Thomas Howell Crawford (March 1, 1803 – June 17, 1871) was the thirteenth
Mayor of
Louisville, Kentucky from April 2, 1859, to April 4, 1861.
Life
Thomas H. Crawford was born in
Rockbridge County, Virginia. His mother was the first woman to undergo an
ovariectomy, in 1809 in
Danville, Kentucky
Danville is a home rule-class city in Boyle County, Kentucky, United States. It is the seat of its county. The population was 17,236 at the 2020 Census. Danville is the principal city of the Danville Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes ...
to remove a tumor.
Crawford was elected to the
Board of Aldermen
An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members them ...
in 1857 as a
Know Nothing
The Know Nothing party was a nativist political party and movement in the United States in the mid-1850s. The party was officially known as the "Native American Party" prior to 1855 and thereafter, it was simply known as the "American Party". ...
and served as president of the board in 1858, and elected mayor in 1859. He was a strong supporter of the
North during the
Civil War. He ran for mayor unsuccessfully in 1863 on the
Unionist ticket.
After his term expired he worked as a real estate agent and was also president of the Central Savings Bank of
Pewee Valley until his death. He was one of the first Kentuckians to install
gas lights in his home, and died there as a result of an explosion on May 27, 1871. He is buried in
Cave Hill Cemetery.
See also
*
Louisville in the American Civil War
References
*
1803 births
1871 deaths
People from Rockbridge County, Virginia
Mayors of Louisville, Kentucky
Kentucky Know Nothings
Kentucky Unionists
Accidental deaths in Kentucky
People from Pewee Valley, Kentucky
Burials at Cave Hill Cemetery
19th-century mayors of places in Kentucky
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