Person:M Cratty (1)

Notes From Frances Hays February 2003 Originally From Paul Moore 2001:

Robert Irvin Cratty moved with his family from Butler County,Pennsylvania to Lane Station, Illinois (now Rochelle) where they lived onvarious farms until his mother's death in 1865. For the next two yearshe lived with H. T. Minler where he herded sheep and attended school. Inthe spring of 1867 his father rented a farm and he and his sisters kepthouse until 1870 when the family was broken up due to his father'sfailing health. Robert hired out on a farm and his sisters lived withdifferent families.

He continued to work on farms and studying to become a teacher. In thefall of 1873 he started to teach near Chana, Olga County, Illinois wherehe stayed until 1877 when he went to Armstrong Grove, Emmet County, Iowawhere he spent the next forty years as a teacher, farmer, writer andbeing active in church and civic affairs. He was proud of the fact that,while teaching school, he was able to buy and improve a 160 acre farmincluding building the house (a fourteen by sixteen foot, story and ahalf) and the out buildings. This was the house that all his childrenwere born and raised in. The new farm house was built after 1898, andwas known as "Maples".

He sold the farm in 1917 and in April of 1918 he moved to Ames, Iowawhere he accepted the position of curator of Botany in the Iowa StateCollege. It was here that he was elected to the Osborn Research Club andthe Society of Sigma XI. He had been elected to the Iowa Academy ofScience. He was a delegate to the International Botanical Congress inCambridge, England in 1930. He took the opportunity to travel throughseveral countries in Europe at that time.

R.I. Cratty had over thirty-four articles published, starting in 1882.Most of these are on file at the College in Ames, Iowa.

From History of Emmet County and Dickinson County, Iowa, Volume II, Chicago, Illinois, The Pioneer Publishing Company, 1917:

ROBERT IRVIN CRATTY

        One of the most prominent and influential citizens of Armstrong

Grove Township, Emmet County, is Robert Irvin Cratty, the proprietor ofThe Maples, located on section 11. He was born in Butler County,Pennsylvania, February 5, 1853, and is a son of William C. and Martha (Hirsch) Cratty, who were also natives of the old Keystone state. The father followed farming in Pennsylvania until 1863, when he removed with his family to Illinois and continued to engage in the same occupation in that stateuntil his death in 1875. The mother had passed away in 1865.

        Robert Irvin Cratty began his education in the schools of

Pennsylvania and later pursued his studies in the schools of Illinois. On leaving the latter state in 1877 he came to Iowa, where he engaged in teaching school for twenty-one years. He was principal of the schools of Estherville from 1879 to 1882. Prior to this, in 1878, he purchased his present farm of one hundred and sixty acres on Section 11, ArmstrongGrove township, and began its improvement. He now has a very valuable tract on which are good and substantial buildings and the land is under excellent cultivation.

        Mr. Cratty was married April 19, 1878, to Miss Lovina E. Canon,

who died on the 22nd of December, 1896, leaving four children, namely: Mabel E.; Edna R.; Alta M.; and Ralph W. On March 4, 1910, Mr. Cratty was united in marriage to Mrs. Mollie E. Webster, of Minneapolis, Minnesota. They are active and consistent members of the Presbyterian church and Mr. Cratty holds the office of Elder. In politics he is a republican and at present is serving as township clerk, which position he has filled for many years. He has also been township trustee, and, infact, has held either one or the other of the two offices for twenty years. He was also treasurer of the school board for twenty years and is a stockholder of the First National Bank of Armstrong. Botany has becomehis hobby and he has made a large collection of Iowa and Minnesota plants, having a herbarium of six thousand species. He has also written much on the flora of Iowa and has devoted much of his leisure time to that study. He is one of the leading citizens of his community and is a manwho commands the respect and confidence of all with whom he is brought in contact in both business and social life.

1. ↑ Emmet, Iowa, United States. 1900 U.S. Census Population Schedule.

   1900 U.S. Census, Iowa, Emmet County, Armstrong Grove Township, T623_431, Book 2, P. 11.

2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Gravestone.
3. ↑ ^3.0 3.1 Iowa Cemetery Records.
4. ↑ Paul Moore - February 2003.
5. ↑ ^5.0 5.1 History of Emmet County and Dickinson County, Iowa: a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement. (Chicago, Illinois: Pioneer Publishing Company, 1917)
   2.
6. ↑ ^6.0 6.1 Emmet, Iowa, United States. 1880 U.S. Census Population Schedule.

   1880 U.S. Census, Iowa, Emmet County, Armstrong Grove Township, T9 0338, Page 507C.

7. ↑ Emmet, Iowa, United States. 1885 Iowa State Census.

   1885 Iowa State Census, Emmet County, Armstrong Grove Township, Volume 183, Page 8.

8. ↑ ^8.0 8.1 Emmet, Iowa, United States. 1900 U.S. Census Population Schedule.

   1900 U.S. Census, Iowa, Emmet County, Armstrong Grove Township, T623 431, Page 11.

9. ↑ ^9.0 9.1 Emmet, Iowa, United States. 1910 U.S. Census Population Schedule.

   1910 U.S. Census, Iowa, Emmet County, Armstrong Grove Township, T624 399, Page 160B.

10. ↑ ^10.0 10.1 Story, Iowa, United States. 1920 U.S. Census Population Schedule.

    1920 U.S. Census, Iowa, Story County, Ames, T625 515, p. 11B.

11. ↑ Obituary of George W. Canon.