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Family
Marriage: Children:
  1. Faires Beaver Craig: Birth: 8 JUL 1880 in Norristown, Pennsylvania. Death: OCT 1971 in Norristown, Pennsylvania

  2. Alda Beaver Craig: Birth: 15 JUN 1884 in Norristown, Pennsylvania. Death: 2 MAY 1924 in Norristown, Pennsylvania


Sources
1. Title:   1900 United States Federal Census
Page:   Year: 1900; Census Place: Norristown, Montgomery, Pennsylvania; Roll: 1444; Page: 5B; Enumeration District: 0244; FHL microfilm: 1241444
Author:   Ancestry.com
Publication:   Name: Ancestry.com Operations Inc; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2004;
2. Title:   Pennsylvania, Death Certificates, 1906-1963
Page:   Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission; Pennsylvania, USA; Certificate Number Range: 016001-019360
Author:   Ancestry.com
Publication:   Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2014;
3. Title:   U.S., Presbyterian Records, 1743-1970
Author:   Ancestry.com
Publication:   Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; Location: Lehi, UT, USA; Date: 2016;
4. Title:   1910 United States Federal Census
Page:   Year: 1910; Census Place: Norristown Ward 8, Montgomery, Pennsylvania; Roll: T624_1379; Page: 6B; Enumeration District: 0123; FHL microfilm: 1375392
Author:   Ancestry.com
Publication:   Name: Ancestry.com Operations Inc; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2006;

