CHRISTIAN COUNTY OBITUARIES

Survivors include her husband, Curtis Crenshaw; a daughter, Mrs. L. C.(Nadine) Gray, Owensboro; two grandchildren and three great grandchildren.

ELEANOR D. CRENSHAW

             A memorial service for Eleanor D. Crenshaw,
             78, Nashville, Tenn., formerly of Hopkinsville,
             will be at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Woodmont Baptist
             Church, Nashville.

             The body has been cremated. There will be no
             visitation. Maddux Funeral Home, Hopkinsville, is
             in charge of arrangements.

She died at 4:45 a.m. Thursday, March 16, 2000, at
her home following a long illness.

             A native of Christian County, she was born July 26,
             1921, the daughter of the late George W. and Lucy
             White Crenshaw. She was a retired librarian and
             was a Baptist.

             Survivors include a brother, W.W. Crenshaw,
             Todd County, and a sister, Lucy Dade,
             Hopkinsville.

Memorials may be made to Hospice or the
American Cancer Society.

JOHN WALDEN CRENSHAW

February 27, 1927
Cadiz REcord
Death Claims Dr. Crenshaw
Prominent Physician And Outstanding Citizen Passes Away AT 77
For Fifty Years Had Been A leader In Professional and Business Life in County
Early Temperance Advocate
Dr. John Walden Crenshaw, prominent physician, outstanding citizen and Christian gentleman, died at his home on West Main street in Cadiz last Sunday afternoon at two o'clock.
The illness that resulted in the death of Dr. Crenshaw dates back for some months. In the late fall he suffered severe attacks, but after a few weeks confinement was able to be out and at his office every day. Another Christmas came on Christmas eve and this, too, soon passed away and was able to be up. A third attack came some four weeks ago, and from this he never recovered. There were days when he was better, but no permanent relief came, and the end had been hourly expected for a couple of weeks or more. A complication of troubles caused his death.
While enduring intense suffering, he retained consciousness all the time, and to the few who were permitted into his presence he was cheerful and happy. He knew the end was near, and the details of the funeral and burial were the carrying out of his own suggestions.
Dr. Crenshaw was a member of the oldest and most honored families of Trigg county. He was the son of Robert Crenshaw, a native of Virginia, who came as a child to Trigg county at the age of three. The mother was Mary Frances Walden, sister of Dr. John C. Walden, a prominent minister of the Christian church in central Kentucky. Dr. Crenshaw was born in Roaring Spring precinct the 24th of September, 1849, and was thus seventy seven years of age last September. His preliminary education was received at the public schools this being supplemented by his attending Oak Hill Seminary near Concord church, Christian county, where he was a student under the late Rev. George P. Street, a minister of the Christian church and the head of the institution.
While attending the Seminary he also gave earnest attention to the study of medicine under Dr. William McReynolds. Later he entered the celebrated old Jefferson Medical College in the city of Philadelphia, in which he graduated as a member of the class of 1870. For some years later he took post graduate courses in the Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York City, and in the Chicago Polyclinic.
On the 1st of May 1870, shortly after receiving his well earned degree of Doctor of Medicine, he located in Hopkinsville and engaged in the practice. On the first of the following January, however, he returned to his native county and began the practice in Cadiz where he had been actively in the practice until death. However, for some years past he had done only a limited practice, due to advanced years and the illness of the companion in the home.
On September 23, 1873, he was joined in marriage to Miss Julia Street, daughter of the late John L. Street and Mary Roberts Street, the father being long recognized as one of the leading merchants of Cadiz. Eight children were born to the union. Rebecca and Julia died when children. Miss Kate who married Rev. G. H. C. Stoney, died some years ago at Winston Salem, N.C. The surviving children are John S. and George W. Crenshaw, of Hopkinsville and Mrs. A. P. White and Misses Mary and Gertrude Crenshaw of Cadiz.
Dr. Crenshaw had held many positions of trust and honor among the people of his home town. Years ago he was a member of the town board of trustees and also for years on the school board. He for years had held membership in the American Medical Society, the Kentucky State Medical Soc9iety and the Trigg County Medical Society. He was a member of the Trigg county examining board at the time young men were drafted for the World War, and was otherwise active and influential in war activities of the county.
In addition to his professional duties, he was also prominent in the business affairs of his home town.
In 1890 he was one of the organizers of the Trigg County Farmers Bank and its president for years. When this bank merged with the old Bank of Cadiz, retaining the name of the Trigg County Farmers Bank, he became one of the board of directors and held this position until he disposed of his stock in the bank twenty years later.
