CRUTCHER, WILLIAM HENRY (1817–1876). William Henry Crutcher, Texas legislator and minister, was born December 9, 1817, in Lebanon, Tennessee, son of Edmund and Jane Ann (Knight) Crutcher. Crutcher was educated and studied law in Tennessee. As a young man he came to Texas with his sister and his brother-in-law, James S. Mayfield.^qv In 1840 they settled in LaGrange in Fayette County, and William became a partner in a law firm.

In 1847 during his campaign for the state legislature, Crutcher had a conversion experience during a sermon by a Presbyterian minister. He won the election and served conscientiously, but after one term he decided to give up politics and his law practice to join the ministry. William Crutcher was educated at the Colorado Presbytery at the Cumberland Presbyterian Church^qv and was ordained as a minister in 1854. Crutcher preached to and founded congregations in Gonzales, DeWitt, Lavaca, and Fayette counties. He also served as clerk for his region, the Guadalupe Presbytery, and for the Presbyterian Synod.

William Crutcher married October 27, 1867, to Mary (DeWitt) Yancey, sister to fellow minister Marcus Bearden DeWitt and widow of William Thomas Yancey. The couple had four children. After several years of poor health William Henry Crutcher died in Round Rock, Texas, on December 30, 1876.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: William Henry Crutcher (http://www.cumberland.org/hfcpc/minister/CrutchWH.htm), accessed July 27, 2006.

Jennifer Eckel