The Fearless Fifty-Nine, William Carroll Crawford

William Carroll Crawford was the 31 year old Shelby representative. Crawford was a tailor’s apprentice and a Methodist minister before moving to Texas in 1835. After signing the declaration, he became postmaster of Shelbyville from 1843 to 1859 and treasurer of Shelby County for a year in 1844. In 1874, he moved his family to Pittsburg, Camp County, where he was postmaster from 1874 to 1881. After his wife died in 1881, he went to live with one of his nine children until his death in 1895. Crawford was the last surviving signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence and related to Charles Carroll, the last surviving signer of the United States Declaration of Independence.