An illustrator who contributed to the Saturday Evening Post, Monte Crews studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Art Students League in New York. He taught at the Kansas City Art Institute and the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.

Source:
Peter Falk, "Who Was Who in American Art"
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Note from Constance Ballew Johnson

I have in my possession a copy of a book written by my great-grandfather's brother, Emmit Ballew, entitled "The Neglected Message or Homeseekers Excursion O'er the Heroic Route", published in 1925 by the Journal Printing Company of Kirksville, MO, with "Illustrations by Monte Crews." There are 26 black & white illustrations in this very unusual book, including one of (presumably) Daniel Boone at Booneslick (near where the author lived in Missouri, attributed to Monte Crews.

Other illustrations include renderings of biblical scenes, cityscapes of the time, and even a full-page rendering of the author's vision of his mother-in-law greeting him at the gates of heaven! I notice from biographical notes that he taught at the Art Institute in Kansas City, and this book has many references to life near there from the late 1800's through the 1920's, including visits with Kit Carson's brother, Hamilton Carson who lived on a farm nearby. So it would seem that these illustrations would fit the time-and-location frame of his life.