Lyon County
John S. Craig
Biography
(Transcribed by Andaleen Whitney)
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Nevada Genealogy Trails Lyon County John S. Craig Biography (Transcribed by Andaleen Whitney) |
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HON. JOHN S. CRAIG, proprietor of the Yerington Hotel, is one of Nevada's well and favorably known pioneers, he having come to the state in 1860. He was born in Ireland, near Londonderry, in 1839, and is of Scotch-Irish extraction. He attended school in Ireland until he was twelve years of age, when he took passage with some neighbors for the United States, and came to his Aunt Annie Aken, who was then a resident of Philadelphia. His education was continued in that city, and he also learned the trade of a saddler and harness-maker. In 1860 he sailed for California, going via the isthmus, and after landing in San Francisco went direct to Virginia City, Nevada, that place then having a boom. From there he went to Aurora and mined. He was admitted to the bar in Aurora in 1868. He also mined at Pine Grove, a portion of the time working for wages and again for himself, meeting with a varied success. In 1874 he removed to Mason valley, where he took up government land and for eighteen years conducted a general store, and acted as postmaster for twelve years, throughout the administrations of Presidents Grant, Arthur and Harrison. He has been the agent for Wells Fargo Express Company since the establishment of the office at Yerington. A number of the best buildings in the city have been built by him. He erected the first Yerington House, but in 1893 this was burned at a loss of twenty thousand dollars. However, Mr. Craig immediately rebuilt it and now has one of the most commodious places of entertainment to be found in the county, fully equipped with every convenience and largely patronized by the traveling public as well as by residents of the town. Mr. Craig owns a fine farm of two hundred acres near Yerington, which he devotes to alfalfa, although it is well adapted to other crops. Mr. Craig has always been a stanch Republican and was elected to the state assembly in 1888. In 1873 be was united in marriage with Kattie McGowan, a native of New York city, and the daughter of John McGowan, who came to Nevada in 1869. Two daughters are the result of this union, namely: Annie E., born in Carson City, married F. E. Carroll and resides in Yerington; Mary L., born in Yerington, married Christopher Johnson and lives in Yerington. Mr. Craig has six grandchildren, all girls. Always interested in mining ever since coming west, he is now the owner of the St. Elmo gold mine, located eight miles from Yerington, assaying as high as eight dollars per ton. He is also in the Juno group of mines, three miles from Yerington, which yields from fifteen to twenty per cent copper. He is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen; the Masonic fraternity, and is very popular in both organizations. Mr. Craig has attended the state conventions of his party for the past twenty years, and was elected an alternate delegate to the national convention in Philadelphia, which nominated President McKinley. Strong, public-spirited and enterprising, Mr. Craig is an excellent example of the sturdy pioneers of the earlier days who have made the west what it is today, and made the Pacific coast equally great with that of the Atlantic.
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