Nicholas County, West Virginia Biography of JAMES S. CRAIG This file was submitted by Valerie Crook, E-mail address: The submitter does not have a connection to the subject of this sketch. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 419 Nicholas JAMES S. CRAIG. It is difficult to give any one interest or activity the first place of importance in the career of the late James S. Craig of Nicholas County. He was one of those rare men who apparently with equal facility handle tasks and responsibilities in widely separated fields. His record altogether is one that accounts for the honor gener- ally assigned him of having been one of the foremost figures in the development and the public affairs of Nicholas County. He was in the sixth generation of the Craig family in America, founded in 1721 by William Craig, who came from Scotland with his wife, Jean, and their sons, Robert, James and John, landing on the Delaware River and settling in Pennsylvania. The son Robert moved to Virginia in 1740, settling near Staunton. His son Robert, of the third genera- tion, was a Virginia soldier in the War of the Revolution, serving as a member of Capt. John Given's company from March 15, 1777, to March 15, 1782. He was in a number of battles and campaigns and was at the siege of Yorktown, closing the war. In 1795 this old Revolutionary veteran purchased land in the Greenbrier Valley of what is now West Virginia, and lived there until his death in 1804. His only son to reach maturity also bore the name of Robert, and in 1837 he established his home in Nicholas County. His son John James was the father of the late James S. Craig. John James Craig had a long and active life as a farmer and citizen in Muddlety Valley of Nicholas County, where he died April 19, 1912, at the age of ninety- four years and five months. James S. Craig was born at his father's farm in Mud- dlety Valley in 1842. He acquired an education above the average for the use of his time. He attended school in West Virginia and also in Ohio, and was a teacher of pen- manship in Ohio when the Civil war began. A Union man in sympathy, he soon enlisted in Company E of the One Hundred and Forty-first Ohio Infantry, and was in active service, chiefly in the commissary department, until mustered out September 3, 1864. His honorable discharge bore the signature of President Lincoln. October 16, 1865, James S. Craig began a public service at Summersville that con- tinued there almost without interruption until his death. At that date he was made county recorder of Nicholas County and also elected clerk of the Circuit Court and clerk of the county board of supervisors. October 1, 1872, was commissioned postmaster of Summersville, and was in charge of the postoffice at the county seat for eighteen years. His service as commissioner of the Circuit Court covered a period of nearly thirty-five years, until February 6, 1908. For eight years he was commissioner of school lands for Nicholas County, and for about fifteen years was chairman of the Republican Executive Committee. The late Mr. Craig was the pioneer real estate dealer in Nicholas County, and he made that business not only a source of personal profits, but of vital influence in the development and prosperity of the region covered by his operations. He entered that business in 1871, and in 1877 was appointed agent for Hon. James F. Patton and Gen. John Echols, executors of the will of the late United States Senator Allen T. Caperton. He represented these interests about twelve years, until all the lands in Nicholas, Webster and Greenbrier counties belonging to the estate were sold and accounted for, aggregating about 95,000 acres. These lands included the present site of Richwood. It was due to his persistent advertising that the attention of capital was attracted to the fine timbers and other resources of Gauley, Cherry and their tributaries, and finally resulted in the wonderful development of the Richwood community. His business for over forty years represented a wide-spread service, and it has been claimed that no person to whom he sold land and who complied with the incidental contract ever lost the property on account of bad title or failed to make money out of the investment. The late Mr. Craig owned individually or was interested in many parcels of real estate in Nicholas, Braxton, Webster and Greenbrier counties. The Village of Craigsville, Nicholas County, on one of his tracts, perpetuates his memory. He was a director of the Farmers and Merchants Bank of his home town at Summersville, and was president of the Richwood Banking and Trust Company and had an active part in the building up of that little city. In business or public affairs he stood out as a man of sterling character- istics and broad vision, a natural leader in every matter connected with civic and material progress. The late James S. Craig married Ellen F. Miller. She was born and reared in Monroe County, was educated in private schools, was a teacher prior to her marriage, and became widely known for her literary ability, a published book of poems classifying her among West Virginia authors. James S. Craig and wife had six children: Sterling M., a traveling salesman out of the City of Charleston; Arden L., who in an important, sense is his father's successor in busi- ness and an individual article on his career is published herewith; Charles H., a resident of Charleston; Miss Lillie P., of Summersville; Dainty E., wife of Charles F. Igelman, of Evansville, Indiana; Camilla, wife of E. F. Coleman, of Richwood.