CRAFTS, Clayton E., legislator and politician, born at Auburn, Geauga County, Ohio,
July 8, 1848; was educated at Hiram College and graduated from the Cleveland Law School in 1868, coming
to Chicago in 1869. Mr. Crafts served in seven consecutive sessions of the General Assembly (1883-95,
inclusive) as Representative from Cook County, and was elected by the Democratic majority as Speaker,
in 1891, and again in '93.
CRAIG, Alfred M., jurist, was born in Edgar County, Ill., Jan. 15, 1831, graduated
from Knox College in 1853, and was admitted to the bar in the following year, commencing practice at
Knoxville. He held the offices of State's Attorney and County Judge, and represented Knox County in
the Constitutional Convention of 1869-70. In 1873 he was elected to the bench of the Supreme Court,
as successor to Justice C. B. Lawrence, and was re-elected in '82 and '91, his last term expiring
June 1, 1900. He was a Democrat in politics, but was three times elected as Justice of the Supreme
Court in Republican judicial district. Died Sept 6, 1911.
CRAWFORD, Charles H., lawyer and legislator, was born in Bennington, Vt., but reared
in Bureau and La Salle Counties, Ill.; had practiced law for twenty years in Chicago, and been three
times elected to the State Senate—1884, '88 and '94—and was author of the Crawford Primary Election
Law, enacted in 1885. Died June 4, 1903.
CRAWFORD COUNTY, a southeastern county, bordering on the Wabash, 190 miles nearly
due south of Chicago—named for William H. Crawford, a Secretary of War. It has an area of 470 square
miles; population (1910), 26,281. The first settlers were the French, but later came emigrants from
New England. The soil is rich and well adapted to the production of corn and wheat, which are the
principal crops. The county was organized in 1816, Darwin being the first county-seat. The present
county-seat is Robinson, with a population (1890) of 1,387; centrally located and the point of
intersection of two railroads. Other towns of importance are Palestine (population, 734) and
Hutsonville (population, 582). The latter, as well as Robinson, is a grain-shipping point. The
Embarras River crosses the southwest portion of the county, and receives the waters of Big and Honey
Creeks and Bushy Fork. The county has no mineral resources, but contains some valuable woodland and
many well cultivated farms. Tobacco, potatoes, sorghum and wool are among the leading products.
CREAL SPRINGS, a village of Williamson County, on the St. Louis, Alton & Terre Haute
Railroad; has a bank and a weekly paper. Population (1890), 539; (1900), 940; (1910), 936.
CREBS, John M., ex-Congressman, was born in Middleburg, Loudoun County, Va., April 7,
1830. When he was but 7 years old his parents removed to Illinois, where he ever after resided. At the
age of 21 he began the study of law, and, in 1852, was admitted to the bar, beginning practice in
White County. In 1862 he enlisted in the Eighty-seventh Illinois Volunteers, receiving a commission
as Lieutenant-Colonel, participating in all the important movements in the Mississippi Valley, including
the capture of Vicksburg, and in the Arkansas campaign, a part of the time commanding a brigade.
Returning home, he resumed the practice of his profession. In 1866 he was an unsuccessful candidate
for State Superintendent of Public Instruction on the Democratic ticket. He was elected to Congress
in 1868 and re-elected in 1870, and, in 1880, was a delegate to the Democratic State Convention. Died,
June 26, 1890.
CREIGHTON, James A., jurist, was born in White County, Ill., March 7, 1846; in
childhood removed with his parents to Wayne County, and was educated in the schools at Fairfield and
at the Southern Illinois College, Salem, graduating from the latter in 1868. After teaching for a
time while studying law, he was admitted to the bar in 1870, and opened an office at Fairfield, but,
in 1877, removed to Springfield. In 1885 he was elected a Circuit Judge for the Springfield Circuit,
was re-elected in 1891, 1897, in 1903 and 1909.