Notes
a. Note:   (Obituary from The Daily Herald, Norristown, Pa. February 21, 1918) ------ THE DEATH OF WM. W. CRAIG ----------------- Clerk of District Court of the United States. ----------------- Born in India, Long a Resident of Norristown, and a Devout Churchman. ----------------- Following soon after the death of his estimable and accomplished wife, came the news that William Wright Craig, clerk of the United States District Court at Philadelphia, had died very suddenly and unexpectedly yesterday afternoon at his residence, No. 219 East Elm Street, Norristown. Since last Friday Mr. Craig had been quietly resting at home, apparently recovering from a cold. He arose as usual yesterday morning, dressed, communicated on the phone with the District Court offices as usual, and gave directions to his assistants about current court business. At noon, however, he ate no lunch, seemed rather unwell, and lay down on his bed. About 2.30, just as his devoted daughter, Miss Alda, was about to leave the house for a short call, she heard her father cough, and on going into his room found him unconscious. A physician hurriedly responded to a summons, but Mr. Craig never rallied, and died soon afterwards. Mr. Craigs deceased wife was Miss Ella Beaver. He is survived by a son, Faires B. Craig, a civil and construction engineer, employed by a big Boston construction concern, nd now engaged on work near Hartford; and a daughter, Miss Alda B. Craig. The funeral arrangements will be definitely announced after the son can be reached. William W. Craig came of remarkable parents, and his earthly life was passed under trying conditions. His father, Rev. James Craig, was a Presbyterian minister, born in Scotland, who married Jane Wright, a native of Ireland, and they went to India as missionaries in the first half of the nineteenth century, when such a trip and the subsequent life entailed terrible hardships. There their children were born, William W. Craig at Saharanpur, on September 1, 1841. He was the only son among five children, four of whom reached maturity. One of his older sisters, Miss Margaret, returned to India as a missionary in 1870, and died there in 1890, at Rawal Pindi. Another sister, Mrs. Eliza J. Crawford, died in Norristown many years ago; while his younger sister, Miss Anna Craig, passed nearly her whole life in this community, where she was well beloved and widely known, and died only recently. Rev. James Craig died doing his appointed duty among the heathen, and his widow was left alone with her little children, hundreds of miles from the nearest British settlement, and in a country seething with the trouble that shortly afterwards culminated in the terrible Sepoy rebellion. With undaunted courage she buried her husband, gathered her little ones around her, started on her journey, and reached civilization in safety. Coming to America, she settled in Norristown, and for many years conducted a fine school, latterly on Green street, where the children of the leading families of Norristown were well and soundly instructed in the various branches of a substantial education; and many of them to this day make due acknowledgment of their debt of gratitude to Jane Craig, stern teacher though she was. Mr. William W. Craig was educated at the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1861, after which he taught Latin, Greek and mathematics in the famous classical institute for boys, conducted by Dr. John W. Faires. He studied law under the preceptorship of the late Gilbert Rodman Fox, and in 1877 was admitted to the bar, and became a deputy clerk of the United States District Court, in Philadelphia, succeeding Aaron S. Swartz, now President Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Montgomery county; and on the death of Charles S. Lincoln, the incumbent, Mr. Craig was appointed Clerk, and held the office until he died. From April 4, 1889, he was United States Commissioner, a committing magistrate in Federal criminal cases, being obliged to relinquish that office about five years ago when the Department of Justice established a rule prohibiting District Clerks from officiating as Commissioners. During that long term he conducted over two thousand preliminary hearings in prosecutions for violation of Federal laws. Mr. Craig was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Norristown from early manhood, and was an Elder and Clerk of the Session for many years. He was unfailing in his attendance on the services, a devoted member, and a sincere and devout Christian. Of Mr. Craig it might with perfect truth be said that he was all a gentleman should be. He was a man of the world in his graceful manner, polish and dignity. He moved in the best society, and enjoyed it. He was interested in daily doings, business doings, in politics and in law. His name could ever be found among the first to head civic betterment movements; and yet he was tolerant of the opinions of those who differed from him, and ever willing to concede to the views of others. He always had plenty of time for his church and its work, and never failed in his appointed duties whatsoever they may be. He was the very finest type of citizenship, and the best that could be said of him would be none too good. -------------------------------- --------- (Column from the Norristown Times Herald, Thursday, June 10, 1926) --------- UP AND DOWN MONTGOMERY COUNTY ---------------------------------------- Happy Memories of W. W. Craig as a School Teacher Even among those who had no intimate aquaintance with the late William W. Craig, pleasant memories abide of his gracious personality in different walks of life here in Norristown. From 1872 until his death, in 1918, he was an elder in the First Presbyterian church. For many years he was a member of the School Board. His was a well known figure on the streets, for there was something impressive about him as he made his way daily to and from the railroad station. His long service as clerk of the United States Court and as United States Commissioner, in Philadelphia, is well remembered. But comparatively few remain who know of his earlier life as a teacher. Some interesting details of that period of Mr. Craig's career are contained in a privately printed volume by Charles J. Cohen, of Philadelphia, which has just appeared. The book tells the story of the Classical Institute which Rev. John Wiley Faires conducted in Philadelphia, from 1831 until 1888, and gives biographical sketches and reminiscences of upwards of 500 former students at that noted school. It was an unusual school, and the principal evidently was an unusual teacher. Dr. Faires was born at Willow Grove in Montgomery county; though nearly all his life was spent in Philadelphia. He prepared himself for the ministry, but became a teacher. Compared with present-day private schools, the Classical Institute was unpretentious and even crude. Yet the foremost families of the city sent their boys there. In some instances several successive generations of the same families were enrolled as students. *** William W. Craig was the son of Presbyterian missionaries and was born in Northern India. His father died when the boy was four years old. The mother returned to the United States, with her five children. Mrs. Craig had been a school teacher before marriage. Immediately upon her return she opened a private school. In 1851 she moved her school to Norristown. Here, assisted later by her daughters, she conducted a notably successful private school, on Marshall street, between DeKalb and Green streets, which was continued until the nineties. William W. Craig was first a pupil in his mother's school. then from 1854 until 1856 he studied at Treemount Seminary, which Rev. Samuel Aaron then conducted. In 1856 he entered Dr. Faires' Classical Institute, remaining two years and completing his preparations for the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Faires was a friend of the Craig family and was interested in the boy's education. After his graduation from the University Mr. Craig became instructor in Latin, Greek and mathematics in Dr. Faires' school. There he remained as an instructor for fifteen years, with the exception of three months' service in the army in the Civil War. He enlisted in one of the emergency regiments organized in 1863 to repel Lee's invasion. While still teaching he began reading law with Gilbert R. Fox, the elder, in Norristown, and shortly after being admitted to the bar, in 1877, he was appointed deputy clerk of the United States Court. Thus his pedagogical career was terminated. He was made clerk in 1901. From 1889 until 1913 he was also a United States Commissioner. *** Several of the former students whose reminiscences are printed in Mr. Cohen's book write in a happy vein of Mr. Craig. Dr. Howard A. Kelly, famous surgeon of Johns Hokins University, speaks of "dear fine William Craig, who lived out a long life in Norristown, coming in daily by train, a most excellent dominie of sterling character and not without a gentle vein of humor." Continuing, Dr. Kelly writes: "Craig often tried to speed us up as we dragged our lessons, with his 'Festina! Accelera! Propera.' and to put spurs to our laggard zeal, propound the conundrum, 'What is the motto of the dough-nut?' Answer, 'In-de-fat-i-gabble.' We all owed much in the formation of character to his conscientiousness, thoroughness, and personal interest. We rejoiced greatly on one occasion when the doctor absented himself for a couple of weeks and Craig took the main school upstairs, for when the hour came for those pupils to leave early who had an excuse from home or in order to catch a train, some of the rest of us, not without inward quakings, but with the bold mien of a highwayman, rose, assembled our books and marched out the door to freedom, although I recall we hardly knew what to do with our liberty when we got it as we could not well appear at home." Biographies of two other residents of Norristown who studied at Dr. Faires' school are contained in Mr. Cohen's volume---J. Craig Crawford, a student from 1878 until 1881, and Gilbert R. Fox, who attended in the early seventies, when Mr. Craig was an instructor. NORRIS.


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