William Crain Biography from Augusta's Story

The words of Ralph W. Crain excerpted from the book Augusta's Story,Compiled by the Martha Board Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution
Augusta Eagle, Augusta, Illinois, 1922

(continued from page 1) Elizabeth (“Betsey" married Elisha Gragg), Mary Harrison (married William McGinnis), Sarah (married Thomas Marshall Crain), and Moriah Maldon, who married Rev. Clinton Kelly.

John and Sarah Crain first moved from Virginia to Kentucky in 1797, it is believed, at the same time that his parents came. They came by way of the Ohio River on flat boats, in company with a colony of Rogers, Rousseaus, Dogans and Crittendens, with all of whom they were related either by blood or marriage. After a short stay in Kentucky, John and Sarah returned to Virginia, but soon after my grandfather's birth there in 1802 they came back to Kentucky, settling in Pulaski County, where they spent the remainder of their lives. Their early home was in a log cabin in the neighborhood still known as "Cabin Hollow." This is five miles southeast of Somerset, the county seat, and lies just east of Pitman creek, near the village of Elihu, through which the "Queen & Crescent" Railroad now runs. In about the year 1836 they moved a short distance north to a farm on the west side of Pitman Creek, just north of the bridge and post office called "Alcalde." It was while they were living at this latter place that my grandfather Crain (their son) took his family to visit them. They made the trip from their home near Huntsville to Kentucky in a wagon drawn by a team of mules. This was in the year 1842, and my father, then a lad of eight, never forgot the trip. He remembered the mysterious cave which disappeared into the earth near the house, and the big spring of cold water which flowed from the rocks into Pitman Creek, within fifty yards of the front door. Fifty-two years later, in the year 1894, he again visited the "Old Kentucky Home," and wrote a description of it which came into my possession in the year 1913. The reading of this letter led me to visit the spot in 1914, only to find that just three weeks before the old house had been torn down. I was able to secure the old cherry mantelpiece from the ruins. The smoke-house was still standing, where the slaves had cured the savory hams and bacon in the days of long ago. But when I went again in 1916 with my brother, Maurice, all traces of the old buildings had disappeared. Mr. Allen, the owner had built a new one-story house on the site, using the smoke stained stones from the immense chimney and fireplace of the old house to build the foundation for his new one.

John Crain died here December 27, 1858, and is buried in the little family cemetery on the farm several hundred yards northwest of the house, as I recall it. Sarah died October 16, 1869, and is buried by her husband. Their slaves are also buried nearby. It was a custom in Kentucky for landowners to have family burial grounds on their own farms. Some graves I saw in that neighborhood had small

gable roof sheds built over them. These sheds were about three feet high, and just large enough to cover the grave. William Crain attended subscription school a few months each year during his boyhood, and also attended one term at a private school conducted by his uncle, Jack Rousseau, at his farm home on the Cumberland River, near the mouth of White Creek, in Wayne County, Kentucky. It was at Uncle Jack Rousseau's home that the Confederate General, Felix K. Zollicoffer, made his headquarters while his troops were crossing the river, and it was on or near the Rousseau farm that the battle of Mill Springs was fought; in this battle, January 19, 1862, General Zollicoffer was killed.

When only about eighteen years of age, William began to preach, and in 1824 he entered the Conference at Shelbyville, Kentucky; that same year Peter Cartwright left that Conference to move north, as he was strongly opposed to slavery.

Grandfather served as an itinerant Methodist minister at different points in Kentucky and southern Indiana. In the late '20's he was transferred to central Missouri. One year he covered a circuit the Missouri and Osage Rivers, with Jefferson City as one of his preaching points. There he preached to the Missouri Legislature in the little log meeting house under the bluff and twice by invitation in the State Capitol then a two-story brick house on Madison Street, near where the Governor's mansion stands (this data regarding Jefferson City is from Major James C. McGinnis's autobiography, written in 1876). In 1830 his health had become affected by the constant travel and exposure of circuit riding, and he was transferred to southeastern Missouri, presumably to less arduous duties. Early in the year 1832 he was married to Harriet Tong, who was born in Fredericktown, Missouri, June 24, 1817. He had met her when he was traveling over a circuit for the first time. He was to preach at a certain church one Sunday afternoon, and several young couples from (Continue)