William Crawford of Oakham, Massachusetts, was a pre-Revolutionary clockmaker and gunsmith.

William Crawford was born in Rutland, Massachusetts, on October 23, 1745, as the fifth son of Alexander and Elizabeth Crawford. The family relocated to Oakham in 1750, where Alexander became one of the town's founders. The identity of Crawford's clockmaking mentor remains unknown. A tall clock with a 1764 dial indicates that Crawford was 21 years old when he produced it. Records also confirm that he manufactured firearms. Both William and his brother John served as soldiers during the American Revolution, with William ultimately attaining the rank of Captain. According to a 1934 letter from the Oakham Town Clerk, the clockmaker "marched as Sergeant of the Oakham Company, when it responded to the alarm of July 23, 1773, from Rhode Island, and also Sergeant on the Alarm of August 20, 1777, from Bennington. He also has credit for a campaign to Boston, beginning April 1, 1778." In 1773, William married Mary Henderson, daughter of Lieutenant James Henderson of Rutland. The couple had eleven children. Crawford resided in Oakham for the remainder of his life and died there on June 30, 1833, at the age of 87. His house remains standing, and the "Clock room" is reportedly still intact.

Oakham, incorporated in 1762, remains a small town in central Massachusetts. It is located north of Spencer and west of Rutland. The town was originally known as "Rutland West Wing." Some of the earliest settlers reportedly came from Oakham, England, which influenced the town's name.

Limited information is available regarding Crawford's personal life. A total of nine tall clocks made by him have been documented. Of these, five have passed through our business. Two Crawford-signed tall clocks are held in museum collections: one is part of the Daughters of the American Revolution collection and is displayed at Memorial Constitution Hall in Washington, DC, while the other is in the Old Sturbridge Village Collection in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. The remaining examples have been sold at public auction over the past three decades.

Several of Crawford's surviving clocks are constructed on a relatively small scale. At least two examples feature movements wound by pulling a cord, resulting in a running time of less than eight days.