Le Roy Crummer 1872-1934 / [Le Roy Crummer].

  • Crummer, Le Roy, 1872-1934.
Date:
[1934]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Le Roy Crummer 1872-1934 / [Le Roy Crummer]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    LE ROY CRUMMER (1872-1934) The death of Dr. Le Roy Crummer of Omaha, Nebraska, which occurred in Los Angeles, Jannary 2nd of this year, removes from the field of medicine and medical history a figure of im¬ portance. A paternal ancestor, who came from the northern part of Ireland and was a strict Protestant, emigrated to America in 1819, first going to Delaware and later moving into the West, about 1835. He was an artisan, who worked in the mills as a blacksmith and me¬ chanic. His son, John Crummer (1816-1890),^ born in Ireland, prepared himself, without any schooling, for the Methodist Episcopal church and started as a circuit preacher in 1836, through the states of Illinois and Wisconsin. He went from place to place holding meetings wherever he could find room and became one of the most popular men of his day in this pioneer locality. Many of his parishioners were extremely poor farmers and there is a story about him that he was once paid for his services in wheat. He carried this wheat by wagon to Chicago and sold it, in order to provide the necessities for his family. This energetic, strict but lovable character built the first church in Milwaukee in 1841. A few years later he had to give up his arduous duties on account of his health, but in 1849, inspired by the gold rush to California, he worked his way across the country, in the spring of that year. Returning to Illinois in 1851, he started a farm and spent a good deal of his time as an itinerant preacher of the gospel. The name of the Reverend John Crummer became a household word in the cabins