Isaac Heistand Craig (1832-1912)

CRAIG, BRILEY, BREEZLEY

Posted By: Dorian Myhre (email)
Date: 8/7/2017 at 19:28:58

From Nevada Representative July 12, 1912 (page 5)

Isaac H. Craig.

Isaac H. Craig, one of early citizens of this part of Iowa, died Tuesday, July 9, at his home near Ontario. His funeral was held at the home on Thursday under the auspices of the G. A. R. post, and burial was in the cemetery at Ames. He as a native of Harrison county, Indiana and had almost reached his eightieth birthday.

When Mr. Craig was a lad of fourteen, his parents having joined the Mormon church, the Craig family made by ox-team, with the people who had been expelled from Nauvoo, their first acquaintance with Iowa. They got as far on their was to Salt Lake as Council Bluffs, were detained there by several of them being attacked with typhoid fever, and next spring returned by way of Missouri to Indiana. In 1853 they came to Story county and established the family home three miles north of the present town of Ames.

The young man cast his first ballot soon after his arrival. It was at the first election held in Story county which was the one held at the organization of the county. In 1856 he voted for John C. Fremont, the first presidential nominee of the Republican party. Mr. Craig was twice married--first in 1856 to Miss Mary Briley, who became the mother of his seven children. Her death occurring in 1896; he in 1898 married Mrs. Rebecca Breezley. From July 1862 to March of 1863 he served in the twenty-third Iowa infantry among bushwackers in Missouri. In the early days his good marksmanship brought down many a deer where Ames now stands and wild turkeys and prairie chickens were too common to be interesting. When in 1854 he wished to visit old neighbors in Indiana, he walked as far as Rock Island. The nearest railway town, covering the 190 miles in four days. He won comfort and respect and was six ways a man of standing in his community.