Annie Laurie Crawley Papers

Annie Laurie Crawley was born on January 11, 1898. Her parents were John Henry Crawley (Jr.) [1850-1928] and Laura Jane Stokes [1855-1939]. They were married on December 18, 1879, and lived in the Indian Creek community in present-day Bullock County before moving to Banks, Alabama later in their lives. Their children were Ola Y. Smith [1880-1907], Clissie Crawley Thompson [1881-1940], twins Grover C. Crawley [1885-1896] and Thomas Hendrix Crawley [1885-1939], Sid F. Crawley [1890-1915], William Bartley Crawly [1893-1955], and Annie Laurie Crawley [1898-1986].

Annie Laurie Crawley never married and lived most of her life in Banks. Based on newspaper accounts and her scrap book, Annie Laurie received a degree from Troy Normal School in 1920, taught in Shiloh in 1921, taught sixth and seventh grade in Pine Hill in 1923, then attended Auburn and pledged Sigma Rho sorority. She attended the Auburn vs. Clemson homecoming football game in 1924, was a founding member of the national literary honorary fraternity Chi Delta Phi in 1925, and graduated from Auburn in 1926 with a degree in home economics. Annie Laurie was slated to teach home economics in South Carolina in 1926, worked as a hospital dietitian in Birmingham in 1927, and as a home agent with the agricultural extension office in Washington County, Alabama in 1939 and in Lamar County, Alabama in 1946 (the inclusive dates of each job are unknown). By the 1940 Census, she is recorded as a 39-year-old lodger in Chatom (in Washington County), working as a demonstration agent for 60 hours the week before, with an annual income of $2,500 the prior year. Annie Laurie came back to Banks for an unknown reason. The 1950 Census records Annie Laurie as manager of a café who worked 84 hours the prior week. Later, she was manager of the laundry department in a Troy hospital. She died on June 23, 1986 and is buried in the Banks Baptist Cemetery in Banks, Alabama.

--- By: William Bartley Hildreth April 2, 2026