account of disability in March, 1863. He then returned home and was engaged in farming in Story county until he sold his farm of seventy-nine acres and purchased his present farm just across the boundary line in Jackson township, Boone county. Upon this he took up his abode in March, 1909. He has sixty acres of rich and valuable land, a mile and a quarter west of Ontario and a quarter of a mile west of the Story county line. His entire life has been devoted to agricultural pursuits, and in his work his practical methods and unfaltering spirit of industry have constituted the source of a substantial success. What he undertakes he accomplishes. There is about him no hesitancy, and his carefully formulated plans are well executed and have brought him prosperity.
Mr. Craig has been married twice. On the 27th of December, 1856, he wedded Miss Mary Briley, a native of Indiana, who came to Iowa with her mother in 1852 and died here in February, 1896. There were seven children born of that union : Laura E., who is now in Ames; Eldora, who died in childhood; Mary, who died at the age of fourteen years; Arthur Sherman, who passed away at the age of eleven years; Minerva, the wife of Ralph Bell, of Idaho; Charles, living in Ontario, Iowa; and Nanny, the wife of George Cowdrey, of Washington township, Story county. In February, 1898, Mr. Craig was again married, his second union being with Mrs. Rebecca Breezley, the widow of J. D. Breezley.
Mr. Craig has now been a resident of this section of the state for fifty-eight years and has therefore witnessed the greater part of its growth and development as its wild lands have been transformed into attractive farms, as cross-roads villages have grown into cities and as the work of improvement has been carried on along all the lines which indicate an advanced civilization. He has participated in or witnessed many of the events which are now matters of history. He cast his first vote in 1853 at the first election held in Story county at the organization of the county, his ballot supporting candidates who were running for county offices. In 1856 he voted for John C. Fremont, the first presidential nominee of the republican party and has never failed to support its presidential candidates since that time. He has never held any office higher than that of township trustee, for his ambition is not along political lines. He has sought to do his duty quietly as a private citizen but has preferred to leave office-holding to others. He maintains pleasant relations with his old army comrades through his membership in Ellsworth Post, No. 30, G. A. R. of Ames.
He relates many interesting incidents of the early days and of the experiences which constituted features of pioneer life. He was an expert rifle shot when a young man and has killed many deer on the present site of Ames, for they were to be found in plentiful numbers during the first three years of his residence in Iowa. Wild turkeys were also very numerous, as were prairie chickens and other game. In 1854 Mr. Craig wished to go back to Indiana to see some of his old neighbors, for he was homesick and longed for the companionship of old friends. He walked