Locke Craig

2025-07-30T20:49:10Z

2601:680:CB00:8780:E4C9:1F6F:24FA:F51B: Removing a hyperlink as it goes to a different individual by the same name.

{{Short description|American politician}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2017}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix =
| name = Locke Craig
| honorific-suffix =
| image =Locke Craig.jpg
| alt =
| caption =
| order1 = 53rd
| office1 = Governor of North Carolina
| term_start1 = January 15, 1913
| term_end1 = January 11, 1917
| lieutenant1 = [[Elijah L. Daughtridge]]
| predecessor1 = [[William Walton Kitchin]]
| successor1 = [[Thomas Walter Bickett]]
| office2 = Member of the [[North Carolina House of Representatives]]
| term2 = 1899–1901
| birth_date = {{birth date|1860|8|16}}
| birth_place = [[Bertie County, North Carolina]], U.S.
| religion =
| death_date = {{death date and age|1924|6|9|1860|8|16}}
| death_place =[[Asheville, North Carolina]], U.S.
| spouse = [[Annie Burgin Craig|Annie Burgin]]
| party = [[Southern Democrats|Democratic]]
| relations =
| children = 4
| residence =
| alma_mater = [[University of North Carolina]]
| profession =lawyer
| signature =
| signature_alt =
| footnotes=
}}
'''Locke Craig''' (August 16, 1860 – June 9, 1924), an American lawyer and [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] politician, was the [[List of Governors of North Carolina|53rd governor]] of the [[U.S. state]] of [[North Carolina]], serving from 1913 until 1917.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ncpedia.org/biography/craig-locke|title=Craig, Locke – NCpedia|website=ncpedia.org}}</ref>

==Early and family life==

Craig was born near [[Windsor, North Carolina]], on August 16, 1860, to [[Baptist]] minister and farmer Andrew Murdock Craig and his second wife Clarissa Rebecca Gilliam. He was named for the Scottish philosopher [[John Locke]]. His paternal ancestors had emigrated from Scotland before the [[American Revolutionary War]]. By 1870, his elder half-brothers William Craig (b. 1835), Clenzman Craig (b.1841) and Andrew Craig Jr. (b.1848)<ref>1850 U.S. Federal Census for Bertie County, North Carolina family no. 876</ref> had left home, and he and his youngest brother Braxton Craig were away at school.<ref>1870 U.S. Federal Census for Windsor, Bertie County, North Carolina, family no. 12</ref> Craig attended [[Horner Military Academy]] in [[Granville County, North Carolina|Granville County]] run by former Confederate officer James Horner.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ncmarkers.com/Markers.aspx?MarkerId=G-27|title=Marker: G-27|website=www.ncmarkers.com}}</ref> Following his father's death in 1874, his mother sold the family farm and moved with the 15 year old Locke to [[Chapel Hill, North Carolina|Chapel Hill]]. He graduated from the [[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill|University of North Carolina]] (also his late father's alma mater in 1822) in 1880. Locke Craig taught chemistry at the university for one year, then studied law.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.carolana.com/NC/Governors/lcraig.html|title=Governor of the State of North Carolina – Locke Craig|website=www.carolana.com}}</ref>

Craig married [[Annie Burgin Craig|Annie Burgin]] (1873–1955) on November 18, 1892, in [[McDowell County, North Carolina]]. The couple had four sons: Capt. Carlyle Craig (1892–1971), George Winston Craig (1894–1985), Arthur Burgin Craig (1896– ) and Locke Craig (1914–1993). Two of the boys graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, and George Craig would become a lawyer and member of the North Carolina General Assembly.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ncpedia.org/craig-annie-dm-burgin|title=Craig, Annie D.M. Burgin – NCpedia|website=www.ncpedia.org}}</ref>

==Career==

After admission to the North Carolina bar, Craig settled in [[Asheville, North Carolina|Asheville]] in the state's mountainous western region. He served as [[Buncombe County, North Carolina|Buncombe County]] attorney and the [[Asheville]] city corporation counsel.

In the 1890s, Craig became active in the local [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] and served as a Democratic elector in 1892 and 1896, canvassing the state for Democratic presidential candidate [[William Jennings Bryan]]. He became known as an orator, despite his small physical stature, and was nicknamed "The Little Giant of the West" in tribute to former Democratic presidential candidate [[Stephen A. Douglas]].

