USA > Missouri > Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. II > Part 33
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102
army of gold hunters who traversed the plains and scaled the lofty mountains that separate the Missouri River country from the Pacific Coast. He had many thrilling ex- periences on this expedition, but reached his destination in safety, and thereafter re- mained a year in the California gold fields. He was successful in his venture to an ex- tent which he thought would enable him to make a comfortable start in life, and returned to Missouri by way of the Isthmus of Pan- ama and New Orleans. The voyage was long and tedious, and General Craig retained the memory of it to the end of his life. Urged in later years, and after his retirement from active business, to visit Europe, the dread of the sea kept him at home. On his return from California he established his home in St. Joseph, Missouri, where he re- sumed the practice of law, being soon after- ward elected prosecuting attorney of Buch- anan County. In 1856 he was elected to Con- gress, and was re-elected in 1858, serving four years in that body and declining a third elec- tion. During his two terms of service in the lower branch of Congress he acquired a na- tional reputation and rendered exceedingly valuable services to the city of St. Joseph, the district which he represented, and the State of Missouri. When he retired from Congress he became deeply interested in railroad projects and was made president of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad Com- pany. He helped to inaugurate the building of this railroad west of the Missouri River, and subsequently induced Eastern friends and capitalists to construct the St. Joseph & Council Bluffs Railroad. When the Civil War began he again entered the military service of his country, and was commis- sioned a brigadier general by President Lin- coln. For two years thereafter he was in command in the district of the Platte, which embraced all the country north of the Platte River, between Omaha and Salt Lake. At the end of this time he applied to the War Department to be sent south, but his services were regarded as of so much value in keep- ing the Indians, then very troublesome, in subjection, that he was denied the oppor- tunity for such service as he craved and which would undoubtedly have given him much greater military distinction. In 1863 he resigned his commission in the army and returned to St. Joseph, but was not long per-
Vol. II-12
178
CRAIG.
mitted to remain out of the military service. Governor Gamble called upon him to take command of the district of northwest Mis- souri and commissioned him brigadier gen- eral. He at once made active war on the murderous bands of guerrillas which then in- fested this portion of the State, and followed them so closely that they were driven out of Missouri. Bill Anderson and other despera- does were killed by General Craig's troops. In 1866 President Johnson appointed him collector of internal revenue for the St. Jo- seph district, and he filled that position until the beginning of General Grant's adminis- tration, when he resigned. In 1880 he was a candidate for Congress against Honorable Nicholas Ford, and was defeated by a single vote. After that he lived in the quiet enjoy- ment of an ample fortune and held no public office, except during two years, when he con- sented to fill the position of city comptroller of St. Joseph. The closing years of his life were such as crown with honor those who lead useful lives and render their country distinguished services. As lawyer, soldier and statesman he occupied a prominent place among the public men of Missouri, and en- joyed the largest measure of the esteem of his fellow citizens. At his death he left a widow and four children. Four sons and two daughters in all were born to him, two of whom preceded him into the great unknown. One of the sons, Benjamin H. Craig, gradu- ated at the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, and died in the south of France. Another son, Willard Craig, died in child- hood. Lewis A. Craig was graduated from the West Point Academy, and became an officer in the United States Army. James Craig, Jr., is a member of the bar of St. Joseph. Clara C. Craig became the wife of Major Samuel Garth, of St. Joseph, and Ida Craig became the wife of Major Wilcox, of the United States Army.
