Jordan Edgar Cravens (Congressional Biographical Dictionary)

CRAVENS, Jordan Edgar, (cousin of William Ben Cravens), a Representative from Arkansas; born in Fredericktown, Madison County, Mo., November 7, 1830; moved with his father to Arkansas the following year; attended the common schools, and was graduated from the Cane Hill Academy at Boonsboro (now Canehill), Washington County, Ark., in 1850; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1854 and commenced practice in Clarksville, Ark.; member of the State house of representatives in 1860; entered the Confederate Army in 1861 as a private, promoted to colonel in 1862, and continued in the service until the close of the Civil War; returned to Clarksville; prosecuting attorney of Johnson County in 1865 and 1866; member of the State senate 1866-1868; elected as an Independent Democrat to the Forty-fifth Congress; reelected as a Democrat to the Forty-sixth and Forty-seventh Congresses (March 4, 1877-March 3, 1883); was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1882 to the Forty-eighth Congress; resumed the practice of law in Clarksville, Ark.; judge of the circuit court 1890-1894; died in Fort Smith, Ark., April 8, 1914; interment in Oakland Cemetery, Clarksville, Ark.