Arthur Crim and Fannie Oeschger were married on 5 June 1882. According to the 1880 Iowa census Arthur (age 19, laborer) was in South Fork Township, Delaware County Iowa and in the 1900 the U.S. Census records them as having been married for 18 years. The couple became the parents of six children before Arthur left his family behind while he joined the search for riches in Alaska.
Their oldest child's birth does not seem to have been recorded in Jones County or at the Sacred Heart church in Monticello. However, the newspaper mention of a birth of a baby boy confirms that Filmore (1883 - 1970) was born while the family lived near Monticello.
The birth of the next five children were recorded in the baptismal book at the Sacred Heart Church in Monticello, Iowa.
- Leland Arthur - 9 August 1884 - 15 Dec 1968 (Obit) baptized Sacred Heart Church Monticello 12 Oct. 1884.
- Mary Stella "Jesse" - 22 August 1885 -
1893; died at age eight; baptized Sacred Heart Church Monticello 4 Oct. 1885.
- Ralph Peter - 10 April 1887 - 1 Jan 1965 (Obit); baptized Sacred Heart Church Monticello 15 May 1887.
- Carrie Eva - 25 July 1888 - 15 Jan 1939 (Obit); baptised Sacred Heart Church Monticello 2 September 1888.
- Helena Susanna - 19 Dec.
1889 - 29 November 1973 (Obit); baptized Sacred Heart Church Monticello 30 March
1890.
During this time it appears that Arthur's mother Miranda Miller Crim, the widow of Alexander Crim was living with Arthur and Fannie. She had been widowed and was 48 years of age. It appears from the 1910 census that Arthur's sister Alice was born in Iowa in 1866 but since Arthur is listed as having been born in New York, that would indicate that Arthur was brought to Iowa as a young boy since he would have been 5 or 6 when his sister was born. In any case, Alexander had evidently died and Mirana was living with her son Arthur and his wife Fannie Oeschger.
By 1890 Arthur had left. According to family stories (recounted by Bernice Hansen [Johnson, daughter of Catherine "Carrie" Crim [Hansen], and granddaughter of Arthur and Fannie. Bernice told the story this way:
After the first six children were born Arthur decided he wanted to go west and homestead. Fannie did not want to leave the area where her parents and extended family was living. She knew she would have community/family support for raising her six young children. At the time Fannie and Arthur's children were aged 7, 6, 5, 3, 2, and an infant less than 1. Arthur decided he would leave and he did. He left hitch hiking, with only a bag of clothes slung over his back. Fannie and Arthur had been married just eight years at the time. When he left Fannie did not expect to see Arthur again. Three years later their daughter, Mary Stella "Jesse" died. She is buried in Monticello. Fannie heard little, if anything from him or about him. Apparently his mother left as well and went back to New York (near Rochester) where she is later shown on the census and in city directories to be living with her daughter Alice Travers (and Travers's son Leslie C.). So Fanny was alone with her six (and later just five) children. Arthur left Iowa in 1890.
During this time that Fanny was in Monticello area with their children there is documentation that Arthur was in Washington State with his brother Leslie who was Washington State at least for some of that time, and who in . Nothing is known about his wearabouts until 1897 when we have note of him being in the Northwest. In the Chehalis Bee, Chehalis, Lewis County, Washington State, Friday April 16, 1897. page 25. Arthur is listed as having received a land "patent" from the U.S. Government. And in that same publication Chehalis Bee, Chehalis, Lewis County, Washington State, Friday July 2, 1897. V. XIII, No. 6 - there is mention that Arthur Crim and another man rode their bikes into the mountains after work.
One of the younger children was Bernice's mother, Carrie. At the time her father left Carrie was just 2 years old but when she 8 or 9 she remembered her father's return. "It was a cold and rainy night, the wind was howling and the rain was pelting down. There was a loud pounding on the door. The children watched from behind their mother as Fanny went to the door and cautiously opening the door of her farm home. There in the door way as a familiar but strange figure. He has a full and busy beard and a full bag of clothes at his side. Arthur had returned home." The year was probably late fall of 1897. The young children he had previously left behind were now 14, 13, 10, 9, and 8. Arthur was 36 and Fannie was 33. The family became reacquainted. Soon there were four more children born into the family.
During the time that Arthur was gone it seems probable that he was with his brother Leslie in Washington State where both were establishing land patents and searching for riches in the west. Arthur returned to Iowa and his family in 1897. But apparently Leslie stayed in Washington state with his sights on prospecting more in the Alaskan territory. In 1898 a group of prospectors were shipwrecked at the mouth of Lost River and being forced to camp there for the winter, they prospected for gold but did not find any. However, Leslie Crim was among a group of prospectors who returned to the area in 1902, no gold was found , but by 1903 they had located a confirmed tin deposit. The minerals were sent to Teller (Alaska) for confirmation. Officially Lost River mine was discovered in 1903.
