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DIED -- On the 8th. day of January, 1881, near Olivesburg, Mr. John Crabs, in the 86th. year of his age.

Mr. Crabbs was born in Washington Co., Pa., on the 8th. day of July, 1795.  When he was about 10 years old, his father moved to Jefferson County, Ohio;  and thence, when he was twenty-one years old, Mr. Crabbs came to Olivesburgh, Richland County, Ohio.  This region was then an almost unbroken forest, where wild men and wild beasts roamed freely.  On the 21st. day of November, 1816, he was united in marriage with Miss Polly Montgomery, formerly of Jefferson County.

Having purchased a farm in the unbroken forest, about a mile west of the village of Olivesburgh, he built a log cabin and in April, 1817, began the toil of life amid the rudest surroundings.  Upon this farm he lived until called away by death;  witnessing the passing away of the dense forest, wild beasts, and wild men and the growth of a large, prosperous and Christian community.

To Mr. & Mrs. Crabbs thirteen children were born, of whom seven preceded them to the grave.  Of these last, five had families at the time of their death;  and there were thirty-seven grandchildren, fifty-two great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild born before his decease.

In 1827, Mr. and Mrs. Crabbs united with the Hopewell Presbyterian church, near where Ashland now stands.  A few years later the Presbyterian church of Olivesburgh was organized, and they transferred their membership to it and Mr. Crabs was elected a ruling elder.  A little more than two years since, after more than sixty-two years of married life, Mrs. Crabbs passed away.

About eighteen months prior to his death, Mr. Crabbs underwent a surgical operation for the removal of a fatty tumor that had been growing upon his right arm for forty years, and weighed at the time it was taken away, forty-eight pounds.  From this he recovered and enjoyed pretty good health until within a couple of months of his death.  During that period body and mind sank rapidly until the Master said "Come up higher".  Thus passed away a man greatly respected and useful.

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