JOHN B. CRENSHAW.
In early colonial days there came to Virginia from Wales, four brothers
named Crenshaw. One of these was David Crenshaw, father of John
Crenshaw, of Hanover county, Virginia, who was the father of Nathaniel
C. Crenshaw, who served in the war of 1812, and was a minister, and
who was the father of John B., subject of this sketch. John B. Crenshaw
was born in Henrico county. Virginia, on May 2, 1820. He was reared
in the Quaker faith, and has been a minister of the Quaker church for
the past forty years. He was educated in Richmond, and at Haverford
College, near Philadelphia. Until after the war he followed farming.
He has served as city engineer and as representative from Henrico county
in the Virginia Legislature. Since 1876 he has been in the sewing
machine business.
Mr. Crenshaw has been twice married. His first wife was Rachel Hoge,
whom he married in September, 1844, and who died in November, 1858,
leaving him five children: Nathaniel B., Deborah A., Margaret E., James
H. and Eliza C. Secondly, in Philadelphia, June 5, 1860, he married
Judith A. Willetts, and their children are two daughters, Isabella and
Sarah W.
