John E. Craig

As printed in 1914

HON. JOHN ENSTER CRAIG.

With public affairs in Keokuk Hon. John Enster Craig has long been prominently, actively and helpfully identified and as a member of the bar he ranks among the foremost. Keen intelligence has directed his efforts and a recognition of the obligations and duties of citizenship has made his service one of value, not only in the legal profession but in the broader field of civics.

A native of Pennsylvania, Mr. Craig was born in Washington county, March 14, 1853, and is a son of Alexander K. and Sarah

(JVlcLain) Craig. The father was a man of prominence in his community and represented the twenty-fourth district of Pennsylvania in congress from 1890 until 1892. At the usual age John E. Craig became a pupil in the public schools of his native county and later entered Washington and Jefferson College, becoming one of its alumni in 1877. During the period of his later youth and early manhood he was employed at farm labor through the summer seasons and engaged in teaching during the winter months in order to secure the money necessary to meet the expenses of a college course, his time being thus passed until he reached the age of twenty-four. The year following his graduation he came to the west, arriving in Keokuk on the ist of May, 1878. Here he became a law student in the office of his uncle, Hon. John H. Craig, and was admitted to practice in 1879, immediately thereafter becoming a member of the law firm of Craig, Collier & Craig. His advancement from that time to the present has been continuous, and he has long been accorded a position in the front ranks of the legal profession in Lee county and the state. Thoroughness in the preparation of his cases has been one of his strong characteristics, and his analytical mind enables him to readily recognize the relation between a point in evidence and the law applicable thereto. He has never deviated from the highest standards of the profession, and his pronounced ability has won him a large and distinctively representative clientage.

Mr. Craig has been called to several offices in the line of his profession. He became one of the lawmakers of the state in 1886, when Lee county sent him as its representative to the Iowa legislature. In 1888 he was reelected and while a member of the general assembly at Des Moines he took a prominent place among the lawmakers of the state, being a recognized leader of the democratic party in the house. In 1889 he was elected mayor of Keokuk and was reelected in 1891, both times receiving a large majority. He was instrumental in inaugurating street paving in Keokuk, Main street being paved from Second to Eighth. Various other public improvements were instituted, including a sewer system, which was established and put in operation. It was also during his administration that the union depot was built and the electric street railway was established. He won so high a place in the regard of his fellow citizens of the town and county and indeed among the people of his party that he was prominently named as a candidate for governor at the democratic convention held in Sioux City in 1889. However, he refused to allow his name to be used in connection with the candidacy for the office. For eleven years he served as a member of the board of education in Keokuk and his fellow members of the board and the public in general strongly indorsed his services, recognizing their force as factors in the improvement of the school system of the city. In 1896 he was elected county attorney and served in that position for four years. In 1902 and again in 1904 he was the democratic nominee from the first congressional district for congress and in 191 2 was the candidate of his party for judge of the supreme court of the state of Iowa. His part recognizes him as one of its leaders, a man capable of directing its best interests and standing for its highest principles.

The social features of Mr. Craig's nature have found expression in a happy home and in connection with several fraternal organizations. He was married on October 7, 1880, to Miss Fame S. Coulter and to them has been born a son, M. Coulter, now a civil engineer at Wilmington, Delaware. Mr. Craig holds membership in the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias, the Royal Arcanum, the National Union, the Iowa Legion of Honor and the Keokuk Club. He is active in every good work promoted by the Westminster Presbyterian church, of which he has long been a devoted member. The welfare of Keokuk is dear to his heart and his interest therein has found tangible expression on many occasions. If rewards have come to him in the shape of public office they have been well merited. If they have not come it has not been a matter of deep concern to him, as he feels that the pursuits of private life are in themselves worthy of his best efforts.

As printed in Story of Lee County, Iowa; (1914). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.