Four more children were born into the family --
- Lester Paul Crim - 7 July 1898- 18 Aug 1972 (Obit); baptized Sacred Heart Church Monticello 16 Oct. 1898.
- Silas Bernard Crim - 1 Oct. 1899- 9 April 1969 (Obit); baptized Sacred Heart Church Monticello 30 Dec 1899.
- Matilda Laura - 5 April 1901- 20 Oct 1969 (Obit); baptized Sacred Heart Church Monticello 23 June 1901.
- Milly Agnes - 27 Dec 1902- 9 Oct. 1975 (Obit); baptized Sacred Heart Church Monticello 29 March
1903.
Stories from Carrie's daughter (Bernice) tell us that Arthur left before Milly was born at the end of December 1902. He was never heard from again. When their daughter Carrie passed away in 1939, noone knew if he was living or dead.
Many years later, in 1954, the living children and grandchildren of Arhtur were informed that there was an inheritance for them resulting from their blood relationship to Leslie Crim. At the time they realized that it was coming through their uncle who owned a tin mine in Alaska. But that is all they knew. In fact, the inheritance was brought to them by a treasure hunter who located the heirs and refused to release the information until each of the heirs signed to give him 50% of the inheritance. Other documents list the funds going to the locator of the inheritance to be 40ยข on the $. But according to the documents located in the 1980s, the inheritance did not come from Leslie directly but the money was actually in the estate of Miranda Miller Crim (spouse of Alexander).
Arthur is listed as having died in 1906, but no location or cause is recorded anywhere. No obituary can be located nor was there any mention of him in newspapers, or otherwise. But according to the probate court Miranda Miller Crim's estate was distributed among her living children and grandchildren. Arthur was not among those receiving any inheritance. However his children were recipients of a portion of the money. Miranda Miller Crim died in 1912 and all four of her children had predeceased her.
- Leslie had died without issue. He was living with a sect of "Holy Rollers" at this location, Islanddale, San Juan County, Washington State when he died in 1911.
- Arthur had a large family of eight living children; Carrie had predeceased her grandmother by over 25 years but there were six living children descended from Carrie Crim Hansen. That would require Arthur's portion of the inheritance to be divided into nine parcels; and the ninth parcel which would normally have gone to Carrie was further divided into six portions and distributed to her children.
- Alice "Allie" Crim Travers died in 1910. She had one son, Leslie C/L.who on the 1910 Census is listed as age 20, born in Canada, but immigrated to the USA in 1890, single. That would indicate that he came to the United States as an infant. Family members interviewed in 1980 said that Leslie was not heard from since a few years after his grandmother Miranda Miller died in 1912. He was presumed by the family to be dead. So since all family members were passed there was no inheritance to disburse to this branch of the family.
- Eva Crim Fuller (married to Fred Albert Fuller) died in 1903 leaving two children. At the time of the disbursement of the proceeds of the will both children were living in New York State. The two children left to inherit Eva's portion were: Delilah Pearl Fuller Fouts (she died
in 1978 at age 90) and Albert Fuller (died December 8, 1976 at age 80).
- So left to inherit the estate from Miranda Miller -- were Eva's two children and Arthur's eight living children collected equal shares of their grandmother's estate. Carrie Crim's children collected their mother's share.
According to the documents located in 1980 regarding the settlement of this estate. After expenses of $1789.51 were deducted from the estate; each of Fannie's children received $2208.07 and each of Carrie's children (Fannie's grandchildren) recieved $369.01, and each of the other living grandchildren (Andrew Fuller and Delilah Pearl Fuller) received $2208.07. The total of the estate was valued at $25,895.30. A far sight shorter than the $200,000 estate left by a "rich Alaskan". See other documents about Leslie's stake and his will. The most interesting one regarding the tin mine itself and Leslie's work there is included in Document #6. The other documents focus on the struggle to void the will leaving the estate to the Holly Roller sect.
Noone knows if Arthur returned to Washington State after he left in 1903. Apparently Leslie was still in Alaska until well after 1908 and by that time Arthur is thought to have died. And there is no mention of Arthur joining Leslie at his claim in Alaska. It seems Arthur never was part of Leslie's prospecting endeavors. It only appears that the two, prior to Arthur's return to Iowa in 1987, were in the same area in Washington State. None of the accounts from Alaska mention Arthur as a member of any group of prospecters.
