Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 03.djvu/47

 CRAVEN

CRAVEN

the class of 1866, leaving before completing his course to join the armj- as a Union volunteer. At the close of the war he was employed on the Croton aqueduct Avorks and in 1866 joined the U.S. naA-y as lieutenant and became secretary to his father, then in command of the North Pacific squadron. In 1869 he was made assistant civil engineer of Mare Island navy yard, Cal. He re- signed in 1872 and for scA^en years practised civil engineering in San Francisco. He again joined the navy as civil engineer in 1879 and was ordered to Chester, Pa., where he was engaged in the con- struction of the iron floating dock then building at the Roach shipyard for the navy yard at Pen- sacola. He then went to the navy yard at Leagite Island, Pa., and in 1881 to the navy yard at Portsmouth, N.H. He was assigned to Coos- ter's Harbor training station in 1882 and in 1883 was granted leave of absence to take charge of the construction of the new Croton aqueduct in New York city where he was engaged three years. He invented an automatic trip for min- ing buckets (1876) and a tunnelling macliine (1883). He was a member of the American so- ciety of civil engineers. He received the degree of B.S. from Hobart college in 1878. He died in Brooklyn, N.Y., Dec. 7, 1889.

CRAVEN, John Joseph, inventor, was born in Newark, N.J.. in Septembei", 1822. He learned the business of a manufacturing chemist and be- came interested in electrical experiments, in- venting various practical devices which were employed on the first telegraph line between New York city and Philadelphia, Pa., which was built in 1846 under his supervision. Among his inventions are gutta-percha insulators for tele- graph wires and submarine telegraph cables. He also discovered that the use of glass on telegraph poles secured a continuous circuit. In 1849 he went to California and engaged in mining until 1851, when he returned to the feast and studied medicine. At the breaking out of the civil war he joined the army as surgeon in the 1st New Jersey volunteers, and in 1862 became medical director of the department of the south. He was assigned to duty as medical purveyor of the de- partment in September, 1862, and medical di- rector of the 10th army corps in May, 1864. In January, 1865, he was appointed medical pur- veyor of the department of Virginia and Noi-th Carolina, and stationed at Fort Monroe. On Dec. 16, 1865, he received the brevet rank of lieuten- ant-colonel, and was mustered out of the service. Returning to Newark he engaged in private practice, and served four years as postmaster. He died at Patchogue, N.Y., Feb. 14, 1893.

CRAVEN, Thomas Tingey, naval officer, was born in Washington, D.C., Dec. 30, 1808; oldest son of Tunis A. and Hannah (Tingey) Craven, and

brother of Alfred Wingate Craven. Thomas was admitted to the navy. May 1, 1822, as midship- man and for five years was on board the United States and Peacock in the Pacific squadron. He was made sailing master in 1828, joined the Erie of the West India squadron, and saw his first sea fight in the capture of the pirate Federal. His lieutenant's commission was dated 1830 and the next three years he cruised in the Boxer. He commanded the Vincennes, flagship of Lieutenant Wilkes, in the Antarctic exploring expedition of 1838. Upon his return he served on various vessels off the African and Pacific coasts and in the Medi- terranean, and in July, 1850, became com- mandant of midshipmen in the naval academy, Annapolis, and was commander of the academy, 1852-55. He then sailed for the Mediterraneair on the Congress and remained there several years, returning to the academy about 1860. He wa& commissioned captain, June, 1861, and com- manded the Potomac flotilla until October, whert he was placed in command of the Brooklyn, and with that ship ran the forts below New Orleans and at Vicksburg, 1861-62. He was promoted commodore, Juh*, 1862, and commanded the Xiagara off the coasts of England and France- 1862-65. In September, 1866, he was placed in command of the Mare Island navy yard, and in October, 1866, was commissioned rear-admiral. In August, 1868, he was made commander of the Pacific squadron, and in December, 1869, he was retired. He died in Boston, Mass., Aug. 23, 1887. CRAVEN, Tunis Augustus Macdonough, naval oflicer, was born in Portsmouth, N.H., Jan. 11, 1813; son of Tunis A. and Hannah (Tingey) Craven; and brother of Thomas Tingey and Alfred Wingate Craven. He entered the U.S. navy in 1829, and was at sea on various vessels until 1837, when at his own request he was as- signed to coast survey service. He was com- missioned lieutenant in 1841, serving on the Falmouth, 1841-43, and on the Xorth Carolina, 1843-46. As commander of the Dale, he was with the Pacific squadron in 1848 and assisted in the conquest of California. He was then on coast survey duty, 1849-57, and that year com- manded the Atrato expedition in the survey for a ship canal across the Isthmus of Darien. He afterward commanded the Mohairk off the coast of Cuba to intercept slavers, and among his captures was a brig with 500 African negroes. The Queen of Spain presented him a diploma and gold medal for saving tlie crew of a Spanish merchantman, and the boai'd of underwriters of New York citj" gave liis wife a silver service of plate for impoi-tant services rendered the mer- chant marine by her husband. He commanded the Crusader in 1861 and saved the fort at Key West to the government. He was promoted com-