Bernard Crickard

However I learned a bit more about Bernard Crickard. (Google him!) He was Catherine Murray's (nee Crickard) uncle who went to Baltimore initially and eventually to St Louis where he was involved in the building trade. He died in 1872 and is buried in St Louis (see picture of his tomb on Google - I suggested a few words for the picture of the tomb) Apparently he had no children. His wife remarried a General Macadarris (a French General and died in Paris in the early 1900s.

I have some letters from Bernard Crickard to his family which Catherine Murray kept. These were written in the early 1840s from Baltimore and very difficult to read. There is clearly a lot more to be known about Bernard Crickard. (Fergal Mulloy)

In 1842 he is mentioned in "The Misssouri Republican" [http://stlgs.org/research-2/community/ethnic/irish/repeal-associati...] as attending a meeting of a meeting of the Repeal Association of the Friends of Ireland in St :Louis

He appears in St Louis in the 1850 census as a single stone cutter with his wife in the 1860 census and his will is in the possession of the Robert B Snow collection

"COURT HOUSE(St Louis). The Court House building which towers above our city, and gives to it, when viewed from a little distance, an aspect like London with its St. Paul's, is one of the most massive and imposing architectural structures of the kind in the country, and the following historical particulars respecting it will be interesting to our readers: On the 14th of December, 1822, an act was approved entitled {"An act concerning a Court House and Jail in the county of St. Louis," and, in accordance with its provisions, Thomas Sappington of Gravois, Ludwell Bacon of Bonhomme, Robt. Quarles of St. Ferdinand, and Pierre Chouteau, Jr., and Wm. Carr Lane, of the town of St. Louis, were appointed Commissioners to select a proper site within the town of St. Louis, whereon to erect a Court House for said county. .......................The work progressed slowly until 1851, when Robert S. Mitchell was appointed architect and superintendent, and he immediately proceeded to tear down the old building, which stood where the east wing was to be erected, and in October, 1852, contracted with Mr. Bernard Crickard for the cut-stone work for the wing. It was subsequently decided by the Court to have the north and south wings, and on the 28th of May, 185, Mr.' Mitchell contracted with Mr. Crickard for the cut-stone work of the south wing, and in July, 1853, for the six stone columns in the portico of the east wing. In MI, 1857, the court superseded Mr. Mitchell and appointed Thomas D. P. Lanham to the office at a remuneration of four per cent. on the amount . of vwork done under his supervision. " [http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moa/AFK4236.0001.001?rgn=main;view=full...]

From http://www.civilwarstlouis.com/arsenal/appendixD.htm: "At that time (1861?) the population of the city stood about one-third native, one-third German and one-third Irish. The native population was about one for the Union, nine for the South; the Germans were a unit for the Union; the Irish with some notable exceptions favored the South. Two of those notable exceptions were Doyle and Crickard, both Irish stone masons and builders. In May these men entered the United States treasury office, and, planting on the counter two bags of gold, said to the assistant treasurer, ‘We bring you $10,000. The government is in need of money. Please deposit as our loan.’ At that time the government credit was at a very low ebb."

https://books.google.ie/books?id=Gv5FAQAAIAAJ&dq=bernard%20crickard... shows 1864 he was part of a consortium called Lindell Railway Company given the job of laying railway lines in St Louis "THE LINDELL RAILWAY COMPANY was chartered on Feb. 26, 1864, with an authorized capital stock of $600,000. Among the applicants for the charter and the original stockholders were John H. Lightner, Wayman Crow, Dwight Durkee, Levin H. Baker, John M. Krum, D. R. Garrison, William Patrick, Joshua Cheever, Bernard Crickard, William D'Oench, Charles K. Dickson, William Mayer, and Morris Taussig. "

He must have invested unwisely at some point- the below seems to mean that the executors oof his will made a case against him:

"There are numerous cases dealing with the question of the liability of trustees who invested in Confederate bonds and slaves. Generally in these cases the liability of the trustee for loss depended upon the circumstances. If he invested in such bonds, after it was generally known that they were depreciating, he was guilty of negligence. Fultz v. Brightwell, 77 Va. 742; LeGrand's Admr. v. Fitch, 79 Va. 635; Douglass v. Stephenson's Ex'r., 75 Va. 747; Crouch v. Davis, Ex'r., 64  Va. 62; Crickard's Ex'r. v. Crickard, 66 Va. 410; Campbell v. Campbell, 63 Va. 649. :"https://archive.org/stream/legalinvestments00mckiiala/legalinvestme...]

Bernard Crickard's house: https://www.bentonparkwest.org/single-post/2018/10/09/TBT-Bernard-C...