JAMES MADISON CROFFORD, a retired merchant of Ryan and owner of considerable property in Texas, is the representative of an old and distinguished Tennessee family, especially identified with the foundation of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in that section of the country. He himself was born in Hardiman county, Tennessee, on the 5th of August, 1847, and after receiving a limited education began life as a farm laborer, being paid two hundred dollars for his first year's work. He then rented land, and remained in his home county until 1872, when he went to Texas and in association with a re1ative engaged in the handling of cattle for two years. In July of that year he started to Kansas, taking charge of a drove of cattle in the interest of a mortgagee. The cattle were disposed of at Coffeyville and Chetopa, and when he returned to Texas he conducted a store for a time at Aurora, Wise county, and afterward farmed in Titus county for two years. In 1877 he returned to Montague county, locating three miles west of the present site of Bowie and engaging in stock farming. In 1883 he sold his stock and farm and engaged in merchandising at Bowie, first as Crofford & Brother and then alone. In 1900 he estabhshed himself at Ryan, and after profitably conducting a general store until 1904 disposed of his business to advantage and retired from active mercantile pursuits. He is the owner of valuable residence and business property at Ryan, as well as at Bowie, Texas, and is also proprietor of a section of promising land west of Bellevue, Clay county, that state.
    On February 4, 1872, Mr. Crofford wedded Miss Sue A. Lemon, daughter of Jacob and Ann (Schuyler) Lemon. Mrs. Ann Lemon was a daughter of John Schuyler and a niece of old General Schuyler, the distinguished American soldier and citizen, being a second wife. Mr. Lemon first married Rebecca Barris, a granddaughter of Rev. Mr. Harris, one of the active founders of the Cumberland Presbyterian church in the southwest. Of this first marriage were the following children: Thomas, who died in St. Louis, Missouri, and left a family in Montana; Maragaret, wife of George W. Bishop, whodied in Pike county, Missouri, the mother of one child; and Ann, who married Milos Houston and died at Vandalia, Missouri. The children by the second wife were: Mary J., wife of Henry Hamlett and who died at Ashley, Missouri, the mother of a family; Robert S., a resident of Arkansas, who married D. D. Rose and died at Curryville, Missouri; Sallie V., now Mrs. James Montague, of Ladonia, Missouri; Joseph R., of Spencersburg, Missouri; John N., of New London, that state; Mrs. Sue Crofford, whose sketch follows; Alice, wife of Charles Marsh, of Warsaw Missouri, and George, who died in Arkansas, the father of a family.
    Mrs. James M. Crofford is a native of Missouri, and at the outbreak of the Civil war was a young girl. Notwithstanding, she was intimately and thrillingly identified with the terrible conflict for three years, and was emphatically one of its "victims." In 1862 General Sterling Price sent his nephew, Captain Pulliam, into the county in which lived the Adams-Lemon family (Mr. Lemon having died and his widow having married Dr. Adams), for the purpose of recruiting a company far the Confederate army. Dr. Adams had really left the state for Texas with his personal property, largely consisting of negroes but his progress was interrupted in Arkansas by the battle of Elkhorn. Having been an early classmate of General Grant he secured from the latter a general passport, proceeded to Texas and finally established himself in Titus county, while the other members family, notably the Leman children, returned to Missouri. There they were brought into contact with the Confederates, who were engaged in the raising of troops in the vicinity of the old Lemon home. When the company was ,ready to leave far rendezvous at headquarters, it stopped at the home of D. D. Rose where, Mrs. Crofford was living, and there entertained by the sympathizers of the cause. Among the leading features of the entertainment was a feast, of the generous kind for which southern women have always been noted. Several days after the departure of the troops the Federal soldiers, in command of, Colonel Goochner, swooped down upon the Rose household and captured Mr. Rose, his wife and Mrs. Crofford, As prisoners they were taken to Hannibal, Missouri, put through the usual inquisition as to their part in the encouragement of the Rebellion, by aiding and abetting the enemies of the United States. Mrs. Crofford was interrogated, threatened with banishment and tempted with various offers (including bribery), in order to draw from her the details of the "banquet," with a list of all the participants, but, despite her youth, she was proof against either persuasion or force, and would only admit that "the troops had taken supper at the Mr. Rose's house." The sisters of the family were finally loaded on a boat and taken to St. Louis, Missouri, and placed in a female prison, There they were again "sweated" for information, but with out avail. With others who were prisoners for offenses against the government, they were ordered to prepare for their exile and, after being thoroughly searched, were placed aboard the marine boat "John Wren," At Memphis, Tennessee, Senator Henderson of Missouri came aboard, gave Mr. Rose all the money he had, and the boat proceeded to Vicksburg, It lay in front of the city far three days, when the passengers were transferred to the gun boat "Rattler," and sent up the Yazoo river to Sartartia. There General L. S, Ross, of Texas, received the twenty-one exiles and receipted for them, and the main incidents of the capture and banishment were closed. They remained at that point until the close of the war, when they returned to Missouri, and in 1870 Mrs. Croffard joined her mother in Texas. Mrs. Crofford is a leading member of the Daughters of the Confederacy; was the first president of Bowie Chapter, and Sue A, Crofford Camp was named in her honor. She is an honorary member of Bowie- Pelham Camp of Confederate Veterans and of the Bob Stone Camp at Nacona, Texas, and when in Texas claims to be the only woman in the state whom General Ross ever received and receipted for. The children of Mr. and Mrs. James M. Crofford are: Annie, wife of S. W. Heard, of Bowie, Texas; Guy L., connected with Sanger Brothers, of Dallas, Texas; Daisy, now Mrs. C. W. Bridges, of Bowie; Lynn R., of Ryan; "D. D." Rose, a young lady named after her uncle, and James M., Jr., bath of whom live at home. The family are all members of the Cumberland Presbyterian church, and nothing but Democratic blood has ever coursed through their veins.
    The paternal grandfather of James M. Crofford (George Crofford) was a native af Scotland, a slave owner, married a Miss Stockard, and was wounded at the battle of New Orleans, where he was captured by the British under command of General Packenham. He died prior to the Civil war, the father of the fallowing: William H., the father of our subject; James M.; Josephus; Elizabeth, who died unmarried, andElmira, who became the wife of John Parr. Rev. William H. Croffard, the father, was born in Murray county, Tennessee, in 1811, and died in Hardiman county in 1896. He was liberally educated, became a Christian in early life, and engaged in the ministry of the Cumberland Presbyterian church throughout his life. He married Hannah E. Williams, daughter of John Williams, a Scotch-Irish farmer in prosperous circumstances, and a negro owner before the war. Mrs. Hannah E. Crofford died at her Tennessee home in 1883, the mother of the following: John A., of Hollywood, Mississippi; James Madison, of this notice; Esther J., wife of Peter Booth, of White county, Tennessee; Susan M., who married Duan Finger, of Hardiman county, Tennessee; George, who died in Kaufman county, Texas, leaving a family; Mattie, who passed away in Tennessee as the wife of William Scott and left a family; Laura, Mrs. John Williams, who died in Arkansas, the mother of a family; and Walter, of Covington, Tennessee.