Tribute of Respect to the Late Alderman Craigmiles (1876)
At a meeting of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen of the city of Cleveland, Sept. 11th, 1876, The
following among other proceedings were had to wit;
The Mayor F. E. HARDWICK having announced that P. M. CRAIGMILES, Alderman of the First
Ward had departed this life on the evening of the 8th instant at his late residence in this city. Thereupon
on motion of Arthur TRAYNOR the following named Aldermen were appointed a committee to report
suitable resolutions to wit; Arthur TRAYNER, J. M. CROW and Robt. McNELLY, who reported the
following which was adopted to wit:
Whereas the Board of Mayor and Aldermen of Cleveland have learned with deep regret that P.
M. CRAIGMILES a member of this Board departed this life on the evening of the 8th instant after a long
and painful illness; and feeling keenly the loss we have sustained, deem it proper to pay some tribute to
his memory, and place on record some testimonial of our appreciation of his worth as a man and of his
many good qualities as a citizen. Mr. CRAIGMILES became a citizen of our town in 1852 and since that
time has made his home among us.
During that time he engaged extensively in the wholesale mercantile business in Charleston, S.
C. and in New York. He accumulated a handsome estate and greatly added to the wealth and prosperity
of our city by settling among us. He was twice elected Alderman of the First Ward by his neighbors
without solicitation on his part and by his ripe experience in financial affairs greatly aided in the
direction of the financial operations of our Board. We feel his loss in our deliberations; and now that he
will meet with us no more it gives us pleasure to express that our associations with him as a man were
of a most pleasant and agreeable nature; that his memory is not darkened by unpleasant recollections;
that as we are all travelers and “strangers in the land,” the meeting with him in the earthly journey was
a pleasure to us like meeting a friend in a distant and strange land; and we can confidently hope that
when we shall pass over the river of death into that strange and mysterious future we will meet and
know him again; and forever renew the pleasant associations which began in this earthly existence.
With such feelings we can sympathise /sic/ with his family and more intimate friends; and offer
to them the consoling reflection that dark and dismal as the tomb may appear yet it has been lighted by
the presence of the Redeemer, cold as the waters may have seemed that surged around his dying
frame; yet they were warmed by the spirit of the Him who in this life was “a man of sorrow and
acquainted with grief,” and we entertain a hope that his oft expressed wish to die and be done with
suffering was the resultant expression of a faith and hope that his future life would be one of peace and
rest. Arthur TRAYNOR, Robt. MCNELLY, J. M. CROW, Com.
Source: Weekly Herald (Cleveland, TN); 15 September 1876. Available online at Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers.