My Genealogy Hound

Philip R. Craven, retail liquor dealer of Van Buren, was born in Randolph County, N. C., in 1851, and is a son Isaiah K. and Mary (Snider) Craven. The father was born in the same county in 1830, and his father, also, in 1793. The latter was a farmer and distiller, named John R., and his wife, Charity (Lambert) Craven, was born in 1791 and died in 1834. John R. died in 1858. Isaiah K. Craven married the mother of our subject in 1850, and that marriage was blessed with ten children, seven of whom are living: Philip R.; Sarah J., wife of Henry Yeager; Charity, wife of George Bly; Ida, wife of John Bly; Levi, Solomon and Lydia A. In 1869 Mr. Craven moved to Oregon County, Mo., and in 1870 to Randolph County, Ark. Having been left a widower in 1873, he was married in 1875 to Miss Lucinda A. Bly. He died in Randolph County, Ark., in 1876. Philip R. was reared upon the farm, and engaged in agricultural pursuits in Randolph County until 1876, and from that time until 1881 resided in McDonald County, Mo. From 1880 until 1882 he sold goods in Indian Springs, and then went to Washington County, Ark. In January, 1883, he came to Van Buren, and in 1886 established his present retail liquor business. In 1872 he married Miss Tennessee C. Cooper, who was born in Henry County, Tenn., in 1849. Mr. and Mrs. Craven have seven children: Dahlia, Eli H., Serena, Almedia C., Margeret E., Isaiah N. (deceased), Grover A. and Joseph L. F. In politics he is a Democrat, and cast his first presidential vote for Tilden in 1876. He is a member of the K. of P., and his first wife belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.