John Crawford

JOHN CRAWFORD was born in Pennsylvania in 1855. He had come to New Jersey with his wife, Anna by the mid-1880s. A daughter, Mabel, was born in 1887.

Trained as an undertaker, John Crawford had established a funeral home at his residence, 2637 Westfield Avenue by March of 1892. During that month he conducted the funeral of a Daniel Rich. 

John Crawford's business had progressed to the point where he took out an advertisement in the Camden City Directory 1897, and he appears at 2637 Westfield Avenue in all yours through 1911. In 1912 he established a second business location, at 2717 River Road in Camden's Cramer Hill section.

By the time the 1915 Camden City Directory was published, John Crawford had divested himself of the Cramer Hill funeral home. He bought a home at 404 West Maple Avenue in Merchantville NJ, and conducted all of his business at 2637 Westfield Avenue. He hired James R. Sudler, who lived and worked at the Westfield Avenue location. This arrangement continued through 1922.

By 1922 John Crawford took his first steps towards retirement. He took on two partners, Elias S. Mason and H.F. Stephenson and formed the John Crawford Company, to operate the Westfield Avenue funeral home. James R. Sudler established a funeral parlor of his own at 60-62 South 27th Street.

John Crawford was also active in fraternal and financial circles in Camden and Merchantville. He was a director of the East End Trust Company, the Rosedale and Pavonia Building & Loan Association and the South Jersey Amusement Association. he was president of the East Side Building & Loan Association. 

John Crawford died at home on the night of February 3, 1928, survived by his wife Anna, widowed daughter Mabel McNutt, a grandson, Allen McNutt, and a second daughter who lived in New York. John Crawford's survivors were still living at 404 Maple Avenue in Merchantville as late as April of 1930.

By 1936 the John Crawford Company had moved to 3303 Federal Street. By 1947 this building was the home of Mason's Funeral home, although Elias Mason was already deceased. The business was being operated by his great-nephew, Mason Bradley. Mason Bradley would rename the business as the Bradley Funeral Home in 1953. The Bradley Funeral Home would continue in business at that location until 1987. The Bradley funeral home later operated second location on Evesham Township, where it remains in business in 2004. 

Philadelphia Inquirer - March 24, 1896