Craig, Wm. McCoy (1858-1944)

CRAIG

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 11/16/2016 at 18:21:15

William McCoy "Coy" Craig
(June 20, 1858 - November 1, 1944)

Advocate Tribune newspaper, Indianola, Iowa, Thursday, Feb 22, 1906, front page
Biography of Coy Craig, written by George E. Epps

William McCoy "Coy" Craig was born Sunday morning, June 20th, 1858, in the town of New Athens, Harrison county, Ohio. A delightful time to be born – June the month of roses; but the astrologers tell us that the planetary influence for that date indicates anxiety when anxiety terminates in worry it is hurtful. But when, as Dickens said, it causes a man to watch and wait it becomes a desirable attribute. Coy Craig has always had an anxiety to do something and to be something in this world and when there is a will, there is always a way. When Shakespeare promulgated his famous aphorism, “There is a tide in the affairs of men which taken at the flood leads on to fortune; omitted all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries.” He inflicted an irreparable injury upon the human race. This statement has furnished an excuse for the conduct of thousands of tramps and vagrants. They are pleased to believe that some early misfortune has caused them to miss the flood tide, and it is useless for them to try again. There is no disgrace in falling down if a man will try to get up again. Our flood tides ebb and flow many times in a life time; watch and wait for the flood tide and try again. Our aim in studying the character of an individual should be to determine the purpose of his life. The life of the man who lives to eat and drink and pile up dollars, who has no sympathy for his fellowman is certainly a dismal failure; but the man who so lives that when the inevitable hour comes he leaves a thought or a set of kindness which has bettered the world such a life has been a success. The production of dollars and cents does not alone determine a successful life. The most successful man that ever lived was the poorest. He had not where to lay his head. His sympathy for mankind and his earnestness gave him an influence which has revolutionized the world. “Whatsoever a man swath that shall he reap.” At the time of Mr. Craig’s birth, his father, the Rev. David Craig was a professor in the college at New Athens. Early in the fall of 1865 he moved his family from Ohio to Brighton, Washington county, Iowa where he became a principal of the Brighton schools and preached for the Congregational church at that place. From Brighton they moved to Jasper county where Mr. Craig was elected county superintendent of public schools. At the close of the year 1868 he moved his family to Palmyra township where he bought and settled on the old Elias Myrick farm one mile north of Palmyra. Here for thirty-three years he was pastor of the Presbyterian church at Hartford and for four years county superintendent of the public schools of Warren county. His death occurred March 23, 1903. Coy, the subject of our sketch, was ten years old when he came to Palmyra. It is thought by a great many people that the sons of a preacher are worse than the average boy. My acquaintance with the Craig family leads me to believe that such is not. Mr. Craig raised three boys, Coy, D. A. and R. D. All of them are good citizens. The worst one of them in his boyhood would average far above Pecks’ bad boy. Another erroneous idea held by a great many people is that a preacher is a better man than the members of the church. The preacher is just a man and because he stands in the pulpit and expounds the scripture is no reason that he is a better man than the follower of Christ who sits in the pew and listens. Coy Craig’s views are in harmony with this belief. “There is no royal road to fame.” It is an old saying that everybody has to walk at one end of his life. Happy is he who walks at the beginning of life and rides at the ending. When Coy Craig was twelve years old he hired out and worked by the month on the farm attending school three months each winter at Palmyra where he received his schooling except one term at Drake university after be became a man. For years he worked on a farm in the summer feeding cattle for some farmer in winter or working in a saw mill down on the Des Moines river saving his earnings until he was able to buy and pay for the farm of 150 acres which he now owns. While Mr. Craig was facing the winter storms in his young manhood, laying the foundation for his future home other young men were spending their summer earnings in having a good time. “Whatsoever a man swath that shall he reap.” But there comes a time in every man’s life when according to the Bible he should leave his father and his mother and take unto himself a wife. This time came to Mr. Craig on the 17th day of April 1900 when he was married to Miss Anna Kitchen, the daughter of C. W. Kitchen and wife, now of Winterset and a grand daughter of John Kitchen, the founder of the M. E. church at Palmyra. She had been a successful teacher in the public school for a number of years before she was married to Mr. Craig. They are now enjoying life at their farm home a quarter of a mile north of town. Two children, a daughter and a son, have come to cheer their hearts and bless their home with added responsibilities. Happy is the man who makes a wise choice in the selection of a wife. His happiness and success in life hinges upon the choice he makes. The perfection of the human race involves the mating of men and women, and the evolution or uplifting of the race requires that the mating be based upon love and congeniality and not upon economic or social considerations. It sometimes pays to watch and wait. In the stock line Mr. Craig raises horses, cattle and hogs. In grain he raises corn, wheat, rye and oats. Feeds the grain raised on the farm to the stock. He does not farm by proxy but believes in the nobility of labor and makes a practical demonstration of his belief by actively engaging in the work on the farm. He is a plain man who does not believe in ostentation, red tape, formality, or titles. He believes in calling things by their right names. His father was a graduate of two colleges, the last a theological college and preached the gospel for nearly fifty years. He always signed his name David Craig, omitting the title reverend. He is a total abstainer, does not use alcoholic drink in any form, has no use for a spittoon or cigar holder, has made many speeches for the temperance cause but the great principle of toleration which pervades his life, his forbearance, and his willingness to grant others the right to think and act for themselves prevents him from being cranky on this subject. He is a member of the Presbyterian church but broad and liberal in his religious views holding that the Christian churches should come together, discard the non-essentials and unite upon the essential doctrines of the religion of Christ so that all those who love God and man could march together in the elimination of evil and the propagation of good. He is a member of the Palmyra lodge, I. O. O. F. This is a moral not a religious organization. Its object is charitable and benevolent co-operating for the relief of human suffering. Mr. Craig is by nature sympathetic and in this society he had an opportunity for showing his sympathy for this fellow man in nursing the sick and burying the dead. In this his ministrations are to all those who need his assistance. Whenever a literary or debating society is formed in Palmyra you will always find Coy Craig there taking a part in the exercises, encouraging the young to prepare for the duties of citizenship. At the general election in 1902 he was elected a member of the board of supervisors for Warren county, and entered upon the duties of the office Jan. 1903. He holds, that a public officer is a public servant elected and paid by the people to discharge the duties of the office to which he is elected; that while political parties are necessary under any form of government and every man owes allegiance to the party of his choice, but in the discharge of his official duties he should know no party but labor for the whole people. This principle he always carries out in the purchasing of material and the employment of labor for the county. All that he cares to know is that the men employed are competent and honest workmen. He believes in competition and not in combinations; that the lowest responsible bidder should furnish the material and do the work required by the county. He believes in uniformity of county blanks throughout the state. He believes in the uniformity of school books. The uniformity of county blanks and school books would save the people many thousands of dollars. He favors the consolidation of the rural school districts. In many townships the school districts have not been changed in forty years. Conditions have changed in that time and if we keep our public schools in line with the progress of the age we must meet the changed conditions of society. During his term of office Mr. Craig has replaced many of the worn out wooden bridges and culverts with concrete structures which will last for all time and result in a great saving to the tax payers. The question of taxation is a vital question to the people of Warren county. The amount needed each year to meet the necessary expenses of the county depends largely upon the ability and the honesty of the members of the board of supervisors. The power to levy and collect taxes is a great power. The president of the United States does not possess this power. The men selected to exercise this power should be able and conscientious men. Some men take their conscience with them to church on Sundays but leave it at home when they go out into the business world. Coy Craig take his conscience with him when he goes to the courthouse at Indianola or whenever he may transact business for Warren county. The whole human race is liable to err and he is no exception to the rule. But his errors are not of the heart. Warren county has never had a more economical or conscientious officer than Coy Craig. Keep an eye on him. A man with a clear conscience who has learned to watch and to wait may by unjust criticism and misrepresentation be downed but he will rise again. [William McCoy "Coy" Craig died on Nov 1, 1944 and was buried in Hartford Cemetery, Warren County, Iowa.]