He had been active in his church connections from young manhood, being a member of the Christian church. In this connection his voice and influence were by no means confined to his home town. For seventeen years he was president of the South Kentucky Sunday School and Missionary Association of his church. In all of these meetings he was a recognized leader and contributed much for the success of the organization and the spread of the Christian religion through its influence.
He was a frequent contributor to the medical and church papers of the century, and the value of what he wrote is best attested by his wise prominence given it by the various publishers of the country.
In the fight against the open saloon and the liquor traffic he was a pioneer. When a young man he realize the blight of the traffic upon the citizens, and almost single handed and alone he took up the fight against the traffic. Among his early associates in this fight the names of dr. J. H. Lackey, Henry B. Wilkinson and Frank P. Cobb, all now dead, are recalled. At the time it looked like a hard task, but Dr. Crenshaw lived to see his ideas accepted by the law of his county, his state and the nation. He continued to carry on even after the adoption of the Eighteenth Amendment, and whatever may be the future of this fight, it will ever be realized that in Trigg county and Western Kentucky, Dr. J. W. Crenshaw was one of the most effective fighters for the cause.
In all movements for the civic and more uplift, he was ever ready to lead his influence and his efforts. He advocated a high moral standard for the citizen, and the best evidence of his sincerity was the splendid example he always set before the young of his community.
Often criticized for his position he continued to battle for the right when others less courageous shrank from the conflict. Now power swerved him; no device won his support not backed by high moral principles, with beautiful ideals for higher standards of living among the sons of men.
A leader in the church; a power for good; no man ever lived in Trigg county who set higher standards for the right and none who adhered more closely to them.
A born gentleman, he possessed that ease of bearing and courteous manner that was often referred to as the characteristic "of the old school." A smile and a cordial handshake won the hearts of those with whom he came in contact. The stranger with in our city found him of easy approach, and many are they whom he met as passers by and whom he greeted in a manner that won the high esteem for the little city in which we live. The country man, the town man, all were his friends. He loved the young life and his personal touch with boys had a wonderful influence for good upon their lives. In every walk he will be sadly missed, and we fear that long will be the time before another comes upon the scene who can with full measure fill the place he had occupied in Cadiz and Trigg county for more than a generation.
Who will contend that for fifty years Dr. Crenshaw was not the outstanding citizen of all Trigg county for human betterment and high Christian life among all the people?
Beautiful indeed was the devotion daily witnessed to the invalid companion of his life. When she became a helpless invalid, he tenderly and kindly ministered to her every want. His personal ministrations brightened and cheered her in the sadness of her physical helplessness. The loving and tender care of a devoted Christian husband were hers to enjoy. How sad that he has been taken and she now left to the sorrow and loneliness of her solitude. The care and support of those for whose existence she is responsible will be readily bestowed. But even these can not take the place of a joyous companionship it was hers to enjoy for fifty years and more. May the blessings of that God whose support the husband ever depended upon be her comforter during the remaining years she may be able to spend before joining him in the great beyond.
Of a family of eight brothers, the only three survivors are Judge Robert Crenshaw of Cadiz, James Crenshaw, a retired merchant of Earlington and Dr. William Crenshaw, a prominent physician and surgeon of the state of Oklahoma.
Simple funeral services, largely attended and following his own suggestions before the end came were held at East End Cemetery Monday afternoon conducted by his pastor, Rev. C. C. Monin, assisted by Rev. Horace Kingsbury, pastor of the Christian church at Hopkinsville.
The pallbearer were of his own choosing and were: John J. Jefferson, W. B. Woodruff, H. M. Prather, M. D. Keatts, Felix B. Wilkinson, Henry R. Lawrence.
Here From A Distance At Dr. Crenshaw's Funeral
Among those from a distance to attend the funeral and burial of Dr. J. W. Crenshaw Monday were: The sons, John S. and George W. Crenshaw and their wives, S. Y. Trimble, W. E. Keith, Dr. C. H. Tandy, Dr. J. Preston Thomas, Dr. Gant Gaither, Dr. Trabue, A. H. Eckles, Judge Dougles Bell, Marlow Criss, W. R. Brumfield, W. N. Berry, Rev. Horace Kingsbury, T. C. Jones, J. Noble Hall, Ira L. Smith, W. D. Moore, J. H. McGowan, Clyde H. Vinson, Mrs. E. B. Long, Hopkinsville; James Crenshaw, a brother, of Earlington; Rob, John and Douglas Crenshaw nephews, of Atlanta; John O. Street, Ben Street and wife and Mrs. Boone of Elkton.