Isaac Edwin CRARY, Congress, MI (1804-1854)

CRARY, Isaac Edwin, a Representative from Michigan; born in Preston, New London County, Conn., October 2, 1804; attended the public schools, and was graduated from Trinity College, Hartford, Conn., in its first class in 1827; studied law; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Marshall, Mich., in 1833; delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1835; upon the admission of Michigan as a State into the Union was elected as a Jacksonian to the Twenty-fourth Congress and as a Democrat to the Twenty-fifth and Twenty-sixth Congresses and served from January 26, 1837, to March 3, 1841; regent of the University of Michigan 1837-1844; founded the public-school system of Michigan; member of the State board of education 1850-1852; editor of the Marshall Expounder for several years; member of the State house of representatives 1842-1846, and speaker of the house in 1846; died in Marshall, Calhoun County, Mich., on May 8, 1854; interment in Oakridge Cemetery.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present