Craver, Joseph Atwood 1843-1927

CRAVER, NELSON, BRENT, THOMAS

Posted By: Marilyn Holmes (email)
Date: 7/29/2012 at 19:58:21

JOSEPH ATWOOD CRAVER

Joseph Atwood Craver, son of Samuel Porch and Elizabeth Nelson Craver, was born in Franklin County, New Jersey, March 9th, 1843, and died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Arthur H. Craver, 240 Woodward Blvd., Tulsa, Oklahoma, July 3, 1927, after an illness of eighteen months, at the age of 84 years, 3 months, and 24 days.

The Craver family moved from New Jersey in the early fifties to the State of Indiana. In 1855 they came by wagon train with the Joseph and Jas. A. Craver families, to the state of Iowa, and located near Forest Home, amid the virgin prairies, and endured the hardships incident to pioneer and frontier life.

He was one of a family of fifteen children. As a young boy, in the early teens he was the manager of the field work and the stock for the father, always earnest, resolute and perservering.

At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, he enlisted in the Fourth Iowa Cavalry, Company E, at Mt. Pleasant, Ia., at the age of eighteen he took part in many of the great battles of the war. His commanding officer once told a New Sharon resident, while visiting in Minnesota, that there was no better soldier in the war than Atwood Craver.

He was a member of the Guard which surrounded Jefferson Davis as he was led away from Augusta, Ga., in 1865.

He was also one of twelve men who conducted Jefferson Davis' cabinet officers from Atlanta, Ga., to New York City, after the last fight of the war in 1865, among whom was Major General Howell Cobb, who commanded the Southern forces in this last fight.

He was a thorough patriot; all his life he was interested in good government, and took part in public affairs as a loyal citizen.

He loved his country and his home; a man who was widely known for his high character and strong integrity. As a neighbor and citizen he was greatly loved and honored.

Mr. Craver devoted his life to the development of agriculture, and long before the days of the Farm Bureau and the Government Agricultural Station, he served his community, and state, by his practical and progressive demonstrations of farming and stock raising. A short time before his death he remarked, "I have helped to feed the world, but my usefulness here is ended, and I am only waiting for God's call to another field."

The ancestors of Mr. Craver for many generations were all Methodists, but he was not affiliated with any particular church, though he was a firm believer in God. A short time before his going he remarked to his daughter--"The ministers go with us to the grave and say a few words and go way. If God does not step in and take charge, no one does. God has multitudes of people on earth, and has provided for them most bountifully, and I have no doubt He has provided for them in the spiritual world. I have given myself over to God, the first Great Cause and Giver of All."

He is survived by his companion and wife, Sophia Ann Brent, whom he married September 15, 1870. Also by one brother, Thomas S. Craver of New Sharon; one sister, Mrs. C.M. Thomas of Grinnell, and one half brother, Ernest V. Craver of Centerville; by his only child, Mrs. Arthur H. Craver and two granddaughters, Florence and Louise Craver of Tulsa, Okla.

Services were held in the home of the daughter, July 6, 1927 at 3 p.m., Dr. Charles Drake Skinner of the First Methodist Church, North, officiating. Music rendered were the familiar hymns, "Abide With Me," "Rock of Ages," and "Home of the Soul," the the Choir Organist, Mrs. Jennie Yarbough, and the Choir Leader and Soloist, Mr. Walter Schoggen.

Interment was in the Craver family lot in Rose Hill Cemetery, a very beautiful spot for his last resting place, with his kindred, life long friend and army comrade, Charles F. Craver.

The Commander, and one other, of the old G.A.R. boys of Tulsa were in attendance. The Ladies of the Grand Army conducted a short service and placed a silk flag on his breast. The cemetery flag stood a half mast. Floral offerings of sympathy were many and beautiful.--New Sharon Star.