Source: History of Boone County, Indiana, by Hon. L.M. Crist, 1914.

STRANGE N. CRAGUN Strange N. Cragun, the well-known and efficient ex-editor and
owner of the Lebanon (Indiana) Patriot, springs from sturdy Scotch-Irish ancestry, his
great-grandfather having come from the north of Ireland in an early day and having
settled in Virginia. His son, Elisha Cragun, grandfather of Strange N., was born in that
state, but was among the pioneers of the southeast part of Rush county, Indiana, whence,
in 1835, he came to Boone county and located in Eagle township, but afterward went
west with his family and died at Council Bluffs, Iowa. The family, however, continued
their journey westward and settled in Utah, where members of them still live. Hiram
Cragun, son of Elisha and father of Strange N., was born in Rush county, Indiana, near
the Franklin county line, December 8, 1816, was reared a farmer, and was nineteen years
of age when he accompanied his father to Boone county. The farm on which they here
settled was very heavily timbered, and Hiram, who was a very industrious and hard-
working man, did a vast amount of work in assisting his father in clearing away the fine
black walnut trees and in burning them in piles to get rid of them. Hiram was married in
Boone county to Reiter, daughter of Robert Dooley, and to this union were born nine
children, of whom seven grew to maturity, viz.: Josephine, Neb, Melvina, George C.,
Hiram, Strange N., and Lorenzo D. The farm owned by Hiram Cragun comprised two
hundred forty-five acres, and on this he lived until 1884, when he died at the age of sixty-
six years, universally respected. He was a Democrat in politics until the firing on Fort
Sumter, when he became a strong Republican and an ardent Union man; he was also a
great admirer of Abraham Lincoln. With his wife, he was a member of the Methodist
Episcopal church, and for many years was a class leader of the Pleasant View society,
which he assisted in founding, and which first met in the 'little brick" school-house in the
northeast part of Eagle township; he was a man of high character, very exact, and held
hypocrisy in utter abhorrence.

Strange N. Cragun was born July 24, 1857, on his father's farm in Eagle township, Boone
county, Indiana. He received his preparatory education in the common schools, and this
was supplemented by a course of three years at the Zionsville academy and one term at
Purdue University. He became a teacher in Boone county at the age of seventeen, in
1874, and taught in the district schools of Worth township, and in the graded school at
Zionsville--four years in all--and then had charge of the graded school of Reelsville,
Putnam county, Indiana, for one year. In the spring of 1879, while on a visit to Purdue
University, Mr. Cragun went before the board of examiners of candidates for admission
to West Point Military Academy, and from thirty-one applicants from the ninth
congressional district he was selected for the important and distinguished appointment.
At West Point he was obliged to undergo another examination, and of the one hundred
sixty applicants he was one of the one hundred twenty to pass the severe ordeal. On the
twentieth of June following (1879) he reported at West Point and was admitted to the
class of 1883, but two years later, on account of impaired eyesight, he was obliged to
tender his resignation.

In the spring of 1881, Mr. Cragun returned to Boone county and accepted the
principalship of the Whitestown graded schools for one year, when he was called to
Zionsville, to form a joint principalship with W.B. Alford, which lasted one year. He then
went to Lebanon, and for four years was principal of the high school. In 1887 Mr. Cragun
was elected county superintendent of schools, a position he filled four years and three
months, serving out the unexpired term of Harvey M. LaFollette and twice thereafter
elected for full terms. During his administration, he brought the schools up to a high
standard and introduced new courses of study, securing uniformity in the grading of the
schools, making the township institute much more effective, and achieving the reputation
of being an excellent disciplinarian both as a teacher and a superintendent. He was strict,
but impartial, in his examination of teachers, and reduced the number of licenses nearly
one-half, extending the policy of his predecessor, Mr. LaFollette.

