by Denise McMahon
Great-granddaughter of Hiram and Martha Crawford


The Story of Hiram Allen Crawford



Hyram Crawford - c1900
"I have devoted so much of my time to this town,
that many a time my private endeavours have suffered"
- diary entry referring to Beechworth 		Born in Oakham Massachusetts in July 1832, Hiram boarded the “Texas” and set sail to Australia from New York in May 1853. Hiram spent his 21st birthday south of Cape Town trying to survive seasickness, poor food, and severe storms and as he wrote in his Diary “ I feel seasick enough to feel real mean”. All Hiram could think of was going home to Oakham, and indeed had planned to do just that when he found his fortune in Australia. . A little under a month before arriving in Melbourne the meals were down to one a day which consisted of salty beef or pork, sea biscuit and a little soup with mush and molasses. Hiram's Diary gives a vivid almost daily account of his journey to Australia and events over the next ten years. What did Hiram think of this land? His comments on arriving in Melbourne were:

"Here I am in the City of Mutton and Gold comfortably situated in a good boarding house. ………like the Country very much so far. Labor is high and work plenty. People say the Mines are doing first rate. Hope they are. Board is very high here. It is about 30 and 35 shillings a week and work is about the same a day………"

Dropping anchor in Port Phillip on August 24th 1853, after 105 days of not setting foot on land, he headed out with fellow American passengers for Back Creek via Bendigo. A partnership was formed with two of the passengers, but within a few days of mining, difficulties in the joint venture appeared so not wanting to be part of the bickering, Hiram left for Melbourne having sold his share and his tools.

When he arrived back in Melbourne and after paying for bed and breakfast Hiram was left with 2/6d. But luck held out and he met two men from Maine USA, Snow and Bigelow. Both these men were heading for the Ovens Diggings and offered Hiram his passage there in return for caring for the horses on the road. These three men remained friends throughout their lives. The route was no more than a corrugated track through the bush, the wagon was continually bogged in mud, and the journey took two weeks. Little did Hiram know that this trip would be the start of a life full of great experiences and adventures, a life which would make him known as one of the Pioneers of Victoria's early development.

Finally arriving in Beechworth on October 6th, Hiram remained with Snow and Bigelow helping to set up their new store. He then went to Spring Creek, Two Mile and Three Mile, living in tents amongst the gum trees with the smell of eucalyptus oil, kangaroos, kookaburras and koalas. In December 1853 Hiram joined the rush to Buckland Valley under Mt. Buffalo. Snow and Bigelow had opened a store there, so asked Hiram to run it for them. He turned this into a very good paying business in the first three months but then typhoid spread throughout the diggings. Hiram advised Snow and Bigelow to close up shop, and he returned to Beechworth. Snow and Bigelow paid Hiram a bonus of £60 “and I felt a rich man”.

Over the next 18 months Hiram helped build a river boat at Albury, built and ran his own Billard Rooms and small Alley and met and married McNeil from Isle of Skye, a victim of the Highland Clearances. Shortly after their marriage the couple moved to Woolshed to seek their fortune. Whilst Hiram was mining Anna worked as a housekeeper in a local hotel earning £3 plus their board. During their time in Woolshed Hiram joined two partnerships, one of which was with John “Woolshed Jack” Burton, and although over the next two years he found success but also suffered losses, Hiram finally unearthed his pot of gold. Hiram was about to embark on a new endeavour which would span several decades and it was this enterprise which would make the name Crawford and Company the best known and longest surviving coaching business in the north east of Victoria. Hiram had been advised by his friend from Massachusetts, Freeman “King” Cobb (Cobb and Co.) to start up a coaching line in the north east using his newfound wealth.

Starting his coaching business from Beechworth to Yackandandah in 1856, he drove his coach himself, groomed and fed his team and developed a very profitable business.


"In September I commenced running my Coach from Beechworth to Yackandandah. I kept only 2 horses and I drove and groomed them myself."

The business grew, Hiram took in a partner, Michael Connolly and the business became known as Crawford and Connolly and H.A. Crawford & Co. The firm succeeded in winning the contract for various mail runs around the Beechworth-Albury-Chiltern-Stanley areas as well as developing a passenger trade. Eventually the firm bought out some of Cobb and & Co's runs along the Murray, and developed runs into New South Wales, as far as Wagga Wagga.


When 1862 came around, Hiram was about to face the hardest year of his life. He lost the Beechworth Albury mail run, secured another, but still 1862 held no promise. His wife Anna after 7 years of marriage, died in March of that year, leaving him with two young daughters, Emma and Martha Anna. In order to recoup his own health, his friends advised him to take a journey home to the US. Leaving the children in the capable hands of a friend, Hiram set out in May for New York, via San Francisco and the Panama. He spent two months in the New England states visiting family and friends, recouped his health and married 20 year old Martha Foster. Martha was Hiram's first cousin once removed.

Martha and Hiram arrived back in Melbourne in March 1863, after having left from New York taking 93 days, sailing low across the Southern Ocean, and passing Heard Island. Martha like her husband before her, spent her 21st birthday aboard a ship, sailing for a new land. Martha arrived in a foreign land knowing no-one, but went on to become a much respected person in her community. Martha would share with Hiram great joy and great sadness. She would spend 48 years by her husband's side throughout his various business ventures with their successes and failures. Martha was to become part of the Ovens area's social and economic development.


from Hiram Crawford's private collection

 		Martha and Hiram returned to Beechworth to live and to run the coaching business. Sadness once more visited the family when in 1866 their 7 month old daughter died, and 6 months later their 2 year old son was drowned. The family were living in Chiltern where Hiram built the first brick building in town, the Star Hotel which he ran, developed the coaching business to the north and west of that area, built various brick shops, and took on public duties in the town. The Star Hotel is now called The Grape Vine Hotel, and in its courtyard is the largest grape vine in the southern hemisphere. This grape vine was planted in 1867 during Hiram's time at the hotel, and still bears fruit today.

Two more children were born to the couple, in 1867 and 1870 a daughter Susie, and a son Walter. Hiram's partner Michael Connolly died in 1880 and his brother Thomas joined the partnership and the business was from then on known as “Crawford & Co.”

Over the next 50 years Hiram was a part of the formation, and development of industry in the north east of Victoria and Melbourne.

During his life in Australia, Hiram kept in close touch with developments in his homeland and abroad. He undertook several study tours to United States, and Cuba and many trips home to Massachusetts, always coming back with fresh ideas to put into practice in Victoria, to help develop this land he now called home. Hiram died at his home in Elsternwick Melbourne on January 14th 1916 aged 83 years. His wife Martha had died in October 1911, and Hiram had the next year married for the third time Sophia Maud Heatley.

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