Thomas Young Crowell (1836–1909) was the founder of Thomas Y. Crowell Co. He was a well-respected Boston bookbinder that founded his own binder in the early 1860s, which started publishing in 1876. He had at least two sons: T. Irving Crowell, who joined the business in 1882, and Jeremiah Osborne Crowell, who was the sales manager in 1882. During his leadership of Thomas Y. Crowell Co., the company issued a profitable line of reference works and a variety of fictional titles also. He died in 1909 at the age of 73 and was succeeded by his son T. Irving Crowell (who was later succeeded by a third generation Robert L. Crowell).