Izard Co., AR - Biographies - David Craige

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David Craige, proprietor of the Izard County Register. Melbourne. Ark. The name
of Craige is honorably connected with the prosperity and happiness of Melbourne
and the county of Izard, for his paper enters the homes of many, and with its
progressive ideas and newsy articles, receives a ready welcome. This paper is
the only one in the county. David Craige is a native of Rowan County, N. C.,
born in the year 1836. and is the son of John and Jane (Thomason) Craige both
natives of North Carolina. The father was a descendant of a Scotch family, and
owned a number of slaves. He was a Democrat, but not active in politics. He died
about 1847, at the age of forty five years, and his wife died about 1846, at the
age of thirty five years. The paternal grandfather served as a colonel during
the entire War for Independence. David Craige divided his time in early youth in
assisting on the farm and in attending the common schools of his county. At the
age of fifteen years he commenced serving an apprenticeship at the printer's
trade in Lincolnton, N. C., and after following this for some time, he came to
Batesville, Ark., in 1852, and went to work on the Commercial Standard, run by
John C. Claiborne. Mr. Claiborne only ran the paper a year, when he sold to
Urban E. Fort, and the name and political status were changed from a Democratic
to a Whig. It then became known as the Independent Balance, and was run under
that name until the commencement of the war. About 1855 Prof. M. Shelby Kennard
assumed control of the paper, and through all the political changes Mr. Craige
worked at this paper until the breaking out of the war. On account of poor
health he was exempt from service, and during the war, and for a few years
afterward, he was engaged in agricultural pursuits on North Fork and Piney
Bayou. In 1871 he returned to the printing business and worked on the North
Arkansas Times, published by Charles Maxwell and Dr. M. McClure of Batesville,
Ark., and Democratic in its principles. He continued with this paper until 1873,
when he went to Jacksonport, and was engaged as journeyman on the Statesman, a
Republican journal, edited by John Fagan. From 1873 to 1883 Mr. Craige merely
rusticated, for his health was quite poor at that time. In 1883 or 1884 he took
charge of the Sharp County Record for J. W. Buckley, and managed that for three
years. In January, 1887, he first leased the Register, but in November, 1888,
purchased the same, and runs the paper in the interests of the Democratic party.
He was married March 20, 1887, to Miss Elizabeth Campbell, daughter of Archibald
Campbell, of this county, who was originally from Iredell County, N. C., and is
one of the old settlers of Izard County. Mr. Craige is now permanently located,
having married in his fifty first year, and with the extensive circulation his
paper has already obtained, commands the respect and confidence of many of the
reading public. Politically he is, of course, a Democrat.