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Below is a family biography included in The Portrait and Biographical Record of Randolph, Jackson, Perry and Monroe Counties, Illinois published by Biographical Publishing Co. in 1894.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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ROBERT CRAIG. This country is the home of many Scotchmen, who have come here from time to time to take advantage of favorable opportunities offered for accumulating money, and few have won more friends or been more successful than was the subject of our sketch, who at the time of his decease, which occurred June 18, 1888, had accumulated a goodly amount of this world’s goods, including a valuable farm located in township 7, range 6, Randolph County.

Robert Craig was born in 1828, in Glasgow, Scotland, and was a lad of only twelve years when he crossed the Atlantic, with the determination to make his permanent home in America. Finding his way directly to Illinois, which he had heard was so rich in farming lands, young Craig made his home near Chester, in Randolph County. He had been given a limited education in his native land, and, after making his home in Illinois, worked on his father’s farm until reaching his thirtieth year, when he purchased land on his own account. He was a man of excellent judgment and soon improved his broad acres with attractive and commodious buildings, and reaped annually abundant harvests from his estate.

March 31, 1869, Mr. Craig and Miss Magdalena, daughter of Baldash and Catherine (Helbling) Schneider, were married. The lady’s parents were natives of Switzerland, and she was the elder of the two children born to them. By the union of Mr. and Mrs. Craig have been born three children, of whom Robert, the eldest, died in infancy. William A. is still living with his mother on the home farm, and Katie met an untimely death by drowning a few years ago. Mrs. Craig, aided by her son, is conducting the farm in a very successful manner, and the improvements and substantial buildings which now adorn the place stand as monuments to the thrift of the husband and father.

Mr. Craig was a devoted member of the Presbyterian Church, while his wife is a Roman Catholic. The former in his political relations was a stanch Republican, and, although never aspiring to political office, was ever ready to lend a helping hand in the advancement of any public enterprise. Mr. Craig was first married to Eliza Wilderman, by whom he had one son, John, who resides in St. Louis, Mo.

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This family biography is one of 679 biographies included in The Portrait and Biographical Record of Randolph, Jackson, Perry and Monroe Counties, Illinois published in 1894.  View the complete description here: The Portrait and Biographical Record of Randolph, Jackson, Perry and Monroe Counties, Illinois

View additional Randolph County, Illinois family biographies here: Randolph County, Illinois Biographies

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