CRUM, ABRAM A. was eight years old when he came to Morgan County. He attended the primitive subscription schools of that period conducted in log school houses, his first teacher being Mary A. Rucker. When he was in his eighteenth year his father died, and he and his brother, John W., operated the farm and remained with their mother. She was a midwife, and it was customary for her to be absent from home for weeks at a time. In accordance with the request of their father before his death, Abram A. and John W. bought the interests of the other heirs of the paternal estate, conducting the farm together until they divided the property in 1863. They were engaged in stock-raising on quite an extensive scale. Abram A. Crum was a very successful man. He was one of the first depositors in the old Ayers Bank - if not the very first. On the event of the marriage of his only daughter, he made her a present of land worth about $30,000. She became the wife of H. B. Baxter, then residing in the vicinity of Literberry, and a record of whose life may be found in another portion of this volume. Mr. Crum was equally generous with his only son, Albert, when the latter started in life for himself. Abram A. Crum was one of the most extensive landholders in Morgan County. On January 13, 1853, he was married to Sarah Buchanan, who was born January 18, 1834. Three children resulted from this union, namely: An infant, who died unnamed; Lydia Ellen, wife of H. B. Baxter; and Albert. In politics, their father was a strong and influential Republican.

Albert Crum was born and reared on the homestead farm. In boyhood he attended the common schools and afterward pursued a course at the Jacksonville Business College. On completing his commercial studies he engaged in business with his father. In 1883, he moved to this present farm, on which he has made all the improvements. He has developed it into one of the finest farms in Morgan County, owning in all 840 acres of as productive land as can be found in the State. He is engaged in raising standard bred horses on what is widely known as the "Wayside Farm", in partnership with his cousin, William H. Crum, and James W. Crum. They exhibited some of their horses at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, at St. Louis, in 1904, and at the State Fair, receiving eleven prizes amounting to $1,000, which sum fell much short of the expenses of their exhibit. Mr. Crum is also a breeder and raiser of thoroughbred Poland-China hogs and other stock, and conducts general farming operations. He is also one of the stockholders and Directors in Ayers' Bank of Jacksonville. His home is located two miles east of Literberry.

On December 6, 1882, Mr. Crum was united in marriage with Sally B. Murray, who was born in the vicinity of Literberry. Mention of the Murray family is made in connection with the sketch of H. R. Johnson, of Jacksonville, who, after the death of Mrs. Crum's father, married his widow.

In politics Mr. Crum is an earnest Republican. He and his wife are active members of the Christian Church. Both are very liberal in their contributions to church work and benevolent and charitable institutions. The impulse and purpose of their lives manifestly tend toward the accomplishment of all possible good with the ample means with which fortune has favored them. Finally Mr. Crum is one of the most extensive and successful farmers of Morgan County, his business qualities are of a superior order, and as a man, his life has been dominated by strict rectitude and marked by broad beneficence.