CRERAR, John, manufacturer and philanthropist, was born of Scotch ancestry in New
York City, in 1827; at 18 years of age was an employe of an iron-importing firm in that city,
subsequently accepting a position with Morris K. Jessup & Co., in the same line. Coming to Chicago
in 1862, in partnership with J. McGregor Adams, he succeeded to the business of Jessup & Co., in
that city, also becoming a partner in the Adams & Westlake Company, iron manufacturers. He also became
interested and an official in various other business organizations, including the Pullman Palace Car
Company, the Chicago & Alton Railroad, the Illinois Trust and Savings Bank, and, for a time, was
President of the Chicago & Joliet Railroad, besides being identified with various benevolent
institutions and associations. After the fire of 1871, he was intrusted by the New York Chamber of
Commerce with the custody of funds sent for the relief of sufferers by that calamity. His integrity
and business sagacity were universally recognized. After his death, which occurred in Chicago, Oct.
19, 1889, it was found that, after making munificent bequests to some twenty religious and benevolent
associations and enterprises, aggregating nearly a million dollars, besides liberal legacies to
relatives, he had left the residue of his estate, amounting to some $2,000,000, for the purpose of
founding a public library in the city of Chicago, naming thirteen of his most intimate friends as the
first Board of Trustees. No more fitting and lasting monument of so noble and public-spirited a man
could have been devised.
CRETE, a village of Will County, on the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad, 30
miles south of Chicago. Pop. (1900), 760; (1910), 840.
CROOK, George, soldier, was born near Dayton, Ohio, Sept. 8, 1828; graduated at
the United States Military Academy, West Point, in 1852, and was assigned as brevet Second Lieutenant
to the Fourth Infantry, becoming full Second Lieutenant in 1853. In 1861 he entered the volunteer
service as Colonel of the Thirty-sixth Ohio Infantry; was promoted Brigadier-General in 1862 and
Major-General in 1864, being mustered out of the service, January, 1866. During the war he participated
in some of the most important battles in West Virginia and Tennessee, fought at Chickamauga and
Antietam, and commanded the cavalry in the advance on Richmond in the spring of 1865. On being mustered
out of the volunteer service he returned to the regular army, was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the
Twenty-third Infantry, and, for several years, was engaged in campaigns against the hostile Indians
in the Northwest and in Arizona. In 1888 he was appointed Major-General and, from that time to his
death, was in command of the Military Division of the Missouri, with headquarters at Chicago, where
he died, March 19, 1890.
CROSIAR, Simon, pioneer, was born near Pittsburg, Pa., in the latter part of the last
century; removed to Ohio in 1815 and to Illinois in 1819, settling, first at Cap au Gris, a French
village on the Mississippi just above the mouth of the Illinois in what is now Calhoun County; later
lived at Peoria (1824), at Ottawa (1826), at Shippingport near the present city of La Salle (1829), and
at Old Utica (1834); in the meanwhile built one or two mills on Cedar Creek in La Salle County, kept a
storage and commission house, and, for a time, acted as Captain of a steamboat plying on the Illinois.
Died, in 1846.
CRYSTAL LAKE, a village in McHenry County, at the intersection of two divisions of
the Chicago & Northwestern Railway, 43 miles northwest of Chicago. Population (1880), 546, (1890),
781; (1900), 950; (1910), 1,242.
CUBA, a town in Fulton County, distant 38 miles west-southwest of Peoria, and about
8 miles north of Lewistown. The entire region (including the town) is underlaid with a good quality
of bituminous coal, of which the late State Geologist Worthen asserted that, in seven townships of
Fulton County, there are 9,000,000 tons to the square mile, within 150 feet of the surface. Brick and
cigars are made here, and the town has two banks, a newspaper, three churches and good schools.
Population (1890), 1,114; (1900), 1,198; (1910), 2,019.
CULLEN, William, editor and Congressman, born in the north of Ireland, March 4,
1826; while yet a child was brought by his parents to Pittsburg, Pa., where he was educated in the
public schools. At the age of 20 he removed to La Salle County, Ill., and began life as a farmer.
Later he took up his residence at Ottawa. He has served as Sheriff of La Salle County, and held
other local offices, and was for many years a part owner and senior editor of "The Ottawa Republican."
From 1881 to 1885, as a Republican, he represented the Eighth Illinois Distri6t in Congress.
