Prosper Cravath

Prosper Cravath, Jr., (May 28, 1809 – May 20, 1886) was an American lawyer and Wisconsin pioneer. He was one of the original settlers of Whitewater, Wisconsin, and helped lay out the town plat. He represented Whitewater in the Wisconsin State Assembly during the 1st Wisconsin Legislature. He is the namesake of Cravath Lake in Whitewater.

Biography Cravath was born in Cortland, New York, on May 28, 1809. He read law in the office of a prominent lawyer in Cortland for two years, but abandoned the study to pursue other work. He moved to Huron County, Ohio, sometime in the 1830s. In March 1839, he came to the town of Lima, in Rock County, Wisconsin Territory, near the site that would become the city of Whitewater, Wisconsin. He was soon joined by his parents and other family. During 1839, he participated in the first lawsuit in what would become the town of Whitewater, though he was not yet a practicing attorney. He was counsel for the plaintiff in a dispute over compensation for labor, and won the case for his client, William Birge.

In August 1840, the neighboring town was formalized and named "Whitewater" by an act of the territorial legislature.

Personal life and family

Prosper Cravath, Jr., was the eldest son of Prosper Cravath, a Presbyterian deacon, and his wife Miriam ( Kinney). Prosper Cravath would ultimately have fifteen siblings.

He married Maria Prudence Noble on March 27, 1834. Maria was a daughter of Solomon Noble, a blacksmith who had served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. They had two children. Their son, Pitt Cravath, also became a lawyer and was editor and owner of the Whitewater Chronicle. Pitt Cravath also served as a private in the 40th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment during the Civil War and after the war gave two years service to reconstruction in Louisiana as assistant secretary of state.