William Cullen Crain (August 31, 1798, in

Warren A warren is a network of wild rodent or lagomorph, typically rabbit burrows. Domestic warrens are artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. The term evolved from the medieval A ...

Herkimer County, New York Herkimer County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 60,139. Its county seat is Herkimer. The county was created in 1791 north of the Mohawk River out of part of Montgomery County. It is named ...

– March 16, 1865) was an American physician and politician.

Life

His father was Rufus Crain, a physician, a judge of the Court of Common Pleas for sixteen years, and a near relative of General

Israel Putnam Israel Putnam (January 7, 1718 – May 29, 1790), popularly known as "Old Put", was an American military officer and landowner who fought with distinction at the Battle of Bunker Hill during the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783). He als ...

. He entered his father's office as a student of medicine, and practiced for about two years. Then he gave up the practice of medicine, and occupied himself with agriculture, his landed interests in Warren being considerable. In 1826, he married Perses Narina Tunnicliff, daughter of William Tunnicliff, and granddaughter of the Count George Ernst August von Ranzau, an officer on the staff of the

Friedrich Adolf Riedesel Freiherr Friedrich Adolf Riedesel Freiherr zu Eisenbach (3 June 1738 in Lauterbach/Hesse – 6 January 1800 in Braunschweig) was a German officer who served in the Seven Years' War and American War of Independence. He was the commander of th ...

, and author of the interesting ''Journal of Burgoyne's Expedition'' contained in the archives of the general staff at

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

. They had seven children (Philotheta Lucetta Crain Bowers, 1827; Rufus William Crain, 1829; Dunham Jones Crain, 1831; Charlotte Ranzau Crain, 1835; William Baker Crain, 1883; Bianca Louisa Crain, 1844; and Richard Tunnicliff Crain, 1883). Crain was politically a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

of the Jeffersonian school. He was a member from Herkimer County of the New York State Assembly in 1832, 1845 and 1846, and was

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

in 1846. He was Sheriff of Herkimer County from 1840 to 1843. In 1852, he was a

presidential elector The United States Electoral College is the group of presidential electors required by the Constitution to form every four years for the sole purpose of appointing the president and vice president. Each state and the District of Columbia app ...

on the Democratic ticket, voting for Franklin Pierce. In

1860 Events January–March * January 2 – The discovery of a hypothetical planet Vulcan is announced at a meeting of the French Academy of Sciences in Paris, France. * January 10 – The Pemberton Mill in Lawrence, Massachusett ...

, he ran unsuccessfully for Lieutenant Governor of New York. He was many times a delegate to Democratic National Conventions, and often represented his party in state conventions. New York County D.A. Thomas C. T. Crain was his grandson.

Sources

Bio at Rootsweb

Herkimer County Crimes listing county officials

Obit of his son, in NYT on March 10, 1907
''The New York Civil List''
compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough, Stephen C. Hutchins and Edgar Albert Werner (1867; page 579) {{DEFAULTSORT:Crain, William Cullen 1798 births 1865 deaths Speakers of the New York State Assembly People from Herkimer County, New York 1852 United States presidential electors 19th-century American legislators