Craig, Robert

CRAIG, JOHNSTON, GODLOVE, TATTMAN

Posted By: mjv (email)
Date: 9/9/2020 at 14:57:46

Robert Craig, farmer and stock-raiser, Iowa Township, was born in Pennsylvania, in 1815. He is a son of Robert and Catherine (Johnston) Craig. The parents of our subject were both natives of Ireland, and were married in that country, where were born their three eldest children – Andrew, Thomas and Betty. The last-named died on the passage to this county and was buried in the ocean. After their settlement in Pennsylvania, William, Hugh, Mary, Catherine and Robert were born, and three of these sons are yet living. Hugh wedded Jane A. Jenkins, now deceased, and resides near Athens, Ohio; William wedded first Nancy Crawford, and after her death, Mary Murphy; they reside in Guernsey County, Ohio. The others were all married and left families. The father of Robert Craig died in Pennsylvania, and his wife spent her declining years with her daughter Catherine, in Ohio. She died in Hocking County, of that State, at an advanced age.

Our subject was married to Miss Sarah Godlove in 1841, in Perry County, Ohio; she was the daughter of Adam and Susannah (Tattman) Godlove, the former was born in Virginia, and his wife in Maryland. They were married and lived in Ohio, where they were early settlers of Perry County. They reared the following children: Sarah, Josiah, Bartholomew, Lizzie, Samuel, Catherine, Mary, Maggie and Benjamin, all of whom were born in Ohio. John was born in Iowa after the family came to this State in 1843. Samuel was a soldier in the 10th Iowa, and enlisted at the beginning of the war. He fell at the battle of Winchester, pierced by seventeen balls. The family moved to Iowa with teams, and settled on a small farm west of Yatton. There was only one log house there at that date, and it has long since been torn down.

Mr. Craig later purchased a small farm northeast of Riverside, where the old people remained until 1882, when they removed to Riverside, where the aged wife and mother died in 1883, and her husband one year later. They had reached a ripe old age, both being long past their threescore and ten. They sleep side by side in the cemetery at Riverside. When Robert Craig, Jr., and his wife came to Washington County, they rented land for a few years, and then purchased their present farm. They were poor in purse, but proud in spirit, and were as generous as they were enterprising. They are the parents of a large family, consisting of ten children: Catherine, the eldest, died in Ohio; then came Hugh, who was a brave soldier of the 9th Iowa, and died while in the service; leaving his father’s home when eighteen years old, his mother never saw her first-born son after bidding him good-bye. Josiah was the next in order of birth; he wedded Mary Barnes and resides in Colorado. William married Eliza Jennery and resides in Linn, Iowa; Dewitt is married, and resides in Colorado; George H. is single and resides with his parents; Rachel wedded William P. Tansey; Mary J. is the wife of James Carr; Eva wedded Joseph Allen, and Caroline married Willard Tattman. The children are all well and happily married, and the parents have grown from the ownership of a team in the early history of this county, to be the owners of many broad acres, well stocked and finely improved.

The kindness of Mr. Craig made him the pay-master for hundreds of dollars for those whom he sought to aid, but long since this loss has been retrieved. Mr. Craig is now in his seventy-third, and his wife in her sixty-third year. Both are in fair health, and the family are highly esteemed by the good people of Washington County, with whom they have made their home for so many years.

Source: Portrait and Biographical Album of Washington County, Iowa (1887). Excerpt from Biographical Sketch of Robert Craig, page 465-466.