Dr. Roger Nelson Cresap 1809 - 1880

CRESAP, THOMPSON, TEMPLE, BLACKBURN, COATES, KEITH

Posted By: Mike Miller (email)
Date: 11/3/2008 at 18:04:45

Transcribed from the Cumberland Times, Pg. 3
Issue of 22nd June 1880
Cumberland, MD

Death of an Old Marylander.

The Bonaparte Journal, published in Van Buren county, Iowa, contains the following, which will interest a number of our citizens, as the deceased has a large connection in this county:

!!The friends of Dr. R. N. Cresap will be saddened to learn that he has passed from earth, having fallen a victim in the flames of the burning of the steamer Golden Eagle, which took place on the 30th of May, below Quincy. The vessel took fire from the explosion of a lamp, igniting some baled hay. There were three missing and the Doctor was one of the number. He had taken charge of some stock for a friend and was on his way to market. His wife arrived here on Monday evening. The lady has the sympathy of the community in this her greatest affliction.

Dr. R. N. Cresap was born September 26, 1809, in Allegany county, Md.; went to Hampshire county, W.Va., in 1826, and commenced the study of medicine there with his brother-in-law, Dr. John Temple; in the fall of 1829 he moved to Marysville, Tennessee, and completed the study of medicine and graduated at the Knoxville Medical College in 1830; came to Keokuk, Iowa, in the spring of 1833, and engaged in the grocery and drug business; in the fall of 1834, he and Messrs. Blackburn and Coates came and took claims in the vicinity of what is now known as the village of Bonaparte, Dr. Cresap's claim embraced part of the plat of Bonaparte, which he, in company with Mr. William Meek laid out in 1837; he followed farming and practice medicine; also kept a hotel in Bonaparte about twenty-five years. Married Angeline Thompson in 1830, in Tennessee; she died in the fall of 1835, leaving one son, John B., a little daughter, Mary, having gone before - he was again married to Mary S. Keith, October 3, 1836. Mr. Cresap owned several hundred acres of land in the county; also served as postmaster several years.

"The Doctor had been failing in health for some time, but was improving rapidly previous to the fatal trip. His friends and kindred have the sympathy of the community in their great bereavement.