Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 7).djvu/105

Rh Kautz's cavalry division and provost-marshal of Williamsburg. Va. He was also brcvetted iimjor. At the close of the war he studied law, was admit- ted to the bar. and practised intil December, 1872, when he began the publication of the Bingham- ton, X. Y., "Times," a daily morning newspaper, which he also edited. In 1876 it was consolidated with the Binghaniton " Republican." Major Cronin is best known as an illustrator of wide- margin books and edilitms de luxe. He was the first to intnxluce this mode of illustration, and his work is much prized by collectors. The materials that he uses are jjcn-and-ink ami water-colors, the process being e.xcecilingly laborious and delicate. The execution of the work on Gen. Grant's" Per- sonal Memoirs" occupied the illustrator more than a year. Among the books that he has thus illustrated are " Valentino," for William Waldorf Astor; " Domcsticus," for William Allen Butler; Dame Bernerss " The Art of Fysshynge with an Angle"; Washington Irving's " Sketch- Book " ; Isaac Walton's "Complete Angler"; and three copies of "The Evolution of a Life" (New York, 1884). The latter work is an account of the artistic career ami army experience of Major Cronin, writ- ten by himself and published under the pen-name of "Seth Eyiand." — His brother, Eiij^ene Au- gnstns, lawver, b. in Greenwich, N. ., 9 Aug., 1841; d. in 'Portland, Ore.. 13 Nov., 1879, came into prominence during the excitement subsequent to the presidential contest of I87C. lie was a presidential elector for the state of Oregon.

CROOKS, Ramsey, fur-trader, b. in Greenock. Scotland. 28 .Ian.. 1780: d. in New York city, 6 June. 1839. He came to this country in early life, and established himself in Wisconsin as a fur- trader. In 1808 he entered the service of John Jacob Astor, and in the following year he set out on an overland joumev to Astoria, on the Pacific coast, in company with Wilson Price Hunt, Don- ald McKenzic. Itobert Stewart, ami a company of followers, a distance of 3,.')00 miles by the route they travelled. Later, Mr. Crooks brcanie the manager of the Mackinac division of the Ameri- can fur company, of which Mr. Astor was the head. In 1834 he sold his interest to Crooks and his associates, the latter becoming president, and Robert Stuart vice-president of the new company. The financial crisis of is;t6 and other causes led to the failure of the enterprise, and a few vears later the company was dissolved. Visitors to Mac- kinot^can see the company's ancient trading-houses, now known as the John Jacob Astor hotel, and inspect the account-lxK)ks of the old corporation, which are still preserved there. Mr. Crooks re- turned to New York, where he sjicnt the closing years of his active and energetic coreer. Black Hawk said Mr. Cr<x)ks wm< the best pale-face friend the red men ever had. and few chiefs from the north- west failed to see him when on their way to Wash- ington. He was fluent in French, and was master of the Chippewa and other Indian languai^.

CROSBY, Frances Jane, hymn-writer, b. in South East, Putnam co., N. Y., 24 .March, 1820. She lost her sight when but six weeks old. In ISW she entered the institution for the blind in New York city, and was gra<luate<l from it in 1844. She was apiminted teacher of English grammar, rhetoric, (ireck and Roman history, in the institu- tion in 1847, and continued to teach these subjects until 1858, when she married Alexander Vanal- styne. a teacher of music in New York citv. and blind like herself. While very young she sliowed a remarkable ability at verse-making; this ability she turned to the writing of hymns, and her suc- cess heroin was great. Perhaps the best known of her hymns are " .Safe in the Arms of Jesus," " Pass me not, O Gentle Saviour." "Jesus is Calling," " Rescue the Perishing," " Ble.ssed Assurance," " Saved by Grace," " Jesus keep me near the Cross," and " I am Thine, O Lord." Among her publica- tions may be mentioned "The Blind Girl, and other Poems" (New York, 1844); "An Address comiiosed and delivered ... at an Exhibition" (184«); "Monterey" (1849); " Pilgrim Fathers," in collaboration with George F. Root (Boston, 1854); "A Wreath of Columbia's Flowers" (New York, 1859); "Bells of Evening" (1897). Her hymns in Mootiy and Sankey's "Gosf>el Hymns" and in Mr. Sankey's ".Socre<l Songs and Solos" have attained a remarkably wide circulation in the United States, and abroad as well.

CROUCH, Frederick William Nicolls, com- poser, b. in London, England ; d. in Portland, Jle., 19 Aug., 1896. He was the son of a nmsi- cian, and at an early age became a singer and a violinist in the orchestra of Drury Lane theatre. In 1849 he came to this country, becoming a teacher and comp<»ser of music. He served through the civil war as a private in the Rich- mond Grays, soon after its close establishing him- self in Baltimore as a teacher. His best-known composition is " Kathleen Mavourneen," the mel- odj of which he wrote in I.iondon to words re- ceived from their author, Mrs. Crawford. Cora Pearl, a celebrated character of Paris in the days of Napoleon III., was his eldest daughter.

CROW, James, distiller, b. in Scotland about 1800; d. near Glenn's Creek, Ky.. in ia'i9. He was graduated as a phvsiclan in Edinburgh, and in 1822 came to Philaifelphia, where he engaged unsuccessfully in business, and then emigrated to Woo«lford county, Ky. Here his knowledge of chemistrv enabled him to improve the rude meth- ods of distilling whiskey ttien in vogue. His nnxluct soon became widelv known, and he gave nis name to one of the best-known brands of whiskey. He also practised medicine to a limited extent, and his opinions on this subject and on le- gal, litcrarv, and theological questions were high- Iv reganieii in the region where he lived.

CROZAT-CONVERSE, Charles, composer, b. in Warren, .Mass.. 20 Jan., lXi'2. He studied law and music in I-eipsic, and, retuniing to the United .States, was graduated at the Albany law-school in 1861. He has comjMJsed much church and other miisic.and his "American Overture" was played at the World's Columbian eximsition by the Theodore Thomas orchestra, and since then by Anton Seidl's orchestra in New York. He is a contributor to current literature and has published in a quarto volume " Hail Columbia, Overture Auiericaine [)oiir (irand Orchestra" (Paris, 1889).

CRUGER, Julia Grinnell Storrow (Julien Gordon), author, b. in Paris of American par- ents alK)ut 1850. She is the widow of Col. Van Rensselaer Crugcr, and before his death in June, 1898, was prominent in New York society. Mrs. Cniger is the author of the following novels, all issued with the pen-name of "Julien Gordon": "How She Did It" (New York, 1888): "A Diplo- mat's Diarv" (Philadelphia, 1890); "The Puritan Pagan" (N'ew York. 1891): "A Successful Man" and "Marionettes" (1892); "Mademoiselle Rc- s'da" and "Mis Letters" (1893); "Poppaja" (1894); "A Wedding, and other Stories," and "Eat not Thy Heart" (Chicago, 1897)

CRUMMELL, Alexander, clergyman, b. in New York city, 3 March. 1819; d. in Washington, D. C, 10 Sept., 1898. His father was a native