Archive:20th Century Biographical Dictionary, Volume 3
Archives > Archive:Extracts > 20th Century Biographical Dictionary, Volume 3
The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans. 10 vols. Rossiter Johnson, ed., Boston: The Biographical Society, 1904. [A corrected edition of The Cyclopedia of American Biography (1897-1903) and Lamb's Biographical Dictionary of the United States (1900-1903).] (Republished by Gale Research Company, Book Tower, Detroit, 1968) Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 68-19657. Volume III: Cowan--Erich.
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Cragin, Aaron Harrison, senator, was born at Weston, Vt., Feb. 3, 1821; son of Aaron and Sarah (Whitney) Cragin; and grandson of Benjamin and Rebecca (Farrar) Cragin; and of Richard and Sarah Whitney. His first ancestor in America, John Cragin, was born in Scotland, was pressed into the service of King Charles and was captured at Dunbar in 1650. In 1652 he was deported to America with 270 other prisoners of war, and while on board the ship was attacked with smallpox. He would have been thrown overboard but for the interference of an Englishwoman, Sarah Dawes, to whom he was married Nov. 4, 1661. Aaron H. Cragin was admitted to the bar at Albany, N.Y., in 1847 and practised in Lebanon, N.H. From 1852 to 1855 he was a representative in the New Hampshire legislature, and in 1854 was elected as a native American a representative in the 34th congress, and was one of those who voted to elect N. P. Banks speaker. He was re-elected to the 35th congress as a Republican, and in 1859 was again a member of the state legislature. In 1860 he was a delegate to the Republican national convention at Chicago. In 1864 he was elected a senator in congress and was re-elected in 1870, serving 1865-77. He was a delegate to the Philadelphia loyalists' convention of 1866 and chairman of the commission for the sale of Hot Springs, Ark., 1877-79. He died in Washington, D.C., May 10, 1898.
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