"COUNTIES OF MORGAN, MONROE & BROWN, INDIANA. HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL."
CHARLES BLANCHARD, EDITOR. CHICAGO: F. A. BATTEY & CO. PUBLISHERS. 1884.
F. A. BATTEY. F. W. TEPPLE
WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP AND MARTINSVILLE, MORGAN COUNTY, INDIANA
PAGE 180
C. S. CRARY, born in Franklin County, Ind., March 21, 1845, is the youngest
of seven sons and twelve children, and was reared in Indiana and Ohio. Of
his father, the Martinsville "Republican" of August 16, 1883, publishes the
following: "On the 14th inst., Gen Willis Crary suddenly died at his home,
near Olney, Ill. Gen. Crary was eighty-one years old past. He was a native
of Vermont, and moved to Cincinnati in 1813, where he resided for thirty
years, when he removed to Franklin County, Ind. He was in his earlier days
a prominent politician of Cincinnati. He was well acquainted with Gen.
William Henry Harrison, and was a schoolmate and chum of his son, Scott
Harrison, the father of Senator Ben Harrison. Shortly after he attained his
majority, he was married in Cincinnati to Miss Almira Spencer, a native of
New York State, who died in 1863. During the internal improvement furor in
this State, he was a heavy contractor in the building of the White Water
Canal, in which he lost over $20,000, which was a liberal fortune in those
days. Of late years, he had resided in Illinois." In 1859, the subject of
this sketch went with his parents to McLean County, Ill. He received a good
English education, and in August, 1861, he enlisted in the Fourteenth
Indiana Cavalry, under Col. T. Lyle Dickey, serving for four years. He took
part in the following engagements: Fort Henry, Fort Donelson and Shiloh (at
which he was Orderly to Gen. Hurlbut). From exposure, he was taken with the
typhoid fever, and after lying in the hospital for some time he was
discharged for disability. In the fall of 1862, he assisted in raising a
company and returned to the front. On the 19th of March, 1863, he was
commissioned Second Lieutenant, One Hundred and Thirtieth Illinois Infantry,
and had the honor of being the youngest commissioned officer in Illinois,
then being but seventeen years of age. In the battle of Port Gibson, his
captain was wounded, and the First Lieutenant in the hospital, so he assumed
the command of his Company through the battles of Raymond, the entire siege
of Vicksburg, Jackson, Miss., and some few others, after which he was
promoted to First Lieutenant. His regiment spent the winter of 1863-64 on
the coast of Texas, after which they returned to New Orleans, and on the
organization of th Red River Campaign, he was appointed on the staff of Gen.
W. H. Baldwin, of the Second Brigade, Fourth Division of the Thirteenth Army
Corps, and served in that capacity during the entire campaign. In 1865 he
received an honorable discharge and returned home. He entered the State
University at Bloomington, Ind., remaining one year. In 1866, he began
farming in Morgan County, and five years later moved to Martinsville,
renting his farm of 200 acres in Jefferson Township. He then went into the
insurance business, and continued in it until 1881, when he went into the
employ of the Gould Southwest Railroad System, with headquarters at
Galveston, Tex, as traveling, freight and passenger agent, remaining nearly
two years. In December, 1882, he resigned his position and returned to
Martinsville, where he at present resides. He is a member of the G. A. R.
and a Republican.
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