1043 Crawford Avenue
Tax Photo Circa 1940
In 1924, Marie Nowasky and her mother Barbara were living in a small apartment at this location in the Sheepshead Bay section of Brooklyn, just east of Gravesend. During this time, Marie met Elisha Snow Crowell. On May 14, 1924, Marie and Elisha were married. He had convinced them that he was 21 years old and was employed as an "operator". He also somehow convinced Barbara to pay for the marriage license and wedding ring. In fact, he was only 16 years old, unemployed, and attended the prestigious Boys High School in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. Less than a week after the wedding, Elisha's parents found him and forcibly took him back to their home. By then, however, Marie was already pregnant. Elisha's father had him committed to a sanitarium, suffering from alcoholism and mental derangement.
According to Elisha's parents, James Lane Crowell and Mabel (Meade) Crowell, Marie's mother operated a "drinking place" here in their apartment, and it was there that young Elisha became an alcoholic. His father had the marriage annulled.
On January 12, 1925, Marie gave birth to her and Elisha's daughter, probably in the apartment. She named the baby Marie Crowell.
Between 1939 and 1941, New York City photographed every building in the five boroughs for tax purposes. This photo of the house at 1043 Crawford Avenue is from that collection.
