Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 18.djvu/168



In the death of Mr. Craig at the home of his son, Mr. F. S. Craig, Salem, on December 17, 1916, at the ripe age of eighty-six years, four months and twenty-two days, there passed away a man who was an important factor in the early educational and political life of Oregon.

He was born near Maysville, Mason county, Kentucky, July 25, 1830. His father, a physician, was of Scotch ancestry, but a native of Virginia, and a classical scholar. His mother was Euphemia Early, a second cousin of Gen. Jubal Anderson Early, prominent on the Confederate side during the Civil War.

Mr. Craig's parents removed to Palmyra, Mo., in 1839 and to Hannibal in 1841. On May 25th of that year he went into the Hannibal Journal office as an apprentice and remained four and a half years. One of the type setters was Orion Clemens, an older brother of Samuel L. Clemens, who afterwards became a national character in American literature under the pen name of "Mark Twain." He also learned to set type in the same office, beginning in 1848.

Early in 1846 Mr. Craig went to Illinois and worked in Quincy, Peoria and Springfield. In the latter place he remained four years an an employee of the Illinois State Journal, Simeon Francis, editor, serving as compositor, reporter, editorial writer and telegraph operator. Before leaving Hannibal Mr. Craig began reading law, and all spare time in Springfield was thus employed, part of the time in the law office of Lincoln & Herndon. When he thought himself sufficiently prepared he applied for admission to the bar, and passed an excellent examination by B. S. Edwards, John T. Stewart and