At the time, the other major political party in the state was known as the "[[Fusionism in North Carolina|Fusionists]]", a coalition of Populists and [[Republican Party (United States)|Republicans]]. The Fusionists won many offices in North Carolina in 1894, and controlled the state legislature in 1895 and 1897, as well as elected Republican [[Daniel L. Russell]] as the state's Governor in 1896. The other major Democratic orator in North Carolina at the time was fellow lawyer [[Charles Brantley Aycock]] of [[Goldsboro, North Carolina|Goldsboro]], son of Confederate state senator and slaveowner [[Benjamin Aycock]] and U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina during the presidency of Democrat [[Grover Cleveland]] in 1893–1897. Although a strong supporter of education for blacks as well as whites, Aycock had refused to become the Fusionists' gubernatorial candidate in 1896. By 1898, Aycock and Craig were stressing white supremacy, enraged by the enlarged political role of African Americans in the Russell administration.<ref name="ncpedia.org">{{cite web|url=https://www.ncpedia.org/biography/aycock-charles-brantley|title=Aycock, Charles Brantley – NCpedia|website=www.ncpedia.org}}</ref>

In 1899 Craig won election to the North Carolina House of Representatives and was re-elected in 1901. While a member of the North Carolina State House, Craig worked with Aycock on the state constitutional amendment that would effectively disfranchise African American voters.<ref name="UNC library">{{cite web |title=The North Carolina Election of 1898 – Locke Craig (1860–1924) |url=http://www.lib.unc.edu/ncc/1898/bios/locke.html |website=www.lib.unc.edu |publisher=UNC Chapel Hill Libraries |access-date=February 15, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100620105822/http://www.lib.unc.edu/ncc/1898/bios/locke.html |archive-date=June 20, 2010}}</ref> Aycock won election as North Carolina's governor in 1900. Meanwhile, Craig twice failed in attempts at higher office, losing in a bid for his party's nomination for the U.S. Senate in 1903 and in 1908 withdrew from his first run for the North Carolina governorship after three days of deadlock in the state's Democratic convention between his supporters and those of [[William Walton Kitchin]] (the eventual winner) and Ashley Horne. Finally winning the Democratic nomination in 1912 (by acclimation), Craig also won the general election in another three-way race and became North Carolina's governor, although his ally, former governor Aycock had died in April 1912 (suffering a heart attack while campaigning for the U.S. Senate seat).<ref name="ncpedia.org"/>

During his time as governor, Craig continued Aycock's educational reforms. He also presided over other reforms<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101061730428&seq=3 The North Carolina Democratic hand-book prepared by the State Democratic Executive Committee of North Carolina 1914, P.25]</ref><ref>[https://archives.ncdcr.gov/craig-locke-finding-aid/open#:~:text=Locke%20Craig%20(August%2016%2C%201860,in%20the%20Revolution%20and%20afterward GOVERNOR LOCKE CRAIG, n.d., 1912-1918 Arrangement: By record series, then chronological Reprocessed by: James Mark Valsame Date: April 21, 2006, P.2]</ref><ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nc01.ark:/13960/t4km0ms23&seq=306 Memoirs and speeches of Locke Craig, governor of North Carolina : a history, political and otherwise, from scrap books and old manuscripts / edited by May F. Jones]</ref> and formed the state's first highway commission (5,000 miles of state-built roads in 1913 grew to 15,000 miles in 1917 and national recognition as the "Good Roads State") as well as established many forestry and fishery conservation policies. Gratifying North Carolinians enraged at the clearcutting of the state's forests by logging companies, Governor Craig and the legislature established [[Mount Mitchell State Park]] in 1915 (the state's [[List of North Carolina state parks|first state park]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ncmarkers.com/Markers.aspx?MarkerId=P-72|title=Marker: P-72|website=ncmarkers.com}}</ref> He also served on the Appalachian Parks Commission, which promoted creation of the [[Pisgah National Forest]]. He also acted decisively when floods ravaged western North Carolina in 1916. Implementing a campaign promise to reduce freight rates to the level of the rest of the South, and harnessing electric power by building dams on the [[Yadkin River|Yadkin]], [[Catawba River|Catawba]], [[French Broad River|French Broad]] and [[Cape Fear River]]s spurred the state's economic development.<ref>ncpedia bio</ref> Craig also oversaw other improvements in western North Carolina.<ref name="UNC library" /> He also encouraged private contracts for prisoners to perform road and railroad labor, using a model which in 1880 had led to completion of the [[Western North Carolina Railroad]] to [[Swannanoa Gap]] (on the Buncombe/McDowell county line and the division between the Atlantic and Mississippi watersheds).<ref>{{cite web|last=Hunt |first=Max |url=https://mountainx.com/news/how-convicts-conquered-the-swannanoa-grade-a-chat-with-railroad-historian-steven-little/ |title=How convicts conquered the Swannanoa grade; a chat with railroad historian Steven Little | Mountain Xpress |publisher=Mountainx.com |date=2016-02-24 |accessdate=2022-08-15}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ncmarkers.com/Markers.aspx?MarkerId=N-32|title=Marker: N-32}}</ref> After completing his term, Craig retired from public service and resumed his legal career.

