W. T. CRAIG

(From the History of Callaway County Missouri, 1884, page 748.)
Transcribed by Kris Breid, 17 August 2005

W. T. CRAIG, (DECEASED.)
This venerable old citizen, born in Scott county, Kentucky, on the 19th of October, 1811, after a residence of over forty-three years in Callaway county, died at his home near Fulton on the 20th of October, 1883. The Craigs came originally from Virginia, but the branch of the family to which the subject of the present memoir belonged had long been settled in Kentucky. In Virginia, as indeed in Kentucky and wherever they have settled, they have ever been esteemed among the better class of people of their respective communities. W. T. Craig’s father was a well-to-do farmer in Scott county, Kentucky, and to that occupation the son was brought up. In youth he received a fair common school education, so that when he reached manhood, being blessed with a good physical constitution and having been brought up to habits of industry and to temperance in everything, he was well fitted to begin life for himself with every promise of a prosperous, useful future. Farming naturally became his permanent calling, an industry of which he became a successful and worthy representative.While still a young man and unmarried, he concluded to cast his fortunes with the Missouri river country in this State, believing that here, where land was much more fertile and incomparably cheaper, he would have better opportunities to establish himself comfortably in life. He arrived in Callaway county in 1837, and made this his home until his death. Here he bought land and engaged in farming.

In 1839, Mr. Craig was married to Miss Sidney Smith, a daughter of Tartan Smith, of this county. Mrs. Craig’s family of the same gens Smith of which Sir Sidney Smith (for whom she was named), the great naval commander of Europe (for though an English admiral and nobleman, his great activity and taste for naval life led him into the service of different countries when his native land was not engaged in war), was a distinguished representative. Another writer says of this great man who won his title of nobility by his valor and merits: “A more chivalric character than Sir Sidney Smith is not to be found among the heroes of modern times.”

Mr. and Mrs. Craig had a family of ten children, of whom there are seven living, viz.: Mrs. John Swon, Mrs. Joseph Wallace, Mrs. J. Samuel Watson, Miss Permelia, William H., George E. and Dock. Mr. Craig became a substantial farmer of this county, and his name was without reproach from the morning until the evening twilight of his life faded into the sombre [sic] darkness of night. He was a man whose life and character were such as to win the friendship of all who came to know him well, while every one who knew him esteemed him as an upright man and a worthy and useful citizen. His death was sincerely mourned as the loss of one of the best men of the county.

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