By: Dennis McCaslin
A Fort Smith born lawyer and politician, who followed in the footsteps of his father as an attorney and sired a son who went on to also become a prominent lawyer in the area, is one of the dozens of historically significant people who are buried in Fort Smith's historic Oak Cemetery.
William Ben Cravens, born January 17, 1872 during the heyday of Judge Isaac sees Parker's district court for the Western District of Arkansas and Indian Territory, served multiple turns in Congress with a 20-year span between his two runs as United States Representative representing Arkansas 4th District four of total of 12 years.
The son of William Murphy Cravens and Mary Eloise Rutherford Cravens, Ben Cravens was an attorney almost by his birthright. His father had served as a prosecuting attorney for eight counties in Southwest Missouri before the family moved to Arkansas and Ben followed in his footsteps.
After attending the common public schools of the era, he attended Louisville Military Academy in Kentucky and Staunton Military Academy in Virginia. His college career took him to the University of Missouri where he graduated with a law degree in 1893. He was admitted to the bar in Arkansas the same year.
Craven's practiced law in Fort Smith for five years until 1902 when he was named City Attorney for the city of Fort Smith. From that job, he was later elected as a prosecuting attorney for the 12th Judicial District for just over four years.
Cravens and his wife, the former Caroline Dyal, who was a native of Wichita had been married on December 19, 1884 and they had two children in a two-year span.
One, a daughter by the name of Nancy Allen married into the Ead's family of furniture manufacturing fame. The second, a son by the name of William Fadjo, would follow in the path his father had set by becoming both a lawyer and politician.
An ambitious young man, Cravens was elected as a Democrat in the election
of 1906 and went on to serve in the 60th 61st and 62nd Congress. During his first six-year run, Teddy Roosevelt held the White House and in the final year of his third term, William Howard Taft was the Commander in Chief.
During his time in office Cravens was active in the effort to open the Red River to greater steamboat navigation, something that he felt would help the state of Arkansas He also served on the Committee on Industrial Arts and Expositions, and the Committee on Military Affairs.
Because of what some people say was indifference to attending the sessions of the House and his committee meetings, Cravens was denied renomination in 1912 by the party. Young and brass former State senator Otis Theodore Wingo of DeQueen was tabbed by the party for the slot and Cravens returned home to Arkansas resuming the practice of law in Clarksville.
Although he and his wife established their business in Clarksville the couple remained highly active in the Fort Smith community serving in many Civic organizations.
During that time, craven's returned to the practice of law in the long running Cravens and Cravens Law firm that served Western Arkansas for a number of years.
Twenty years after his first three terms in Congress, Cravens got the itch for politics once again. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected president, and Cravens won the nomination in the election for the 73rd Congressional section, which started in 1934.
He was one of many Democrats swept in the office on the coattails of the highly popular Roosevelt.
Having learned from his previous stint in office, Cravens was a more studious and attentive Congressman the second time around. While the country was in the throes of the Great Depression, Cravens helped Roosevelt negotiate mines and mining regulation and flood control as well as serving on several other committees.
Cravens was a popular selection for the voters in Western Arkansas, and he never faced any opposition in three consecutive November General elections.
He served as the Representative of Arkansas's 4th District in Washington DC until his sudden death from pneumonia on January 13th 1939.
Memorial Services were held in Washington DC and Cravens was feted by members of both parties for his 12 years of contribution to the national political arena.
He was laid to rest in the Oak cemetery and his son William Fadjo Cravens was elected to succeed him in a special election to fill the seat.
As was the tradition in the early part of the last century, Cravens and his wife were together until his death. Cravens died less than a month after the couples 55th anniversary and when Caroline died in 1950 she was buried in the traditional plot to the right of her beloved husband.
