Cragan, Phineas H.

CRAGAN, LYKE, JENKS

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 8/12/2009 at 07:10:07

Phineas H. Cragan, an influential and leading attorney of Colfax, was born in Tioga County, N. Y., near the city of Binghamton, September 27, 1852. He is the son of Peter Cragan, a native of Schoharie County, N. Y., who was there reared to years of maturity, meantime learning the trade of a millwright. In 1855 he came to Illinois, and located upon a farm in Knox County, where he remained until the outbreak of the Civil War. In August 1861, he enlisted as a member of Company B, Thirty-seventh Illinois Infantry, and was promoted from the ranks to the position of Sergeant. A brave soldier, he participated in many of the most desperate conflicts of the war, and was several times wounded. He was with General Grant at Vicksburg, and at the close of the war he was discharged at Chicago.

Coming to Iowa in 1869, Peter Cragan located upon a farm near Colfax, Jasper County, where he engaged in agricultural pursuits until his death, March 6, 1888. In his social affiliations he was prominently identified with the Grand Army of the Republic. But little is known concerning his ancestry further than the fact that his father, James Cragan, was a native of Ireland, and emigrated to the United States in early manhood. During the War of 1812 he enlisted in the army, and participated in a number of the most important battles of that conflict.

The mother of our subject bore the maiden name of Catherine E. Lyke, and was born and reared in New York, of which state her father Samuel Lyke, was also a native. The Lyke family is of German ancestry. The parents of our subject had a family of two sons, Charles E. and Phineas H., who are in partnership in the law business at Colfax. The younger brother, our subject, was only three years old when he was taken by his parents to Illinois, and his primary education was obtained in the schools of that state. Later he was a student in the Central University of Iowa, from which institution he was graduated.

In 1869 Mr. Cragan accompanied his father to Iowa, where he has since resided. In 1874 he embarked in the mercantile business as a member of the firm of Wilson & Cragan, and continued in that connection for three years. Afterward he turned his attention to the study of the law, and was admitted to the Bar in 1882, since which time he has conducted an extensive practice in Colfax. A pronounced and enthusiastic Republican, he has been elected to various positions of honor and trust on his party ticket. For one year he served as Mayor of Colfax, for eight years was a member of the Council, and served on the School Board for nine years. He also filled the position of Acting Postmaster for a short time.

The lady who on the 4th of July 1875 became the wife of Mr. Cragan bore the maiden name of Narcissa Jenks, and is a native of Indiana. One child has blessed the union, a daughter, Grace E.

Mr. Cragan is a stockholder in the Citizens' Bank, and is identified with other prominent enterprises of the city and county. Socially he affiliates with Riverside Lodge No. 889, A. F. & A. M. In his religious connections he is a member of the Presbyterian Church, in which he is one of the most active workers. He is endowed with a keen resolute nature, and by systematic methods has become the possessor of a competence. Portrait and Biographical Record, Jasper, Marshall and Grundy Counties, IA Page 345.