Coy Craig

Representative from Warren county, was born at New Athens, Ohio, in 1858. Came to Iowa in 1864. Was a farm hand for five years, then bought and operated a farm. In 1900, married Anna E. Kitchell. Has one daughter and three sons. Served two terms as county supervisor. Member of Presbyterian church. Republican in politics.

source: Iowa Official Register 1927-1928; Biographies of State Representatives; pg. 241

History of Warren County, Iowa from Its Earliest Settlement to 1908, by Rev. W. C. Martin, Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1908, p.977

COY CRAIG

For forty years Coy Craig has been a resident of Warren County and is now the owner of a well improved and valuable farm of one hundred and thirty acres on section 30, Palmyra Township, only a half mile from the village of Palmyra. A native of Ohio, he was born at New Athens, June 20, 1858. His father was Rev. David Craig, who was born in Ohio County, West Vir­ginia, and made his home there until sixteen years of age, when he removed to New Athens, Ohio. His early education was supplemented by a course in the Cannonsburg Theological Seminary and he was ordained a minister of the Presbyterian Church. He was married at New Athens to Miss Nancy Bell, a native of Ohio, and for fourteen years he served as professor of mathematics and languages in Franklin College, at that place. At the end of that time he re­moved to Washington County, Iowa, where he was superintendent of schools for some years, and then came to Warren County, locating on a farm near Palmyra. During all of these years he had devoted more or less time to the ministry and he became the second pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Hartford, Iowa, where he preached for the long period of thirty-three years. He was also county superintendent of schools here for two terms and was regarded as one of the most prominent and influential men of his community. He voted for Abraham Lincoln in 1860 and continued a staunch supporter of the Repub­lican Party up to the time of his death. He passed away on his farm, April 17, 1904, at the age of eighty-four years and is still survived by his wife who continues to reside on the old home farm.

Coy Craig is the oldest of their nine children, three of whom are sons. He was about nine years of age when the family came to this county and in its common schools he acquired his elementary education, while later he at­tended Drake University for one term. While assisting in the work of the home farm he gained an excellent knowledge of agricultural pursuits and for five years worked as a farm hand. While thus employed he saved the money with which to purchase sixty-eight acres of land but later sold that place and bought his present farm on section 30, Palmyra Township. He has en­larged and remodeled the residence, has set out fruit and made many other improvements which add to the value and attractive appearance of the place.

Mr. Craig was married in Winterset, Iowa, May 17, 1900, to Miss Anna Kitchel, who was born and reared in Madison County and is a daughter of Charles W. Kitchel, a farmer living near DeSoto, Iowa. Four children bless this union, namely: Mary Belle, David, Lyman C. and Charles W.

Mr. Craig has been a lifelong Rpublican and has exerted considerable influence in local politics. He served two terms as township clerk and in 1902 was elected supervisor and so acceptably did he fill the office that he has been reelected, being chairman of the board at the present time. At different times he has served on all of the committees and his official duties have always been most faithfully and conscientiously discharged. Both he and his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church of Hartford and he also belongs to Palmyra Lodge, I. 0. 0. F., in which he has passed through all of the chairs, being past grand. At the age of twenty-three years he started out in life for himself empty-handed and to his own industry, enterprise and good management may be attributed his success.