CULLOM, Richard Northcraft, farmer and legislator, was born in the State of Maryland,
October 1, 1795, but early removed to Wayne County, Ky., where he was married to Miss Elizabeth
Coffey, a native of North Carolina. In 1830 he removed to Illinois, settling near Washington, Tazewell
County, where he continued to reside during the remainder of his life. Although a farmer by vocation,
Mr. Cullom was a man of prominence and a recognized leader in public affairs. In 1836 he was elected
as a Whig Representative in the Tenth General Assembly, serving in the same body with Abraham Lincoln,
of whom he was an intimate personal and political friend. In 1840 he was chosen a member of the State
Senate, serving in the Twelfth and Thirteenth General Assemblies, and, in 1852, was again elected to
the House. Mr. Cullom's death occurred in Tazewell County, Dec. 4, 1872, his wife having died Dec.
5, 1868. Mr. and Mrs. Cullom were the parents of Hon. Shelby M. Cullom.
CULLOM, Shelby Moore, United States Senator, was born in Wayne County, Ky., Nov. 22,
1829. His parents removed to Tazewell County, Ill., in 1830, where his father became a member of the
Legislature and attained prominence as a public man. After two years spent in Rock River Seminary at
Mount Morris, varied by some experience as a teacher, in 1853 the subject of this sketch went to
Springfield to enter upon the study of law in the office of Stuart & Edwards. Being admitted to the
bar two years afterward, he was almost immediately elected City Attorney, and, in 1856, was a
candidate on the Fillmore ticket for Presidential Elector, at the same time being elected to the
Twentieth General Assembly for Sangamon County, as he was again, as a Republican, in 1860, being
supported alike by the Fillmore men and the Free-Soilers. At the session following the latter election,
he was chosen Speaker of the House, which was his first important political recognition. In 1862 he
was appointed by President Lincoln a member of the War Claims Commission at Cairo, serving in this
capacity with Governor Boutwell of Massachusetts and Charles A. Dana of New York. He was also a
candidate for the State Senate the same year, but then sustained his only defeat. Two years later
(1864) he was a candidate for Congress, defeating his former preceptor, Hon. John T. Stuart, being
re-elected in 1866, and again in 1868, the latter year over B. S. Edwards. He was a delegate to the
National Republican Convention of 1872, and, as Chairman of the Illinois delegation, placed General
Grant in nomination for the Presidency, holding the same position again in 1884 and in 1892; was
elected to the Illinois House of Representatives in 1872 and in 1874, being chosen Speaker a second
time in 1873, as he was the unanimous choice of his party for Speaker again in 1875; in 1876 was
elected Governor, was re-elected in 1880, and, in 1883, elected to the United States Senate as
successor to Hon. David Davis. By four successive re-elections since 1885, he is now serving his fifth
term, which will expire in 1913. In 1898, by special appointment of President McKinley, Senator Cullom
served upon a Commission to investigate the condition of the Hawaiian Islands and report a plan of
government for this new division of the American Republic. Other important measures with which his
name has been prominently identified have been the laws for the suppression of polygamy in Utah and
for the creation of the Inter-State Commerce Commission. At present he is Chairman of the Senate
Committee on Foreign Affairs, and has been a prominent member of other important Committees. His career
has been conspicuous for his long public service, the large number of important offices which he has
held, the almost unbroken uniformity of his success when a candidate, and his complete exemption from
scandals of every sort. No man in the history of the State has been so frequently elected to the United
States Senate, and only three—Senators Douglas, Trumbull and Logan—were each elected for three terms;
though only one of these (Senator Trumbull) lived to serve out the full period for which he was
elected.
CUMBERLAND COUNTY, situated in the southeast quarter of the State, directly south of
Coles County, from which it was cut off in 1843. Its area is 350 square miles, and population (1900),
16,124. The county-seat was at Greenup until 1855, when it was transferred to Prairie City, which was
laid off in 1854 and incorporated as a town in 1866. The present county-seat is at Toledo (population,
1890, 676). The Embarras River crosses the county, as do also three lines of railroad. Neoga, a mining
town, has a population of 829. The county received its name from the Cumberland Road, which, as
originally projected, passed through it. Pop. (1910), 14,281.
