DR. JAMES H. CRAIN, of Burkville Precinct, was the pioneer of a
considerable immigration to Pulaski County, from Clark County, Ohio, of
Crains, Minnichs, Wilsons, Millers, Fearnsides, Dillers, Hogendoblers,
Shirachs, Davidsons and Leidichs, who now constitute a considerable and
influential part of the population. The Doctor was descended from pioneers
to the New World, from the British Islands, and from pioneers to Kentucky
and Ohio, from Pennsylvania and Virginia, who had participated in the war
for independence, and in the Indian wars of the period. He thus inherited
through a long line of ancestry a spirit of investigation, allied to a love
of the beautiful in every sense. He also inherited a taste for horticulture,
and was early employed in its pursuit, so that when temporarily diverted
from the pursuit of his profession — by a poisoned wound — which disabled
him, he sought a new home which should unite the beauties of nature with
probable horticultural capabilities of wide range. To test the horticultural
capabilities of this new home was the work to which the Doctor now addressed
himself with untiring energy, and after twenty-eight years of carefully
directed observation, finds the region unfavorable to many desirable fruits.
This is especially true of winter apples, apricots, plums, and all the
smooth-skinned fruits, except the grape, which is profitably grown in large
quantity, and in considerable variety. These experiments, though costing the
Doctor (and many who were misled by his early and temporary successes) great
loss, will prove no disparagement to the county, as the minor fruits and
berries are generally successful, and are largely grown, while wheat and
clover are proving the basis of great wealth to the country. In this long,
and in many instances, painful course of experience, the Doctor has at no
time lost his zeal for investigation, but has widened and extended his views
into every department of natural science, and finds nature everywhere
producing worlds and systems whereon beauty is developed in many varied
forms for the gratification of myriads of sentient creatures, for he with
Wordsworth believes —
"That Nature never did betray
The heart
that loved her."
And that Nature's work is to present the conditions
requisite to individual experience, and individual pain and pleasure, in
wide diversity.
Extracted 02 Nov 2014 by Norma Hass from 1883 History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois, Part V - Biographical Sketches, pages 334-335.
| Union | Johnson | |
| Alexander |
 |
Massac McCracken KY |
| Ballard KY |
