Nathaniel Macon Crawford was a white man born in Oglethorpe County, Georgia, on March 22, 1811; he died in Tunnel Hill, Georgia on October 27, 1871. During his lifetime, Crawford was a minister, theologian, and college president. He was the son of William H. Crawford, a United States senator from Georgia, American minister to France, secretary of the treasury, and one-time candidate for the presidency. Nathaniel Macon Crawford enjoyed unique cultural and educational advantages in boyhood. He was educated in the schools of Washington, D.C., and at the University of Georgia where he graduated with the highest honor in 1829 in a distinguished class which included George F. Pierce, a future Methodist bishop and college president; Thomas G. Scott, a future Episcopal bishop; and Shaler Granby Hillyer, a distinguished Baptist minister and educator.

Crawford studied law and was admitted to the bar. He soon, however, turned to teaching and served as professor of mathematics at Oglethorpe University, a Presbyterian institution, from 1837 to 1841. Although he was brought up a Presbyterian, he became a Baptist after his Baptist wife, the former Anne Katherine Lazer, influenced him to study the New Testament teaching on the meaning of baptism. Ordained a Baptist minister in 1844, he served as pastor at such important churches as that in Washington, Georgia, in 1844-1845, and the historic First Baptist Church of Charleston, South Carolina, in 1846-1847.

Returning to teaching, Crawford was appointed to the faculty of Mercer University in 1847 as professor of biblical literature. In 1854, he was elected president of Mercer, but he resigned in 1856 because of dissension in the faculty. He returned to Mercer as president in 1858, after serving in 1856-1857 as professor of mental and moral philosophy at the University of Mississippi and in 1857-1858 as professor of systematic theology at Georgetown College. In 1865 Crawford became president of Georgetown College and served in that capacity until his retirement in early 1871.

Noted as a life-long student, Crawford was an accomplished linguist, mathematician, and philosopher as well as a theologian. He was described by his colleague, John Leadley Dagg, as a man of learning, talent, and popularity. Although he published one book, "Christian Paradoxes", he wrote little, and his contributions to Southern Baptists were largely made as a classroom teacher, a counselor of men with ability and promise, and a college executive.