PIONEER ALLEN CRAIG

Pioneer Allen Craig, who was buried near his mother, wife and other relatives in the Ft. Calhoun (Nebraska) cemetery, November 26, 1913, came to Nebraska with his parents in 1855 and homesteaded on the farm where he and his wife died. He was married to Miss Rhoda Carlisle, the first white girl to live on the townsite of the present city of Omaha, after Allen became sheriff of Washington county and lived only half a mile from the present Ft. Calhoun postoffice, County Judge P. N. Stilts officiating, Sept. 12, 1858, when they moved to their own log cabin they had built by Nicholas Rix.

This writer has been a welcome guest at the home of those big-hearted people for over forty-two years and loved them dearly. We preached our first funeral sermon in Nebraska at the death of his mother in July, 1871, and also officiated at the golden wedding of Allen and his wife on the home place, where they had lived together fifty years. Mrs. Craig died March 7, 1912, and not in the history of Nebraska can another couple be found who had enjoyed life on the same farm for fifty-two years.

Allen, who died Friday, Nov. 21, 1913, told this writer the same day he died that he was going the next morning to visit his daughter at Randolph and left town in the evening to pack his trunk for the journey. He was offered a ride home, but laughed at the idea that a man only 76 last March could not walk home even in the dark. The ravine in which he fell lies right east of his house a few rods and forty years ago headed sixty rods north of where the head now is and in trying to pass around it, he slipped from the top of the bank some forty feet and was probably dead when he rolled into the water. As his family supposed he had gone to Randolph he was not missed until Sunday and that night a number of citizens left town to help in the search and the body was found next morning and there is no doubt that the death was accidental and instantaneous.

He was one time assessor of this township and when E. H. Clark was commissioned to build the old town company tavern just north of the present city park in 1855 he furnished and hauled the logs, as well as the sand and lime from Rockport, with his oxen.

He leaves a brother James, who went to Kansas some years ago, and a sister, Mrs. Grandma Vaughan, also a Ft. Calhoun pioneer, and five children – Hiram in Texas, Sheridan and Roy on the home farm, Mrs. Herman Hagelstein of Randolph and Mrs. Chris Hagelstein near the old place and several grandchildren.

Being a veteran Mason, the funeral was by Solomon Lodge No. 10 of Ft. Calhoun, assisted by Masonic brethren from Blair and surrounding region. Rev. Marsh Episcopal pastor at Blair, preached the sermon and Mrs. Charles Rathjen and Mrs. Charles Sierk sang the anthems. The pallbearers were Harry Seltz, Peter Schmidt, jr., Lee Smith, Chas. Clark and Fred Frahm. There was a large attendance and the funeral was held at the house. We did not venture to the funeral.

W. H. Woods

Pilot 26 Nov 1913

Al Craig, one of the oldest settlers in Washington county, met his death by accident last Friday night on his old homestead, about 2 ½ miles west of Ft. Calhoun. He went to town Friday morning and had evidently started home too late, for he lost his way and the body was found in one of the gullys Monday morning. Whether he was killed by the fall or was drowned by the water in which he was lying no one knows. The funeral is to be held at the house at 2 o’clock today, under Masonic auspices. Deceased was born in York state March 14th, 1835, all was therefore past 78 years of age. He came to Ft. Calhoun in ’54 and was married to Miss Rhoda Carlyle by Judge Stilts in Ft. Calhoun Sept. 12th, 1858. They celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in 1908 and Mrs. Craig died March 7th, 1912. He is survived by three sons and two daughters. The last heard of Hiram he lived in Texas, and Sheridan and Roy live on the old place. Mrs. Herman Hagelstein lives at Randolph, Neb., and Mrs. Chris Hagelstein lives on a farm adjoining the old Craig homestead.

Blair Democrat 4 Dec 1913

OBITUARY

Allen Craig, who met death as the result of a fall in the ravine near Calhoun last week, was born in Lawrence county, New York, March 14, 1835, and came to Calhoun in the spring of 1851.

He was married to Mrs. Rhoda Carlyle in 1858. They celebrated their golden wedding in 1908 and Mrs. Craig died in March of last year.

Funeral services were held under the direction of the Masonic order and interment was made at the Calhoun cemetery. The deceased leaves three sons and two daughters.

~~~ Obituary courtesy of the Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair Public Library at Blair, Nebraska.~~~