Craig, James Tandy, physician and surgeon, was born June 26, 1850, in Car- roll County, Kentucky, of which his parents, Lewis E. and Letitia (Tandy) Craig were also natives. The father began his business career shipping fruit and produce by flatboats down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans, where he marketed both craft and cargo, and walked back home. He became a wealthy cotton-planter and slave-holder in
the South, and was well known as a prin- cipal legatee and the defender of the will of Junius W. Craig, in the noted lawsuit between the heirs-at-law and the legatees, involving an estate of several million dollars. He was a son of Thomas E. Craig, grand- son of Benjamin Craig, and great-grandson of Toliver Craig. This family in its various generations was well known in Virginia and Kentucky; the males were famed for physi- cal strength and brilliant intellect, and all were men and women of wealth, education and culture. The Tandy family, with which they intermarried, also held high position in Kentucky, and their union aided in the transmittal of these marked characteristics. Lewis E. Craig died in 1867, aged forty- eight years, and his wife died in 1887, aged sixty-six years. They were the parents of ten children, Albert, Sallie L., John S., Eliz- abeth, James T., Pauline A., Eliza D., Leti- tia J., Lewis E., Jr., and William E. Of these, Elizabeth, Eliza and Albert died in youth; the others are yet living. James T., the fifth child, was liberally educated, in Ken- tucky and Missouri. After completing a col- legiate course he entered the Missouri Medical College at St. Louis, from which he was graduated in 1874. He engaged in practice at Concordia, Lafayette County, Missouri, in March of the same year. Shortly afterward he lost his office and en- tire equipment by an incendiary fire. He then removed to De Witt, Carroll County, where he resumed practice, and at the same time carried on the drug business. He re- linquished this early in 1879, and located in Kansas City, where he built up and now maintains an extensive practice in general medicine and surgery. In 1880 he was ap- pointed by the county court to the position of physician in charge of the county prison- ers at Kansas City, to fill vacancy caused by the death of Dr. Chew. While engaged in this service the United States District Court entrusted him with the care of the Federal prisoners confined in the county jail. He occupied this two-fold position for about twelve years, until the county court determined upon committing the care of pris- oners to the lowest bidder. During his official term he suggested and carried into effect many improvements in prison equip- ments and internal arrangements, earning such approbation that repeated effort was
179
CRAMER.
subsequently made to secure his reappoint- years, and deputy grand master of the ment. From the beginning of his professional life he has taken deep interest in the medical department of life insurance, and is regarded as an eminent authority upon topics related thereto. He has acted as medical examiner for a number of leading insurance compa- nies, and has devised many blanks for use in their work. He is past chief medical examiner of the Select Knights of the An- cient Order of United Workmen, and has been medical director for the National Re- serve Association of Kansas City, Missouri, from its organization; having entire charge of the medical department. In 1900 he was appointed chief medical director of the Royal Mystic Tie, of Denver, Colorado. He has written a work on "Medical Examinations for Life Insurance" and the "Examination of Recruits for the United States Army." He is professor of life insurance, and also of hy- giene and State medicine in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, the medical depart- ment of the Kansas City University; secre- tary and treasurer of the medical section of the National Fraternal Congress, and a mem- ber of the various local medical societies. From his coming to Kansas City he has been deeply interested in military matters, and his services in these interests have been con- spicuous and valuable. In 1879 he enlisted as a member of the Craig Rifles, of Kansas City. In 1881 he was elected surgeon for the organization. At the beginning of the Spanish-American War he was appointed examining surgeon for the Kansas City re- cruiting station, and examined the recruits for the Twentieth United States Infantry Regiment and for the Third Regiment of United States Volunteers of Missouri. He has always been an ardent supporter of Dem- ocratic principles, and is a strong advocate of bimetallism and of territorial expansion as a necessary sequence to the recent war. He is not connected with any religious or- ganization. He was trained and educated in the hope that he would engage in the ministry, but his preference led him into his present profession. In disposition he is char- itable and philanthropic, and institutions devoted to such causes receive from him cheerful and liberal assistance. For twenty- five years he has been an active member of the Masonic fraternity. He was worshipful master of a lodge in Kansas City for four
Twenty-fifth Missouri District for two terms, during which time he organized and set to work two new lodges, Fides and South Gate, at Kansas City. He was married, June 30, 1875, to Miss Lizzie C., a daughter of Cap- tain Charles K. Baker, of St. Louis, a well- known steamboat owner and commander on the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. She was also a niece of the well known steamboat owner and capitalist, Captain John J. Roe, of St. Louis. Her death occurred February 14, 1887. Three children were born of this marriage, of whom the youngest son died in infancy. A daughter, Mrs. William H. Mc- Kay, resides at Vevay, Indiana. The son, Dr. Emmet J., a dentist by profession, is serving as dentist in the United States Army at Manila, Philippine Islands. Dr. Craig was again married, February I, 1893, to Miss Marie Richards, of Paris, Kentucky, a niece of William Shaw, of Paris, and of Colonel G. C. Kniffin, department chief of the Pen- sion Bureau, and of Colonel George Wilson, of the Internal Revenue Department, both of Washington City.
