R. P. CRAIG

The following bio was taken from page 160 of the book entitled "Rusk County History" compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

Transcribed by Shirley Koym

Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Rusk County TX Coordinator

The marriage on August 1, 1931 of Roderic Paul Craig and Julia Mary Crim marked a union of two very early Rusk County families. Rhode, as he was called from childhood, was the oldest son of Paul Henry Craig and Nollie Robertson Craig, and a fifth generation descendant of the Reverend William Craig, who was a pioneer Methodist circuit rider of the historic Church Hill circuit. Rhode grew up on the Craig home place in the Oakland Community five miles east of Henderson on the old Carthage highway. The Craig ancestry is Scottish; the family can be traced back to the eighteenth century in the United States. Before coming to Texas in 1839, William Craig lived in Mississippi, Tennessee, and South Carolina.

Julia Crim was the only daughter and oldest child of Clifton Lee Crim and Martha Flora Lloyd Crim, who lived five miles northwest of Henderson on the Overton highway, near the Pleasant Hill Cemetery. The Crims were of German ancestry; members of the family arrived in America well before the Revolution. Research shows that branches of the family lived in Virginia, South Carolina, and Alabama before some members came to Texas in the 1840’s. (See Crim stories)

Rhode and Julia came of age in the giddy era of the 1920’s – a time when the world sought to forget the horrors of World War I. They met while Julia was teaching school in the Chapman Community, a few miles east of Oakland, where the Craig family lived.

After their marriage, they, like most East Texas, struggled to earn a living during the bleak years of the depression. They were of that generation that left the farm and sought other kinds of work. Rhode worked at various jobs created by the thriving oil and gas industry, which helped ease the economic troubles in Rusk County in the 1930’s. Their only child, Paul Crim Craig, was born in October 1932.

In the fall of 1936, Julia resumed her teaching career at New London Elementary School, where she taught fourth grade until her retirement in 1973. Hundreds of her former students are scattered across the county, state, and nation.

The economic struggles of the 1930’s gave way to the anxieties of World War II. Julia’s three brothers were all overseas during part of the war years. The family hovered near crackling battery radios to hear H. V. Kaltenborn’s and other news commentators’ evening reports during those troubled years. The family Christmas celebration in 1945 was an especially joyous and thankful event! All three brothers were there to participate in it.

In 1948 Rhode purchased his own service station business, just off the square in downtown Henderson. He operated that station until he retired in the late 1960’s. Rhode was well suited for meeting the public; he enjoyed the daily encounters with his customers and friends in the Henderson business community. He suffered a stroke in November 1972 but recovered to live seven more years. Julia retired from teaching to care for him until his death in the spring of 1979.

Though there where few moments of high drama, Rhode and Julia Craig lived productive and rewarding lives together. Through Rhode’s involvement in the business life of Henderson and Julia’s many years of teaching, they touched the lives of many people in Rusk County. They were faithful in the care of their parents, and they reared and educated their son, Paul, who is married to the former Linda Billingsley. Paul and Linda live in Austin with their two daughters, Kelly and Catherine.

Submitted by Paul Crim Craig and Julia Craig