Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 03.djvu/55

 CRENSHAW

CRESSON

Chillicothe. Ohio, where he held many positions of public trust. He was secretary of the state of Ohio, 1803-08; was a representative in 9th general assembly, 1810-11; a representative from the third district in the 13th and 14th congresses, 1813-17; judge of the U.S. district court of Ohio, 1823-27, and representative from the sixth district of Ohio in the 20th, 21st and 22d congresses, 1827- 33. He resigned his seat in the 20th congress upon being nominated judge of the U.S. circuit court by President Adams, but his nomination was not confirmed by the senate. He died at Chillicothe, Ohio, Oct. 8, 1851.

CRENSHAW, Anderson, jurist, was born in Abbeville district, S.C, May 22, 1783. He was graduated at South Carolina college, Columbia, in 1806, the first graduate of that institution. He then practised law in his native county and in 1819 removed to Alabama, where he was judge of the circuit court 1821-38; judge of the supreme court, and chancellor of southern Alabama, 1838- 47. He died in Butler county, Ala., in 1847.

CRENSHAW, Walter Henry, jurist, was born in Abbeville district, S.C., July 7, 1817; son of Anderson Crenshaw. He was graduated at the University of Alabama in 1884 with its first class, and was a trustee, resigning after the buildings were burned by the Federal troops April 4, 1865. He was in the state legislature 1838-67, being speaker of the house, 1861-65, and president of the senate, 1865-67. He was a member of the state constitutional convention of 1865, and judge of the Butler county criminal court, 1867-78. He was a commissioner to codify the laws of the state. He died in Greenville, Ala., Dec. 7, 1878.

CRERAR, John, philanthropist, was born in New York city, March 8, 1827 ; son of John and Agnes (Smeallie) Crerar, natives of Scotland. He was educated in the New York schools and at an early age went into business, becoming later a partner in the banking firm of Jesup, Kennedy & Co. In 1862 he severed his connection with the house and established in Chicago, Ill., the firm of Crerar, Adams & Co., dealing in railroad supplies. He was an incorporator of the Pullman palace car company and a director of that corporation and of the Chicago & Alton railroad. He was a presidential elector on the Republican ticket of 1888. He gave $100,000 for a colossal statue of Abraham Lincoln, and by his will, after liberal bequests to friends, relatives and charities, he left the residue of his estate, amounting to $2,500,000, as an endowment fund for a public library to be founded in Chicago. In 1894 the library was organized and it was decided to use it for a reference library of scientific literature, the will having specified that "skeptical trash and all books of questionable moral tone" should be excluded. The John Crerar library was opened April 1, 1897, in temporary quarters in the Marshall Field & Co. building on Wabash avenue. John Crerar died in Chicago. I11., Oct. 19, 1889.

CRESSON, Charles Massey, chemist, was born in Cheltenham, Pa., Feb. 3, 1828; son of John Chapman and Letitia Louisa (Massey) Cresson. He acquired his preparatory education at Gummere's school, Burlington, N.J., at the Central high school, Philadelphia, and by private tuition, and was graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1847 and from Jefferson medical college in 1849. He became an analytical chemist and expert, was manager and chemist of the Philadelphia gasworks, 1849-64; chemist to the Philadelphia board of health for fifteen years, and also chemist to the Fairmount park commission. He instituted the scientific departments of the Pennsylvania railroad in 1868, of the Philadelphia & Reading railroad in 1869 and of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad in 1883. He devoted much time to the examination of waters, chemically and microscopically; was interested in photography; was a prominent Mason; and was for many years organist at the Church of the Atonement. Philadelphia. He was elected a member of the Franklin institute in 1849, and of the American philosophical society in 1857. He is the author of numerous contributions to scientific literature, chiefly in pamphlet form, their titles including: ''The Manufacture of Gas; The Effects of Electricity upon the Tensile Strength of Iron; Wood Preservation; Paper Manufacture; and Water Supplies of Cities.'' He died in Philadelphia, Pa., Dec. 27, 1893.

CRESSON, Elliott, philanthropist, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., March 2, 1796; son of John Elliott and Mary (Warder), grandson of Caleb and Annabella (Elliott), great-grandson of James and Sarah (Emlen), and great² grandson of Solo-