Cramer, Gustav, who has gained dis- tinction in St. Louis, both as artist and manufacturer, was born in Eschwege, Ger- many, May 20, 1838, son of Emanuel and Dorothea (Viehweger) Cramer. In 1859 he came to this country and immediately after- ward established his home in St. Louis, to which city his brother, John Frederick Cra- mer, had preceded him. He learned the art of photography under the preceptorship of John A. Scholten, then a leading photogra- pher of that city, and one of the earliest friends of Mr. Cramer. In 1860 he opened a photograph gallery of his own, but early in 1861, when the Civil War broke out, and President Lincoln made his first call for vol- unteers to serve for the term of three months, he enlisted in the Federal Army, entering as private in Company A (of which his brother was captain) Third Regiment Mis- souri Volunteers, commanded by Colonel Franz Sigel, and participated in the battle of Carthage, Missouri. After the expiration of three months' service he resumed his profes- sion as photographer, and in 1864 formed a partnership with J. Gross, under the firm name of Cramer & Gross. This firm soon built up a large business in portrait photog-
180
CRANDALL.
raphy, and for years enjoyed the patronage of many of the best people of St. Louis. In 1880 Mr. Cramer associated himself with Mr. H. Norden for the purpose of manufac- turing photographic dry-plates, the style of the firm being Cramer & Norden. These gen- tlemen were among the first in this country to introduce this new improvement in pho- tography, an innovation which, since then, has revolutionized the entire art and placed within easy reach that which before seemed impossible of accomplishment. They had many obstacles to overcome in the begin- ning, but their indomitable energy and re- sourcefulness enabled them to more than realize their expectations, and their manu- facture of dry-plates has grown to large pro- portions. The establishment of which Mr. Cramer has been the head since it came into existence being now one of the most famous institutions of its kind in the United States. Since 1883 Mr. Cramer has conducted the business alone as the G. Cramer Dry Plate Works, and the products of this establish- ment, the "Cramer" plates, have won a world-wide reputation by reason of their ex- cellence, and are used by both amateur and professional photographers everywhere.
Later the business was incorporated as the G. Cramer Dry Plate Company. Mr. Cra- mer has been honored with the presidency of the Photographers' Association of Amer- ica, and in that capacity presided over the deliberations of the association at the session held in Chicago in 1887.
Crandall, Orestes A., president of the Missouri Trust Company, St. Louis, was born February 25, 1833, at Syracuse, New York. When he was two years of age his parents removed to Illinois. That region was sparsely settled, and schools were not es- tablished until long after their coming; in consequence, he had meagre educational ad- vantages. He attended a common country school for a few months in three or four years, and was a student in Gleason's Nor- mal School, in Chicago, for a portion of a term. After this his knowledge was entirely self-acquired, through close reading during his spare hours. When twenty years of age he made the overland trip to California, per- forming the last 500 miles of the journey on foot. After mining for eight years, he went to Saline County, Missouri, but soon re-
moved to Illinois. The Civil War was in progress, and he aided in recruiting troops for the Union service. In 1863 he returned to Missouri and took part in the battles of Marshall and Sedalia, being taken prisoner at the latter place. He had studied law privately, and in 1864 he was admitted to the bar by Judge Tutt, and subsequently to the United States District Court by Judge Krekel, and to the United States Circuit Court by Judge Dillon. His most conspicu- ous legal achievement was the defense of Pettis County, in 1877, in the suits brought to enforce the collection of bonds issued to railways; as the result of his effort, a com- promise was effected which resulted in saving to the county more than $100,000. His suc- cess in this important transaction led to his appointment to represent the city of Sedalia in an adjustment of a large and embarrass- ing indebtedness, and his conference with the creditors in Boston resulted in a compro- mise by which the interest rate was reduced from 10 to 5 per cent, effecting a saving of $200,000. In 1875 the Pettis County Bank was organized, mainly through his instru- mentality, and he was its president for a term of five years. In 1880 he founded the Mis- souri Trust Company, the strongest financial house in Sedalia; its business so expanded that in 1901 it was removed to St. Louis. Of this company he has been president from the organization. While deeply concerned with large financial interests, in management of which his sagacity is fully recognized, he has for years devoted much time and intelligent effort to literary and scientific pursuits, en- gaged in as a recreation. His library is a rich collection of the best English literature, and includes rare and ancient volumes, as well as works treating upon those abstruse subjects which have been the object of his investigations. He has written much meri- torious verse. The choicest of his work is his epic upon "The Stream of Life," written in stately and varied measures, treating of the origin of human life, its course and des- tiny, and unfolding an entirely original sys- tem of philosophy, asserting the immortality of the soul, his argument being drawn from analogy, based upon the primal principles of human and inorganic existence, as revealed in chemistry, geology and mineralogy. Com- petent critics have warmly commended this work for its scientific exactness, poetic form
W.J. Grave
181
CRANE.
