Mrs. CROASDALE are members of the order of Eastern Star. Mr. CROASDALE is also a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, holding membership in Mitzsch Post No. 139, at Little Sioux. Mr. CROASDALE and his family are active members of the Methodist Episcopal church, although his parents were both Quakers. Politically, Mr. CROASDALE is aligned with the Republican party and has always taken a keen interest in politics, especially as related to local matters. In 1888 he was elected auditor of Harrison county, and served one term efficiently and to the satisfaction of all. Since then he has felt that his business interests demanded his entire attention and has never since aspired to public office.
This pioneer merchant of Harrison county very properly possesses the highest regard of all the people throughout the wide range of territory which his trade covers, few men in the county having a wider acquaintance. He has been so long identified with the business interests of the county that its needs are as familiar to him as an open book and his advice and suggestions on matters relating to the development of the community with which he has been so prominently connected during the greater part of Harrison county's history are regarded as valuable in the various departments of the county's administration.
Source: 1915 History of Harrison County Iowa, pp. 648, 649, 650
B. F. CROASDALE, dealer in general merchandise, was born in Pa. in 1839; moved to Council Bluffs, Iowa, in 1864, and was employed as salesman in a mercantile house until 1866, when he came to Little Sioux and engaged in his present business. (source: "History of Western Iowa, Its Settlement and Growth: A Comprehensive Compilation of Progressive ...", 1882, page 340)
BENJAMIN F. CROASDALE, merchant doing business at Little Sioux, will form the subject of this sketch. He is a native of Pennsylvania, born in Bucks County March 4, 1837,and is the son of Benjamin and Agnes (Harding) Croasdale, both deceased. They were also natives of the Keystone State of English descent, who came to America with William Penn. Our subject's early life was spent in Pennsylvania, where he received his education in his native county and at West Chester, Pa. He taught school in 1856 in Bucks County, continuing for one year, then spent two years in a lumber office.
He enlisted May 20, 1861, the month after the breaking out of the Civil War, becoming a member of Company C, Third Pennsylvania Reserves, in the Army of the Potomac. He was at the seven days' fight in front of Richmond, Bull Run, South Mountain, and at Antietam, where he was wounded, placed in the hospital, and discharges for disability. June 25, 1863, he returned to Pennsylvania, remained until 1865, and then came to Council Bluffs, where he was engaged as a clerk in a store until the fall of 1866, and then came to Little Sioux and clerked for J. B. Tabor for two years, after which he went into business for himself and continued until 1887. In the fall of that year he was elected Auditor of Harrison County at a closely contested election, in which he received a majority of forty-five over W. H. Wood, of Logan. He served in this capacity for two years, to the satisfaction of the whole county.
He was married June 1, 1872, at Little Sioux, to Miss Alice E. Hale, daughter of R. C. and S. (Basset) Hale. The father died in 1868; he came from Erie County, N Y., in 1857.
Mr. and Mrs. Croasdale are the parents of two children -- Inez, aged fifteen years, and Clara, aged eight years.
Mr. and Mrs. Croasdale are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he belongs to both the Masonic Lodge and Grand Army of the Republic. Politically, he is a Republican.
Upon coming to the county our subject was a poor man, having a very small capital, but gradually advancing, by his own efforts, he is now comfortably situated.
source of biographical sketch: “History of Harrison County, Iowa”, 1891, page 642
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