One of the definitions in the dictionary for the word remarkable is ‘worthy of attention’ and the life of Erastus Crook, an early pioneer in the Tuna Valley, fits that description. Erastus spent a lifetime struggling to support a family and to make a living on a farm on the banks of the Tuna Creek (now known as the Crook Farm on Seaward Avenue and owned by the Bradford Landmark Society), and his life is a lesson in the hardships that early Tuna Valley settlers faced.

Erastus Crook was born on January 19, 1800, in Piedmont, New Hampshire, the child of Benjamin and Mary Crook. There were fourteen children in the family, including eight boys: Benjamin, Ira, Samuel, Frink, William, Joseph, Orlando, and Erastus; and six girls: Ruth, Behulah, Sarah, Susannah, Louise and Ida.

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