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Charity Rusk Craig was born in Portersville, OH, on December 20, 1849, the eldest of three children of Jeremiah M. Rusk and Mary Elizabeth Martin. Her parents moved to Wisconsin with their family when Charity was three years old, and she lost her mother when she was five years old. Her father remarried soon after, and Charity eventually had four additional siblings. After attending a Catholic school for one year, the teenage Charity attended private school before graduating from The University of Wisconsin.
She was passionate about gaining knowledge and was a lifelong learner. As Charity's 1893 A Woman of the Century profile noted, "she has had systematic studies every year since she left school." When her father was elected as a Republican Congressman in 1870, Charity and her family moved to Washington, D.C., and she continued her studies there.
Charity married Elmer Horace Craig, who shared her love of the Classics, in 1875. Between 1876 and 1890, they became the parents of six children.
While living in Viroqua, Wisconsin, Charity participated in philanthropic and women's activities. She became a leader of the regional, then state, and finally national chapters of the Woman's Relief Corps. Charity was part of the Executive Board National Council by 1887, was elected President the next September, and served in that capacity for a year. Two of her many colleagues were Kate Brownlee Sherwood and Annie Turner Wittenmyer.
During the mid-1890s, Charity was instrumental in fundraising for the National Relief Corps Home in Madison, Wisconsin. As The National Tribune noted on May 10, 1894, in an article that detailed her efforts,"Past National President Charity Rusk Craig, a woman of practical sense and ready resources, has inaugurated a movement to put the National Relief Corps Home on solid footing, and give it an assured and steady income."
In addition to her work for the National Relief Corps Home, Charity served on the Woman's Auxiliary Board for the Wisconsin semi-centennial in April of 1896.
Later that year, due to Elmer's health issues, the family left Wisconsin and moved to the exquisite Queen Anne home they had built in Asheville, North Carolina. After she was widowed in 1898, Charity continued to be active with the Woman's Relief Corps. Charity sold her home in 1913 and moved to nearby Skyland, North Carolina, where she passed away on November 11 of that year. She was buried in Viroqua Cemetery in Viroqua, Wisconsin near her husband and two of her children.
She was passionate about gaining knowledge and was a lifelong learner. As Charity's 1893 A Woman of the Century profile noted, "she has had systematic studies every year since she left school." When her father was elected as a Republican Congressman in 1870, Charity and her family moved to Washington, D.C., and she continued her studies there.
Charity married Elmer Horace Craig, who shared her love of the Classics, in 1875. Between 1876 and 1890, they became the parents of six children.
While living in Viroqua, Wisconsin, Charity participated in philanthropic and women's activities. She became a leader of the regional, then state, and finally national chapters of the Woman's Relief Corps. Charity was part of the Executive Board National Council by 1887, was elected President the next September, and served in that capacity for a year. Two of her many colleagues were Kate Brownlee Sherwood and Annie Turner Wittenmyer.
During the mid-1890s, Charity was instrumental in fundraising for the National Relief Corps Home in Madison, Wisconsin. As The National Tribune noted on May 10, 1894, in an article that detailed her efforts,"Past National President Charity Rusk Craig, a woman of practical sense and ready resources, has inaugurated a movement to put the National Relief Corps Home on solid footing, and give it an assured and steady income."
In addition to her work for the National Relief Corps Home, Charity served on the Woman's Auxiliary Board for the Wisconsin semi-centennial in April of 1896.
Later that year, due to Elmer's health issues, the family left Wisconsin and moved to the exquisite Queen Anne home they had built in Asheville, North Carolina. After she was widowed in 1898, Charity continued to be active with the Woman's Relief Corps. Charity sold her home in 1913 and moved to nearby Skyland, North Carolina, where she passed away on November 11 of that year. She was buried in Viroqua Cemetery in Viroqua, Wisconsin near her husband and two of her children.
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Name in WOC
Birth Name
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Western Carolina Democrat and French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.), November 20, 1913, Image 2
Obituary
Obituary
Bibliography
- Western Carolina Democrat and French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.), 20 Nov. 1913. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn91068159/1913-11-20/ed-1/seq-2/> - Obituary
- The National tribune. (Washington, D.C.), 10 May 1894. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82016187/1894-05-10/ed-1/seq-6/>
- Watertown republican. (Watertown, Wis.), 08 April 1896. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85033295/1896-04-08/ed-1/seq-4/>
- Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]), 20 Sept. 1888. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85042405/1888-09-20/ed-1/seq-3/>
- The Indianapolis journal. (Indianapolis [Ind.]), 02 Oct. 1887. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82015679/1887-10-02/ed-1/seq-5/>
- Watertown republican. (Watertown, Wis.), 29 Nov. 1893. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85033295/1893-11-29/ed-1/seq-6/>