William Cullen Crain (August 31, 1798, inWarren,Herkimer County, New York – March 16, 1865) was an American physician and politician.
His father was Rufus Crain, a physician, a judge of the Court of Common Pleas for sixteen years, and a near relative of GeneralIsrael Putnam.
He entered his father's office as a student of medicine, and practiced for about two years. Then he gave up the practice of medicine, and occupied himself with agriculture, his landed interests in Warren being considerable.
In 1826, he married Perses Narina Tunnicliff, daughter of William Tunnicliff, and granddaughter of the Count George Ernst August von Ranzau, an officer on the staff of theFriedrich Adolf Riedesel, and author of the interestingJournal ofBurgoyne's Expedition contained in the archives of the general staff atBerlin. They had seven children (Philotheta Lucetta Crain Bowers, 1827; Rufus William Crain, 1829; Dunham Jones Crain, 1831; Charlotte Ranzau Crain, 1835; William Baker Crain, 1883; Bianca Louisa Crain, 1844; and Richard Tunnicliff Crain, 1883).
Crain was politically aDemocrat of the Jeffersonian school. He was a member from Herkimer County of theNew York State Assembly in 1832, 1845 and 1846, and wasSpeaker in 1846.
He was Sheriff of Herkimer County from 1840 to 1843. In 1852, he was apresidential elector on the Democratic ticket, voting forFranklin Pierce.
In1860, he ran unsuccessfully forLieutenant Governor of New York. He was many times a delegate toDemocratic National Conventions, and often represented his party in state conventions.
New York County D.A.Thomas C. T. Crain was his grandson.
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| Preceded by | Speaker of the New York State Assembly 1846 | Succeeded by |