promotion of the welfare of the Indians and negroes in the United States. He conceived the intention of becoming a missionary among the Seminoles of Florida, but afterward gave his mind to the scheme of colonizing American negroes in Africa, engaged in establishing the first colony of liberated slaves at Bassa Cove, on the Grain coast, became president of the Colonization society, and labored as its agent in New England in the winter of 1838-9, in the southern states in 1839-40, and in Great Britain in 1840-'3 and 1850-'8. He left in his will $123,000 to various benevolent institutions, and a lot, valued at $80,000, for a home for superannuated merchants and gentlemen.
CRESSON, John Chapman, civil engineer, b.
in Philadelphia, Pa., in 180G ; d. there in 1876.
He was educated at a Friends' academy, attended
lectures on agriculture at the University of Pennsylvania, and then became a farmer, but sold his
farm in 1834, and engaged in business in Philadelphia. He was then made superintendent and engineer of the Philadelphia gas-works, and held the office for twenty-eight years. He was given the
chair of mechanics and natural philosophy in
Franklin institute in 1837, and in 1855 was made
its president. He also held a similar chair in the
Philadelphia high-school for two years. He was
for many years a manager and one of the vice-presidents of the Pennsylvania institution for the blind, and was connected with many other charitable institutions. He was also manager of the
Schuylkill navigation company, president of the Mine Hill and Schuylkill Haven railroad company in 1847-76, and one of the original Fairmount park commissioners, afterward becoming chief en-
gineer of that park.
CRESWELL, John A. J., statesman, b. in Port Deposit, Cecil co., Md., 18 Nov.. 1828 ; d. in Elkton, Ind., 23 Dec, 1891. He was graduated at Dickinson college. Pa., and was admitted to the Maryland bar. He was a member of the state legislature in 1860
and 1862, and assistant adjutant-general for Maryland in 1863-'3. He was elected to congress, and served from 7 Dec, 1863, till 3 March, 1865; and, having distinguished himself as an earnest friend
of the Union, was elected as a republican to the U. S. senate in JMarc-h, 1865, to fill the unexpired term of Thomas H. Hicks. On 23 Feb., 1866, he delivered, at the request of the House of representatives, a memorable eulogy of his friend and colleague, Henry Winter Davis. He was a delegate to the Baltimore convention of 1864, the Philadelphia loyalists' convention of 1866, the Border states convention held in Baltimore in 1867, and the
Chicago republican convention of 1868. In May, 1868, he was elected secretary of the U. S. senate, but declined. On 5 March, 1869, he was appointed by President Grant postmaster-general of the
United States, and served till 3 July, 1874.
CRESWELL, Julia (Pleasants), author, b. in
Huntsville, Ala., 21 Aug., 1827 ; d. near Shreveport,
La., 9 June. 1886. Her father. Col. James J.
Pleasants, of Virginia, removed to Alabama, became secretary of state, and married a daughter
of Gov. Bibb. The daughter was educated by a
superior teacher from the north, and was encouraged by her father to write verses. In 1854 she
married David Creswell, a lawyer and planter, who
was a district judge of Alabama. Her cousin,
Thomas Bibb M. Bradley, a young poet of promise,
who died soon afterward, induced her to publish a
selection of her poems with some of his own. The
volume appeared in 1854, before her marriage, un-
der the title " Apheila, and other Poems, by two
Cousins of the South " (New York). After the war
Mrs. Creswell taught a village-school, while her
husband, who had lost his large estate, resumed the
practice of law. She has published an allegorical
novel entitled "Callamura" (Philadelphia, 1868),
and left many unpublished poems to be issued in a
posthumous volume.
CRETIN, Joseph, R. C. bishop, b. in Lyons,
France, in 1800; d. in St. Paul, Minn., in 1857.
He studied in his native diocese, and became a
priest, with the intention of devoting himself to
the foreign missions. In 1888 he volunteered for
the diocese of Dubuque, and reached that city in
1839. He was appointed vicar-general and pastor
of the cathedral. In 1848 he took up his residence
at Prairie du Chien among the Winnebagoes. He
was requested by them to build a church and
school-house, but was prevented from doing so by
the Indian agent. Father Cretin continued among
the Winnebagoes till 1848, when he was expelled
by the government officials, and the tribe removed
to Long Prairie. He then returned to Dubuque.
In 1849 the seventh council of Baltimore recom-
mended the erection of Minnesota into a diocese,
with the title of St. Paul, and the appointment of
Father Cretin to the new see. He proceeded to
France in order to secure priests for his diocese,
and there received episcopal consecration at tlie
hands of the bishoji of Belley. He returned to
America in 1851, accompanied by several priests,
and began his work at St. Paul. Before the end
of the year he was enabled to substitute a building
of stone for the little log cabin in which he ministered, and to establish a school and seminary. At
this period there was an immense influx of popula-
tion into Minnesota, and Bishop Cretin was soon
organizing Catholic parishes in every direction.
In 1858 the Sisters of St. Joseph were introduced
into the diocese, and placed in charge of an acade-
my for young ladies, and of tiie parochial schools.
Bishop Cretin also erected a hospital, an asylum,
and novitiate, which he confided to their care. He
revived the mission among the Winnebagoes, who
had been removed to Long Prairie. He stationed
a pastor and opened a school among them, which
was managed by the Sisters of St. Joseph. He also
established missions among the Ojibways, and stationed priests and founded churches at Crow Wing,
Mill Lake, Sandy Lake, Saux Rapids, and Fond du
Lac, as well as promoting the flourishing Indian
settlements on the British border. In 1855 he gave
the Brothers of the Holy Family charge of his
schools for boys, and established a novitiate of the
order in St. Paul. He founded a house of the Sisters of the Propagation of the Faith at Pembina
for the instruction of the Indians. Through his
agency a convent of the Benedictine order was
erected at St. Cloud, which has grown into a great
school and abbey. He also founded a convent of
Benedictine nuns. Bishop Cretin did much to develop the resources of Minnesota by the interest he
took in immigration. His letters addressed to intending emigrants, published in the New York
journals, and copied into the newspapers of Europe, had the efl'ect of determining many to settle
in his adopted territory. When he was appointed
bishop, there were in his diocese one log church
and three priests: in a few years there were twenty
priests, twenty-nine churches, and thirty-five sta-
tions, and the Catholic population had increased to
more than 50,000. He built the cathedral of St.
Paul at a cost of $70,000.
CREVAUX, Jules Nicolas, French explorer, b. in Lorquin, Lorraine, 1 April, 1847 ; killed in Bolivia, 24 April, 1883. He studied medicine at Strasburgand in the Naval medical school at Brest,