and literary finish, and it will be soon given to the public. Several years ago his atten- tion was directed to natural history, and he engaged in close studies in conchology, geol- ogy and mineralogy, resulting in the collec- tion of large and accurately classified cabinets. His helicidae and limnaeidae (land and fresh water snails) include nearly all the 500 species found in the United States. One genus of the limnaeidae (physa) he has written for the Academy of Sciences at Philadelphia. His collection of barytes has been pronounced the most complete upon the continent or in Europe, and includes varie- ties which have not been found elsewhere than in Pettis County, Missouri. His mar- bles include a beautiful display of the many varieties known in Missouri, several of which are little known, and have not been produced for the market. His attainments in these de- partments of science led to his appointment by Governor Stephens, in 1897, to member- ship in the Missouri State Board of Geology and Mines, and he was at once called to the vice presidency of that body. In religion he is an Episcopalian, and in politics a Demo- crat. In 1868 he was a candidate for the State Senate, and was defeated through the disfranchisement of a large element of his party under the operations of the Drake Con- stitution. In 1868-72 he was a member of the State Democratic central committee, and was in large degree instrumental in institut- ing and carrying on that policy which in 1870 returned his party to political control. Mr. Crandall was married, in 1864, to Miss Kate A. Kidd. Four children were born of this marriage, of whom one is deceased. Those living, are Emma, a graduate of the Sedalia high schools, who completed a musical edu- cation in the Boston Conservatory of Music, now wife of Charles Evans, assistant treas- urer of the Missouri Trust Company, St. Louis, Missouri; Arthur Lee, a graduate of the School of Mines, at Rolla, Missouri, en- gaged with a trust company at Fort Worth, Texas, and Stella May, who lives with her parents.
Crane, Walter Silas, one of the most successful mining operators in the Missouri- Kansas mineral belt, was born May 12, 1860, near the present town of New Harmony, in Pike County, Missouri. His parents were William H. and Mary E. (Crow) Crane. The
father was a native of New York, and was brought up a blacksmith. During the Civil War he was a member of a Missouri Union Regiment, and was afterward county judge of Newton County. The mother was a na- tive of Kentucky. The family removed to Granby when their son, Walter S., was but a child, and his education was acquired in the schools at that place. From 1880 to 1882 he conducted a mercantile business at Gran- by, and at various times afterward was sim- ilarly occupied at Lehigh and Carthage. During all these years, however, his attention has been principally given to mining. He was associated in business from 1883 to 1886 with W. S. Mesplay, to whom is attributed the identification of zinc, at the time when it was discarded as not only valueless, but as a hindrance to lead-mining. He relates that when a boy, and while working in Granby, he would gather up discarded ore, heaped in a waste pile, and market it on his own account at one dollar a ton, the low- est price he has ever known. While engaged in his mercantile ventures he never ceased giving attention to mining, and from the first to the present has been successful to an un- usual degree. In company with Mr. Mes- play, he was among the early operators at the Lehigh mines, in 1892, and subsequently he operated upon large properties in various parts of Jasper County, in part upon exten- sive tracts which he holds in fee, and in part upon leased grounds. He is thoroughly conversant with every phase of the mining industry, and his judgment is regarded as worthy of implicit confidence. For this rea- son he is frequently sought by the inexpe- rienced, and upon his verdict are based numerous large transactions. Mr. Crane has long been numbered among the most ener- getic and influential Republicans of Jasper County. He has been a frequent delegate in congressional district and State conven- tions, and has attended various national con- ventions. He is at present chairman of the Republican executive committee of Jasper County. In 1892 he was elected to the City Council of Joplin. In 1894 he was elected sheriff of Jasper County, and in 1896 was defeated, under the weight of the free silver defection. In both of the nominating con- ventions he was honored with a unanimous nomination by acclamation. He was solic- ited to again become a candidate in 1898,
182
CRAWFORD.