CUMMINS, (Rev.) David, Bishop of the Reformed Protestant Episcopal Church, was born
near Smyrna, Del., Dec. 11, 1822; graduated at Dickinson College, Pa., in 1841, and became a licentiate
in the Methodist ministry, but, in 1846, took orders in the Episcopal Church; afterwards held
rectorships in Baltimore, Norfolk, Richmond and the Trinity Episcopal Church of Chicago, in 1866
being consecrated Assistant Bishop of the Diocese of Kentucky. As a recognized leader of the Low-Church
or Evangelical party, he early took issue with the ritualistic tendencies of the High-Church party, and,
having withdrawn from the Episcopal Church in 1873, became the first Bishop of the Reformed Episcopal
organization. He was zealous, eloquent and conscientious, but overtaxed his strength in his new field
of labor, dying at Lutherville, Md., June 26, 1876. A memoir of Bishop Cummins, by his wife, was
published in 1878.
CUMULATIVE VOTE. (See Minority Representation.)
CURTIS, Harvey, clergyman and educator, was born in Adams, Jefferson County, N. Y.,
May 30, 1806; graduated at Middlebury College, Vt., in 1831, with the highest honors of his class;
after three years at Princeton Theological Seminary, was ordained pastor of the Congregational church
at Brandon, Vt., in 1836. In 1841 he accepted an appointment as agent of the Home Missionary Society
for Ohio and Indiana, between 1843 and 1858 holding pastorates at Madison, Ind., and Chicago. In the
latter year he was chosen President of Knox College, at Galesburg, dying there, Sept. 18, 1862.
CURTIS, William Elroy, journalist, was born at Akron, Ohio, Nov. 5, 1850; graduated at Western Reserve
College in 1871, meanwhile learning the art of typesetting; later served as a reporter on "The Cleveland
Leader" and, in 1872, took a subordinate position on "The Chicago Inter Ocean," finally rising to that
of managing-editor. While on "The Inter Ocean" he accompanied General Custer in his campaign against
the Sioux, spent several months investigating the "Ku-Klux" and "White League" organizations in the
South, and, for some years, was "The Inter Ocean" correspondent in Washington. Having retired from
"The Inter Ocean," he became Secretary of the "Pan-American Congress" in Washington, and afterwards
made the tour of the United States with the South and Central American representatives in that Congress.
During the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago he had general supervision of the Latin-American
historical and archaeological exhibits. Mr. Curtis has visited nearly every Central and South American
country and has written elaborately on these subjects for the magazines and for publication in book
form; has also published a "Life of Zachariah Chandler" and a "Diplomatic History of the United States
and Foreign Powers." Mr. Curtis spent his last years as correspondent of " The Chicago Record-Herald,"
writing extensively from various parts of the world. Died Sept. 6, 1911.
CUSHMAN, (Col.) William H. W., financier and manufacturer, was born at Freetown,
Mass., May 13, 1813; educated at the American Literary, Scientific and Military Academy, Norwich,
Vt., at 18 began a mercantile career at Middlebury, and, in 1824, removed to La Salle County, Ill.,
where he opened a country store, also built a mill at Vermilionville; later was identified with many
large financial enterprises which generally proved successful, thereby accumulating a fortune at one
time estimated at $3,000,000. He was elected as a Democrat to the Thirteenth and Fourteenth General
Assemblies (1842 and '44) and, for several years, held a commission as Captain of the Ottawa Cavalry
(militia). The Civil War coming on, he assisted in organizing the Fifty-third Illinois Volunteers, and
was commissioned its Colonel, but resigned Sept. 3, 1862. He organized and was principal owner of the
Bank of Ottawa, which, in 1865, became the First National Bank of that city; was the leading spirit in
the Hydraulic Company and the Gas Company at Ottawa, built and operated the Ottawa Machine Shops and
Foundry, speculated largely in lands in La Salle and Cook Counties— his operations in the latter being
especially large about Riverside, as well as in Chicago; was a principal stockholder in the bank of
Cushman & Hardin in Chicago, had large interests in the lumber trade in Michigan, and was one of the
builders of the Chicago, Paducah & Southwestern Railroad. The Chicago fire of 1871, however, brought
financial disaster upon him, which finally dissipated his fortune and destroyed his mental and physical
health. His death occurred at Ottawa, Oct. 28, 1878.
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