From History of Reedsburg and the Upper Baraboo Valley, by Merton Edwin Krug, Publ. February 1929 by the author. Printed by Democrat Printing Company, Madison, Wis., Page 472-473

Zacariah Craker, founder of the Craker family of this community, was a native of England, where his people had long been residents, and his mother, Miss Ann Dickens was a sister of the father of Charles Dicken's father, which made him the Victorian novelist's first cousin. Zacariah Craker grew to manhood in England, and was there married to Rodah Rebecca Barrett, a relative of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, English poetess; the Dickens and Barrett genealogy would give the representatives of this family a very interesting story. In 1931, Mr. Craker brought his bride to Erie, New York, where he remained until 1844. At that time, coming by boat to Racine (it is said that while enroute the children were all taken ill with Scarlet Fever), the family settled in Spring Prairie, Wis., where the mother shortly after died. Mr. Craker took a second wife, in Walworth County, her maiden name being Elizabeth Marcherl, and in 1853 moved to Reedsburg, settling on the farm now owned by Frank Cady, where three years were spent, moving in 1856, to Winfield.

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