The First White Man to Die in Wayne County
An excerpt from
The History of Wayne County
by
Benjamin Douglass
Published
1878
The first white man who died in Wayne county was Alexander Crawford, brother of Josiah Crawford, the owner then of what is now known as Bahl's mill. Shortly after his arrival in Wooster, his horse was stolen from him by the Indians. He immediately started in pursuit of the savage thieves, going on foot, which was at that time the popular method of travel. He persevered in his search as far as Upper Sandusky, but failing to overtake or capture them, he abandoned the pursuit. On his return he could obtain no water to drink, save what lay in pools in the woods and by the roots of fallen trees, and being very dry, was compelled to slake his thirst with this green-scummed and poisoned water. This was in 1808, and his pathway was amid the solitudes and stolid glooms of dense and dreary woods. On his return to Wooster, he was burning with a violent fever, when he found a stopping place, and to him a dying place, under the protecting roof of William Larwill.
He was sick but a few days, and died in the small office of Mr. Larwill's store, which was situated on the grounds known now as the drug store of Harvey Howard, No. 4 Emporium Block. Mr. Larwill describes his sufferings as being terrible. He had no medical aid. For him "there was no balm in Gilead, there was no physician there."
How, and Where Buried
Near the present First M. E. church the proprietors of Wooster, William Henry, John Bever and Joseph H. Larwill, had laid out and donated to the town what was called the ''Public Graveyard." Here his remains were interred. John Larwill, Benjamin Miller, William Larwill, Abraham Miller, and one or two others dug the grave and buried him. His coffin was made of rough boards by Benjamin Miller and his son Abraham, and he was carried to his final repose upon spikes of wood on which the coffin rested. His grave no one can identify. The sombre years have swept over it, and it casts no shadow unless upon some stricken heart. The death-ground holds him, and his sleep is as sweet as if under the granite shaft.
