Augustus Kossuth Cravath was born April 23, 1851, in Chesterville, Ohio.

He moved to San Diego sometime before 1873 and registered to vote there May 28, 1873.

He married Kate Isabelle Sikes, daughter of one of the earliest San Diego Settlers (Zenas and Eliza Sikes), in December 1877 (announced Union December 23, 1877).

In the 1880 census, he was living in the town of Bernardo, then located at the base of Mule Hill.  Bernardo was a small town of about 400.  When Escondido was founded, Bernardo gradually declined and was completely abandoned with the construction of the Lake Hodges dam in 1918.

In 1889, he was reported to be the manager of the Escondido gold mine.

A.K. was on the Board of Directors of the Escondido bank on the corner of Grand and Broadway (now the Jim Crone building) and was the first Mayor of Escondido in 1888.

Cravath became the Assistant Manager of the Escondido Land and Town Co, which operated San Diego Capital, the company that founded Escondido. He remained in that capacity for eight years and may be said to be the “father of Escondido.”

He built the first home and the first business block (at the corner of Grand and ‘Lime’ [now Broadway]) in Escondido.

In 1892, he was appointed Sheriff of San Diego County to serve out the term of John H. Folks who was removed from office.  He did not run for re-election in 1892 as his business activities took most of his time.  In 1894, he made a run for Sheriff, but Frank S. Jennings was elected in that year.

He moved his family to Santa Ana in 1899 and was a popular Deputy Sheriff of Orange County for many years.

He died December 10, 1935, in Santa Ana, California.  He was survived by his wife, Kate Isabella Sikes, six daughters – Bertha Isabell Cravath, Gertrude R Cravath, Arlie C Cravath, Irene Pansy Cravath, Verrian Thelma Cravath, and Muriel Dean Cravath, plus three sons – Howard Augustus Cravath, Clifford Carlton Cravath, and Bert Stiles Cravath.

Son Clifford Carlton Cravath, known as “Gavy”, graduated from Escondido High School and went on to fame in Major League Baseball.  With the Phillies, he led the National League in home runs six times and runs batted in twice.  In 1915, his 24 home runs and 115 RBIs let the Phillies to their first pennant.  When he retired from baseball in 1920, his 119 home runs was the all time record, but was soon broken by Babe Ruth.  Gavy moved to Laguna Beach and became Justice of the Peace, serving 36 years until his death in 1963.