He is Whitewater's first historian. For many years he was the foremost citizen of Whitewater. In 1840, he surveyed and platted the village for James Trippe, the original proprietor of the town site. Using Trippe's Mill as the town center, he laid streets that radiated from it like the spokes of a wheel. Cravath practiced law, was a member of the first state legislature in 1848, held various local offices, and was Whitewater's postmaster from 1872 to 1880. He wrote historical sketches of Whitewater in 1858 that were published in the Whitewater Register, sketches which, after the beginning of the 1900s, became part of the book Early Annals of Whitewater. In the "Introductory" to that book, he wrote, "In offering for publication...this accounting of the settlement of our village...I have been led to make these communications that those who come among us at a later date may know what has been done by these noblemen who first pitched their tents in these then wilderness...and may know them for what they were, a band of energetic, noble, strong-hearted men and women, ever ready to go to work for public as well as private good." (Fred Kraege, Whitewater)