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Silent City 2018: The history behind Timoleon Cravens By Mike Watson, historian, and presenter of Mr. Cravens at Silent City 2018 Timoleon "Tim" Cravens was born in 1823 in Adair County, was a renowned attorney before the bar in Adair County as well as in the south central region of Kentucky, and a stalwart of the old Democrat party, championed by Andrew Jackson. With fine oratorical skills, he was often called upon to speak on behalf of local, district and statewide candidates seeking votes on the campaign trail. Mr. Cravens obtained his education in the schools of then flourishing Columbia. He was a student at the old Robertson Academy, later Male and Female High, with the Boys Department on High Street and Girls Department on now Reed Street in the John Field House. He read law in Columbia, as was the fashion of the day, under such legal divines as Parker C. Hardin, George Alfred Caldwell and Isaac Caldwell. When ready, he was examined by the Columbia Bar and admitted to practice his chosen profession, which he continued with fervor and natural wit for the remainder of his short life. Mr. Cravens served one term in the Kentucky House of Representatives, 1854-55. In February of 1854, a staunch Democrat, was a member of the state party convention in Frankfort, held in the hall of the House of Representatives, and on motion was appointed secretary of that meeting. The Democratic State Convention, held in January 1856, appointed a full ticket of Electors of the next President and Vice President of the United States. The Electors for the State at large included John C. Breckinridge, of Fayette, and Timoleon Cravens, of Adair, representing the Fourth Congressional District. Cravens was the choice of many in 1858 for a seat on the Kentucky Court of Appeals. At the Democratic Party meeting in Clinton County in April 1858 the name of Tim Cravens was put up as a "suitable and well qualified lawyer for the high position of Judge of the Court of Appeals..." but this did not come to pass. The following year at the Democratic Party Convention in Taylor County, in February 1859, Tim Cravens was put forth as a first choice candidate for Congress, to represent the Fourth Kentucky District. "...knowing him to be a true Democrat; and that he has a sufficiency of energy, courage and popularity, to successfully carry out our principles..." However at the Adair County Convention Mr. Cravens declined his name to be presented as a candidate for nomination. Therefore, James Chrisman of Wayne County was nominated and ran that year, ending in a disputed election and much controversy. A "Letter from Washington" [DC] dated 23 December 1859 was carried on the front page of the Louisville Daily Courier on the 26th: There had been a terrific struggle in the House of Representatives in which two Kentucky men had battled, one on each side of the Democrat spectrum, performing to a packed House and gallery. Both these men were for the Union, but the selection of a man who could support both the North and South in the ensuing campaign for national leadership was the basis of the vigorous debate. Prominent among the spectators that day was Timoleon Cravens who was not a member of the body...and on conclusion of a Republican's remarks, which were considered most insulting by the Democrats, Cravens sprang to his feet, with every intention to address the House, but the confusion on the floor prevented him from speaking long enough for him to reflect upon the blunder he was about to make, and he yielded. July 1860 brought much heat, both natural and political, to Adair County, Kentucky and the Nation. Adair County's Democrat Party met to debate and recommend for the upcoming election, including the Office of President. At this meeting, "Col. Tim. Cravens made a speech counseling moderation and harmony among Democrats, and appealed earnestly for Democrats to lay aside their bickerings and rationally vote so as to defeat Black Republicanism, and expressed the opinion that the only way this could be done was to vote for J.C. Breckinridge and Joseph Lane" representing the Southern Democrats. Cravens was a State Presidential Elector in 1860 in the eventful four-way race that included Abraham Lincoln, Stephen A. Douglas, John Bell, and John C. Breckinridge, in which Cravens was a supporter of Breckinridge, and for whom he cast his ballot. With the defeat of Breckinridge in 1860, Mr. Cravens continued his law practice in Columbia and Adair County. He was a personal friend of John H. Morgan, later Confederate General, the Lightning Bolt of the Confederacy. Morgan and his troops came through Columbia on more than one occasion and always visited with the Cravens family, staying in their home and his guard camping on the rear of the property. War was upon the doorstep on more than one occasion. In 18__ when Morgan's command was moving north from Tennessee it came through Columbia. On that occasion Mr. Cravens and Mr. H.C. Baker, later Judge Baker, were walking up Burkesville Street from town at the noon hour... I remember one day walking up home in company with Col. Tim Cravens; he remarked to me, "we will have Confederate troops here very soon," and I asked him why he thought so. He said, "I just feel that way--something in the condition of the atmosphere makes me think so." In a very short time a skirmish ensued between Union and Confederate men along Burkesville Street and it was in this action that several were killed or wounded and Captain Jesse Carter of Col. Wolford's force was mortally wounded. Those killed were laid out on the porch of the Cravens home. Mr. Cravens continued to practice law and often to mediate between the factions throughout the four year conflict. About a years and a half after the war ended, so did Timoleon Cravens, who suddenly passed from this realm into the next. There was no newspaper in Columbia at the time, but regional papers carried notice of his demise, such as the following in Louisville: The Louisville Daily Journal carried the following notice on Thursday, 22 November 1866 on page one: "Colonel Timoleon Craven[s], a prominent lawyer of Adair County, Kentucky, died last Wednesday." Mr. Cravens died at his Columbia home in November 1866, at age 42, and was laid to rest here, in the Columbia Cemetery, leaving behind a widow and six children. His widow, Mary Waggener Cravens, would continue to guide their family for nearly five decades more, until her passing on February 9, 1913, at age 88, at Middlesboro, KY, where she was residing with her daughter, Mrs. Dr. M.H. Rhorer. Selected Sources: Adair County News, 18 May 1898, article by Judge H.C. Baker, p1 Adair County News, 16 April 1902, article on Education in Adair County, by H.C. Baker, p2 Adair County News, 12 February 1913, obituary of Mrs. Mary M. Waggener Cravens, p1 Adair County News, 18 September 1918, article by Judge H.C. Baker, p7 Adair County News, various miscellaneous items among reminiscences, 1897-1930s. Columbia City Cemetery, grave markers of Cravens family Cravens family file, Adair County Public Library, various sources and genealogy The Daily Union, Washington, DC, 14 February 1854, p4 Kentucky Tribune, Danville, KY, 12 January 1856, p3 Louisville Daily Courier, Louisville, KY, 29 April 1858, p1 Louisville Daily Courier, Louisville, KY, 17 February 1859, p1 Louisville Daily Courier, Louisville, KY, 31 March 1859, p1 Louisville Daily Courier, Louisville, KY, 26 December 1859, p1 Louisville Daily Courier, Louisville, KY, 7 July 1860, p1 The Louisville Daily Journal, Louisville, KY, 22 November 1866, p1 This story was posted on 2018-10-06 18:16:12
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