Crowell was born in Rahway, New Jersey in 1817, the son of Nathan and Harriet (Tucker) Crowell.[1] He first learned the printer's trade working on the Elizabeth JournalofElizabeth, New Jersey. He later set type on the first number of the Sunday AtlasinNew York City and printed other New York journals. For five years he published Crowell's Pictorial and National Register, the first pictorial newspaper printed in the United States.[2]
Crowell was a printing contractor for the United States Congress, working with Congressional printer Cornelius Wendell. Wendell had established a printing business in Washington, D.C., in a building designed in 1856 by Edward Clark. Crowell acquired the building in 1859.[1] In 1861 he was presented with a check for $135,000 for the purchase of the building by the federal government to house the newly established Government Printing Office.[3]
Crowell became City Treasurer of Rahway in 1869. He was indicted in 1880 on charges of embezzlement of city funds, but the jury ended in a deadlock.[4][5]
