Erastus Milo Cravath (1833–1900) was a pastor and American Missionary Association (AMA) official who after the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

, helped found Fisk University in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...

, and numerous other

historically black college Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. M ...

s in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

and

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

for the education of

freedmen A freedman or freedwoman is a formerly enslaved person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, enslaved people were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their captor-owners), emancipation (granted freedom a ...

. He also served as president of Fisk University for more than 20 years.

Early life, education and family

Erastus Milo Cravath was born July 1, 1833, in

Homer, New York Homer is a town in Cortland County, New York, United States of America. The population was 6,405 at the 2010 census. The name is from the Greek poet Homer. The town of Homer contains a village called Homer. The town is situated on the west bord ...

, to Elizabeth "Betsey" Northway Cravath (born 1811) and Oren Birney Cravath (1806 – 1874) (alternately spelled Orin and Orrin), of

French Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Beza ...

ancestry. His father was one of a trio to form an abolition party in Homer, where the family had settled in 1830, at Route 281 and Cold Brook Road, the Cravath dwelling is now noted as the Salisbury-Pratt Homestead, a way station along the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. ...

to Canada. Erastus was raised in a household fervently devoted to the

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

cause and aiding refugee slaves."Personal Sketches: Rev. Erastus Milo Cravath"
''The American Missionary'', Vol. 48 (2), February 1894, ''Making of America'', Cornell University Library, accessed March 3, 2009Richard D. Sears
''Camp Nelson, Kentucky''
Lexington, Ky: University Press of Kentucky, 2002, p. 347. It was a time and place of progressive causes. The daughter of his brother, Bishop, Dr. May Hannah Cravath Wharton (1873 – 1959), left a noted autobiography, ''Doctor Woman of the Cumberlands'', an account of her years as a physician in rural Tennessee. A decade prior to the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

the Cravath family relocated to

Oberlin, Ohio Oberlin is a city in Lorain County, Ohio, United States, 31 miles southwest of Cleveland. Oberlin is the home of Oberlin College, a liberal arts college and music conservatory with approximately 3,000 students. The town is the birthplace of th ...

. Cravath was a student at the local common school, then Homer Academy, in New York. He subsequently studied at Oberlin College, graduating with a bachelor's, in 1857, then with a Master of Divinity degree in 1860. After devoting much of his adult life to religion and education, in 1886, Cravath earned a Doctor of Divinity degree at

Grinnell College Grinnell College is a private liberal arts college in Grinnell, Iowa, United States. It was founded in 1846 when a group of New England Congregationalists established the Trustees of Iowa College. Grinnell has the fifth highest endowment-to-stu ...

. In September 1860 Cravath married Ruth Anna Jackson, who was from a family of Quakers from

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

and England. The couple had at least three children, Elizabeth "Bessie" Northway (born October 7, 1868); Erastus Milo Cravath (born August 24, 1872);''New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of Commonwealths and the Founding of a Nation, Volume 2''
William Richard Cutter, Editor, Lewis historical publishing Company, 1913, page 542. Retrieved December 1, 2021. and

Paul Drennan Cravath Paul Drennan Cravath (July 14, 1861 – July 1, 1940) was a prominent Manhattan lawyer and a partner of the New York law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore. He devised the Cravath System, was a leader in the Atlantist movement, and was a founding ...

, who became a noted lawyer and a co-founder of the Council on Foreign Relations, which he served as inaugural vice-president, then as a director.

Career

Cravath became a pastor in the Congregational Church of

Berlin Heights, Ohio Berlin Heights is a village in Berlin Township, Erie County, Ohio, United States. The population was 714 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Sandusky, Ohio Metropolitan Statistical Area. In the late 1850s a branch of the "free love" moveme ...

, in what later became part of the

United Church of Christ The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination based in the United States, with historical and confessional roots in the Congregational, Calvinist, Lutheran, and Anabaptist traditions, and with approximatel ...

. He was an abolitionist. He entered the

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union of the collective states. It proved essential to th ...

in December 1863, serving until the end of the war, including campaigns in

Franklin Franklin may refer to: People * Franklin (given name) * Franklin (surname) * Franklin (class), a member of a historical English social class Places Australia * Franklin, Tasmania, a township * Division of Franklin, federal electoral d ...

and

. By October 1865, Cravath had returned to Nashville. He became a Field Agent of the American Missionary Association (AMA), and worked to establish schools in the South for freedmen. He purchased land for the Fisk School, which he cofounded in 1866 with John Ogden, superintendent of education for the Freedmen's Bureau in Tennessee; and the Reverend

Edward Parmelee Smith Edward Parmelee Smith (1827–1876) was a Congregational minister in Massachusetts before becoming Field Secretary for the United States Christian Commission during the American Civil War. In official positions with the American Missionary Asso ...

, also of the AMA. It accepted children and adults both for classes in various subjects, including reading, writing, and math. Within the first six months, the number of students climbed from 200 to 900. Using Fisk as his base, Cravath also started freedmen's schools at Macon, Milledgeville and

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

; and at various points in Tennessee. In September 1866, Cravath became District Secretary of the AMA in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wi ...

. By 1870, he had been promoted to Field Secretary at the AMA office in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. In 1875 Cravath returned to Fisk University as its president. He spent the next three years abroad touring with the

Fisk Jubilee Singers The Fisk Jubilee Singers are an African-American '' a cappella'' ensemble, consisting of students at Fisk University. The first group was organized in 1871 to tour and raise funds for college. Their early repertoire consisted mostly of traditio ...

to raise funds for the college. For more than 20 years, he led Fisk University, helping it through its growth and building campaign of the 1880s, and the steady expansion of education initiatives. Cravath lived in St. Charles, Minnesota in his last years, where he died on September 4, 1900. His niece Georgia Laura White taught English at Fisk from 1934 to 1936, and served on the school's board of trustees.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cravath, Erastus Milo 1833 births 1900 deaths People from Homer, New York People of New York (state) in the American Civil War American religious leaders African-American history between emancipation and the civil rights movement United Church of Christ Fisk University faculty Presidents of Fisk University Oberlin College alumni Grinnell College alumni American Congregationalists Underground Railroad people Activists from New York (state) People from St. Charles, Minnesota Congregationalist abolitionists