but declined. He is a Modern Woodman, an Odd Fellow, an Elk, and a Mason, having taken the Commandery degrees in the latter order. He was married, September 19, 1899, to Miss Anna Augusta Foard, a native of Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Mrs. Crane was graduated from the Kansas City High School in 1889. She afterward resided for a time in Europe, and during her stay abroad be- came proficient as a French scholar, and ac- quired great skill in tapestry painting, an art which she studied in Dresden. Her an- cestry is rarely interesting and honorable. Her father was William Francis Foard, a native of Kentucky; during the Civil War he served with conspicuous gallantry as major of a Missouri cavalry regiment in the Confederate service. When a young man he was a merchant in Leavenworth, Kan- sas. Her mother, now living in Kansas City, is a native of Missouri, and on her maternal side is descended from William Randolph, of Turkey Island, Virginia, founder of the distinguished Randolph family in America, of which John Randolph, of Roanoke, was an illustrious representative, and which was related to Thomas Jefferson, Meriwether Lewis, and other leading Virginia men and families of the Colonial and Revolutionary periods.
Crawford, Dugald, is one of the most famous of Western merchants and head of a great commercial house in St. Louis, the fame of which has made his name familiar to thousands and caused him to become, in the broadest sense of that term, a public man. Something more than thirty years ago, in 1866, to be exact, the name of D. Craw- ford first appeared in the list of St. Louis merchants and he threw open the doors of a tiny store at 418 Franklin Avenue. The room in which this business was conducted was thirteen by eighteen feet in its dimen- sions, the only counter was nine feet long, and Mr. Crawford was proprietor, clerk and delivery man. At 6 o'clock in the morning he opened the shutters and swept out the store, and until 10 o'clock at night, and 12 o'clock on Saturday nights, he waited on customers. Such was the founding, the plant- ing, of Mr. Crawford's commercial enter- prise, which has developed, like the scriptural grain of mustard seed, until it has become known far and wide as one of the greatest
mercantile institutions of a great city. In this little shop Mr. Crawford sold $60,000 worth of goods the first year, and the history of his enterprise since that time is a record of continuous expansion. For thirty-two years he continued to occupy the site on which his business was founded, and within that time eight successive enlargements of the store were made to meet the demands of a trade which reached, in later years, an ag- gregate of $2,000,000 annually and gave em- ployment to more than 600 persons. Then came the crowning event in a wonderfully successful commercial career. Having en- tirely outgrown the premises which it occu- pied, Mr. Crawford found it necessary to change the location of his store, and in 1898 he practically built a magnificent new store on Sixth Street and Washington Avenue, which was opened to the public on October 10th of that year. On that date St. Louis awoke to a realization of the fact that one of her merchants had taken a long step in ad- vance, and had not only given the city one of the largest department stores in the coun- try, but a building also so unique in design as to make it onė of the chief attractions of the metropolis. In contrast to the building, itself an imposing structure, entirely white in color, is the main entrance in black and gold, surmounted by a large glass dome rest- ing on pillars. Seats are fashioned around the curve of the dome in the interior of the second story, and from this resting place for busy shoppers has arisen the popular ex- pression, "Meet me 'round the dome." In this building, five stories in height and cov- ering three acres of ground, are innumera- ble departments, requiring the services of 1,000 employes. Under one roof have been gathered so great a variety of commodities that nothing is more common than to see both city and country shoppers spend an entire day in this establishment, finding there everything they desire to purchase, and as- sured always of the fairest treatment and most satisfactory prices. In addition to the usual features of a mammoth department store are many decided innovations. There are also unique provisions for the comfort of customers. On the fifth floor there is a spacious restaurant which would do credit to a clubhouse or hotel in excellence, and on the fourth floor is a nursery for children whose mothers are shopping. A consulting
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.