My Genealogy Hound

Lindsey L. McCraw. The ancestors of the subject of the present sketch are noted people, including among them a few of England’s famous men, and Lindsey L. McCraw is a man eminently fitted to do full justice to such a family. He is a prosperous farmer, and wide-awake businessman of the district in which he resides, and was born in McNairy County, Tenn., on October 22, 1848. He is the son of John M. and Catherine McCraw, the grandfather being of Scotch and Irish descent, born in South Carolina in 1819. He moved to Tennessee when but a boy, and afterward was married to Catherine Sanders, in 1842. The father of the subject was a farmer by profession, and moved from Tennessee to Arkansas in 1857 (it was then a part of Columbia County), where he remained until 1881, in which year he located in Hempstead County, where he lives at the present writing. The parents of Lindsey L. McCraw were married August 7, 1842, the mother being a daughter of Thomas Sanders and Elizabeth (Rook) Sanders, both of English descent. Thomas was the son of Benjamin Sanders, a stanch Quaker, and his wife a lineal descendent on her father’s side of Admiral Rook of the English navy, and on her mother’s side of Lord Standford. This marriage was a violation of the Quaker belief, and Thomas Sanders was thereby excluded from the order. The family were in poor financial circumstances for a while, but emigrated to Tennessee, a country whose natural resources at that time gave occupation to all industrious settlers. To them were born seventeen children, who, although in a State where educational advantages were limited, still lived to hold positions of trust and to become highly respected in business circles. At the time of his death, which occurred in 1848, Mr. Sanders’ living children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren numbered 120 persons. The subject of this sketch was reared principally in Nevada County, and commenced farming for himself in 1868. In 1871 Mr. McCraw was married to Miss Martha Sparrow, daughter of Martin and Sallie Sparrow, born in Mississippi, March 24, 1844. They are the parents of seven children, viz.: Ophelia, Marcus (deceased), Lucy, Francis D., Bertie, Melvin A. and Lillian May. Their home farm is a valuable piece of land and well cultivated. Mr. McCraw is a member of the Missionary Baptist Church, and a prominent citizen in every way.