William Ben Cravens (January 17, 1872 – January 13, 1939) was an American politician and a

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

from

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...

, father of William Fadjo Cravens and cousin of

Jordan Edgar Cravens Jordan Edgar Cravens (November 7, 1830 – April 8, 1914) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a U.S. Representative from Arkansas. From 1877 to 1883, he served three terms in Congress, first as an Independent Democrat, then as a ...

Biography

Cravens was born in

Fort Smith, Arkansas Fort Smith is the third-largest city in Arkansas and one of the two county seats of Sebastian County. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 89,142. It is the principal city of the Fort Smith, Arkansas–Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Are ...

, son of William Murphy and Mary Eloise (Rutherford) Cravens. He attended the

common school A common school was a public school in the United States during the 19th century. Horace Mann (1796–1859) was a strong advocate for public education and the common school. In 1837, the state of Massachusetts appointed Mann as the first secretary ...

s, Louisville Military Academy in

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

, and

Staunton Military Academy Staunton Military Academy was a private all-male military school located in Staunton, Virginia. Founded in 1884, the academy closed in 1976. The school was highly regarded for its academic and military programs, and many notable American politica ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. He graduated from the law department of the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded in ...

in 1893, and was married to Carolyn Dyal on December 19, 1895.

Career

Cravens was

admitted to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

in Arkansas in 1893, and commenced practice in

. From 1898 until 1902 he was

City attorney A city attorney is a position in city and municipal government in the United States. The city attorney is the attorney representing the municipality. Unlike a district attorney or public defender, who usually handles criminal cases, a city att ...

of Fort Smith, and the prosecuting attorney for the twelfth judicial district of Arkansas from 1902 until 1908. Cravens was elected as 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 ...

to the Sixtieth, Sixty-first, and Sixty-second Congresses and served from March 4, 1907 until March 3, 1913. He was not a candidate for reelection in 1912 to the

Sixty-third Congress The 63rd United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1913, to ...

. After serving in Congress he resumed the practice of law. Again elected to the Seventy-third and to the three succeeding Congresses, Cravens also served from March 4, 1933, until his death. His son William Fadjo Cravens of Arkansas, was elected to the Seventy-Sixth Congress, to fill the term of his vacancy.

Death

Cravens died in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, on January 13, 1939 (age 66 years, 361 days). He is

interred Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...

at Oak Cemetery, Fort Smith, Arkansas.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cravens, William Ben 1872 births 1939 deaths Politicians from Fort Smith, Arkansas American people of English descent Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Arkansas Arkansas lawyers Staunton Military Academy alumni University of Missouri alumni

Biography

Career

Death

See also

References

External links