May 2, 1891, Mr. Cragun bought the Lebanon Patriot, the oldest newspaper in Boone
county, that has been published continuously, dating its birth from 1857. It is Republican
in its politics and is independent and outspoken in the advocacy of the principles of that
party, and in its discussion of local and county questions and measures. Mr. Cragun
greatly increased its subscription list, this increase arising from the improvement he made
in its leading articles and the higher plane on which he placed the literary selections, as
well as the completeness to which he brought the news columns. As its name indicates,
the journal was indeed patriotic in all things under his management. He sold the Patriot in
1913 but still does some news and editorial work on journals throughout the state.

On June 17, 1883, Mr. Cragun was united in matrimony with Miss Addie M., daughter of
Benjamin and Margaret (Beeler) Booher, at Whitestown, Indiana and to this felicitous
union have been born three children--Ethel and Opal, twins, and Dwight, the last named
born October 5, 1891. This happy little family, however, was rudely broken into by the
taking away of Opal at the age of six and a half years.

Mr. Cragun is a member of Boone Lodge No. 9, Free and Accepted Masons; Lebanon
Chapter No. 39, Royal Arch Masons; Indiana Consistory of Scottish Rite Masons; Murat
Temple of Shriners, Indianapolis; also Lebanon Lodge No. 45, Knights of Pythias; also
with his wife, of Lebanon Chapter No. 23, Order of Eastern Star. Mr. and Mrs. Cragun
are members of the Centenary Methodist Episcopal church at Lebanon, and he is a
member of the board of trustees. Mr. Cragun resides in a commodious and substantial
residence, much admired for its tastefulness and beauty of architecture.

While now living a somewhat retired life, Mr. Cragun is nevertheless associated in a
number of ways with the business life of his county and city. He is treasurer of the
Lebanon school board and serving his second term; has been director of the First National
Bank of Lebanon for more than a dozen years; was one of the organizers of the Citizens'
Loan & Trust Company of same city in 1899, and ever since one of its directors. He is
now one of the jury commissioners of the county, and was recently admitted to the bar,
although it is not his purpose to enter actively into the practice of law. He and his family
are highly respected, and move in the best social circles of the county.

Mrs. Reiter Cragun Bowers, mother of Maj. S. N. Cragun, of Lebanon, passed away
April 27, 1914, at her home in Zionsville, this county. She had been in poor health for
several years but her last illness extended over a period of only two days. Bronchial
pneumonia was the immediate cause of her demise.

Mrs. Bowers was born in Shelby county, Kentucky, August 7, 1826, and was
consequently aged eighty-seven years, eight months and twenty days. She came to Boone
county when nine years of age and. underwent all the hardships incident to pioneer days.
Before her death she was the first of five generations, living in this county--five children,
twenty-eight grandchildren, forty-two great grandchildren and five great great
grandchildren.

She was the daughter of Robert and Julia Ann Dooley who resided for many years in the
neighborhood of the Mt. Run Baptist church in the east part of Boone county. She was
first married on August 18, 1842, to Hiram Cragun who departed this life March 2, 1884.
For forty-two years they resided on the farm of which she died possessed, at St. Clair
Stop on the T. H., I. & E. traction line. She was married a second time on March 8, 1893,
to John Bowers, of Marion county, with whom she lived in Zionsville until his death on
October 27, 1904.

There were nine children born to the first union, of whom five survive as follows: Mrs.
Josephine Peters, Mrs. Melvina St. Clair, George L., Hiram N. and Strange N., all of
Boone county. Four children, Neb, Lorenzo D., Columbus and Mary Ann are deceased,
the last two dying when children. The brothers and sisters living are Squire W. and
Thomas W. Dooley, of Boone county; John K. Dooley, of Hastings, Neb., Samuel B.
Dooley, of Gleneath, Colo.; Mrs. Louise Anderson, of Boone county, and Mrs. Clarissa
Hurst, of Gilbert, Arizona.

Mrs. Bowers was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church at Zionsville. For many
years previous to transferring her membership there, she was a faithful member of the
Pleasant View Methodist Episcopal church north of Zionsville. She lived a consistent
Christian life and was greatly loved by all who knew her.

ANDERSON BEELER BOOHER BOWERS CRAGUN DOOLEY HURST
LAFOLLETTE PETERS ST. CLAIR

Submitted by Amy K Davis