==Death and legacy==

[[File:Locke_craig.jpg|thumb|Gravesite of North Carolina Governor Locke Craig]]
The former governor built a new house on the [[Swannanoa River]] in Asheville, but suffered a debilitating illness in 1917 and lived as an invalid during his final seven years. Locke Craig died at the age of 63 on June 9, 1924, survived by his wife Annie, sons and grandchildren. He was buried in the [[Riverside Cemetery (Asheville, North Carolina)|Riverside Cemetery]] in the [[Montford Area Historic District]], in [[Asheville]], North Carolina, where Annie joined him 30 years later.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Sobel |editor1-first=Robert |editor1-link=Robert Sobel |editor2-first=John |editor2-last=Raimo |title=Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789–1978, Vol. 3 |location=[[Westport, Conn.]] |publisher=Meckler Books |access-date=February 15, 2010 |date=1978 |page=1151 |isbn=9780913672174 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E4jvMUWhSQMC |language=en}}</ref> His eldest son Carlyle had a military career, including service in World War II, and his second son George followed his father's path in law and politics through the mid-1950s. His youngest son, Locke Craig Jr., became a forester.

In 1944, a portrait of Governor Craig by Asheville artist [[Cuthbert Lee]] was unveiled in the state senate chamber in [[Raleigh, North Carolina|Raleigh]]. North Carolina named [[Mount Craig (North Carolina)|Mount Craig]], the second highest peak in Pisgah National Forest, in his honor in 1947,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.romanticasheville.com/deep_gap_trail_mt_craig.htm|title=Deep Gap Trail & Mt. Craig Guide|website=www.romanticasheville.com}}</ref> and erected a historical marker near his Asheville home in 1949.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ncmarkers.com/Markers.aspx?MarkerId=P-22|title=Marker: P-22|website=ncmarkers.com}}</ref> Another marker notes his childhood home in Bertie County.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://readtheplaque.com/plaque/locke-craig-1860-1925|title=LOCKE CRAIG 1860–1925|website=Read the Plaque}}</ref> [[Duke University]]'s library holds his papers.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://search.library.duke.edu/search?id=DUKE000851702|title=Papers, 1880–1924 [manuscript].|first=Locke|last=Craig|date=December 6, 1880|publisher=}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120205023054/http://www.lib.unc.edu/ncc/1898/bios/locke.html North Carolina Election of 1898]

{{start box}}
{{s-ppo}}
{{s-bef|before=[[William Walton Kitchin]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] nominee for [[Governor of North Carolina]]|years=[[1912 North Carolina gubernatorial election|1912]]}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Thomas Walter Bickett]]}}
{{s-off}}
{{succession box
|title=[[Governor of North Carolina]]
| years = 1913–1917
| before = [[William Walton Kitchin]]
| after = [[Thomas Walter Bickett]]
}}
{{end box}}

{{Governors of North Carolina}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Craig, Locke}}
[[Category:1860 births]]
[[Category:1924 deaths]]
[[Category:Burials at Riverside Cemetery (Asheville, North Carolina)]]
[[Category:Democratic Party governors of North Carolina]]
[[Category:Democratic Party members of the North Carolina House of Representatives]]
[[Category:People from Bertie County, North Carolina]]
[[Category:People from Buncombe County, North Carolina]]
[[Category:University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni]]
[[Category:People from Windsor, North Carolina]]
[[Category:District attorneys in North Carolina]]
[[Category:19th-century American lawyers]]
[[Category:20th-century American lawyers]]
[[Category:19th-century members of the North Carolina General Assembly]]
[[Category:20th-century North Carolina politicians]]

Vero - Wikipedia - User contributions [en]

Locke Craig