By Pat Cook
Jedediah Crocker:(1761–1841)
Next time you stop by Crocker Park to grab a bite to eat or window shop, stop and remember how our land has changed. Today Crocker Park sits upon the original site the Crocker family settled upon in 1811.
Born in Falmouth, Massachusetts, in 1761, Jedediah Crocker moved with his family to Lee, Massachusetts, as a boy. At just sixteen, he volunteered for service during the American Revolution, marching north toward Saratoga alongside fellow soldier David Foote. He later rose to the rank of Sergeant.
After the war, Crocker became Lee’s first postmaster and a respected property owner. He was deeply connected to the close-knit community that would later settle Dover Township. In 1806, his son married Betsey Foote, linking two Revolutionary families. Members of the Crocker, Foote, and Smith families worshiped together in Lee’s congregational church—ties of faith and kinship that would shape Dover’s founding.
In 1811, Crocker traveled west to scout land in Ohio. His family soon followed. They first settled near present-day Euclid while several of his children pushed onward to Dover, clearing forested land for future settlement. By 1816, Jedediah and his wife, Sarah, made Dover Township their permanent home.
Today, Crocker Road and Crocker Park stand on land once part of his original homestead—a lasting reminder of Dover’s Revolutionary beginnings. Although no Crockers remain in the Dover/Westlake area, their descendants live on throughout the country.