Bio of Cratte, David (b.1837) Wabasha Co., MN
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This bio comes from "HISTORY OF WABASHA COUNTY" 1884.
Check out Barbara's site for more great information on this book:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~mnwabbio/wab1.htm
There are also some pictures and information from descendents for some 
of the bios on her pages.

Cratte, David, city marshal since 1878. David Cratte is the son of Oliver
Cratte and the grandson of Duncan Graham, both of whom were residents in
this part of the northwest during the first quarter of the present
century, and of whom frequent mention will be found in the earlier
chapters of this history. David Cratte was born near Minnehaha Falls, in
this state, March 15, 1837, and came with his father to Cratte's Landing
(now Wabasha) when he was between two and three years of age, and this
place has been virtually his home for the past forty-four years. He was
frequently absent from Wabasha when a child, there being no opportunities
for instruction here, and spent some of his childhood years with the
Prescotts at Fort Snelling, and also with Alex. Faribault, an uncle by
marriage, at Mendota. He was also with James Wells, another uncle, at what
is now Frontenac. During these years until 1845, he was sent to school as
opportunity offered. In 1846 he returned to Wabasha, and the same fall was
sent to Knox College, at Galesburg, Illinois, where he remained four
years, and then came home. In 1853 Mr. Cratte went upon the river as a
raft pilot, which occupation he followed for twenty-six years: until 1870
as pilot of floating rafts, from 1870 to 1877 piloting raftboats, his
first steamer down the Mississippi being the L. W. Bardin. He retired from
the river in the fall of 1877, and the following spring was made marshal
of the city, and so continues. Mr. Cratte's prowess in all athletic
sports, and his unusual fleetness of foot and great powers of physical
endurance, were frequently evidenced in the early days of Wabasha, and
mention of them will be found elsewhere. David Cratte married Eliza J.
Harrell, February 5, 1858, at Hannibal, Missouri. Their children are: Ed.
D., born January 29, 1859; Alfred H., born February 28, 1861; Oliver P.,
born February 17, 1863; Wm. T., March 29, 1865; Elizabeth F., born August
29, 1868; Nancy J., born September 30, 1873; Harry D., born March 7, 1877.
From the historical notes: David Cratte has been a man of great activity
and swiftness of foot, figuring largely in the early annals of Wabasha. In
1854 he was sent by H. S. Allen's agent at this place with dispatches to
Chippewa Falls, where Mr. Allen resided. Young Cratte carried them on
foot, and upon his return, just after leaving Eau Claire, he noticed a
party of Chippewas lurking around in ambush for a party of Sioux, who were
on their way to St. Paul. The Chippewas, knowing the surroundings far
better than the Sioux, waited for and surrounded them, capturing and
killing every one of them. Cratte, learning what was going on, and fearing
for his own life, took to his heels and ran all the way to Wabasha,
arriving at nine o'clock in the evening, a distance of fifty miles in nine
hours.