Crain, Lewis F.

Born: 1796-XX-XX Culpeper County, Virginia

Died: 1834-09-04 Tazewell County, Illinois

Flourished: Pekin, Illinois

Alternate name: Crane

Lewis F. Crain was a merchant, landowner, and early settler of Pekin, Illinois. In 1829, he and Benjamin Kellogg, Jr. established Crain, Kellogg, & Company, the first mercantile business in Pekin. In 1831, Crain purchased 360 acres of public land in and around Pekin, and in 1833, he acquired an additional forty acres. In May 1832, Crain and Kellogg established a new dry-goods store in Pekin. Crain remained in partnership with Kellogg until June 1834, when the two dissolved the partnership, and Crain assumed the debts of the firm. When Crain died, he owned 1,320 acres of land and ninety-two town lots in Tazewell County, Illinois, but was $21,000 in debt. His brother James W. Crain was an executor of his estate. Abraham Lincoln and his law partners were involved in several lawsuits involving Lewis F. Crain's estate.

Peoria City and County Illinois (Chicago: S. J. Clarke, 1912), 2:607; Ben C. Allensworth, ed., History of Tazewell County (Chicago: Munsell, 1905), 2:908; Illinois Public Domain Land Tract Sales, Tazewell County, 68:105, 108, 141, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; Sangamo Journal (Springfield, IL), 24 May 1832, 3:2; 28 June 1834, 3:6; 6 September 1834, 3:4; Executor's Affidavit, Document ID: 128869, Ex Parte Kellogg, Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, 2d edition (Springfield: Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, 2009), http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=140298. For Lincoln's cases involving Crain's estate, search "Crain, Lewis F.," Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Search.aspx.