Reuben Craft (abt. 1765 - abt. 1802)

Born about 1765 in Rye, Westchester, New York [uncertain]

Ancestors

Husband of Alithea (Wetmore) Stewart — married before 27 Aug 1787 in New Brunswick

Descendants

Died about 1802 at about age 37 in Hammond River, King's Country, New Brunswick [uncertain]

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Biography

Reuben Craft was born, probably at Rye, New York, ^[1] c1765 (if age 21 at time of marriage); died, probably at Hammond River (later called French Village, now Smithtown), New Brunswick, c1802, and is buried in the Acadian Loyalist Cemetery, French Village, New Brunswick; ^[2] married, c1786 (oldest child born in 1787), Alithea Wetmore. ^[3]

According to land grant records, Reuben was alloted 250 acres in the Hammond River, New Brunswick, area, along with other United Empire Loyalist refugees who had come to New Brunswick in 1783. The land was awarded in 1785; Reuben (brother of John Craft) had also served on the British side during the American Revolution and came to Canada, marrying his sister-in-law's (Susannah Craft) sister Alithea.

Notes of Hebron Elliott Adams (1930-2014), a 4th great grandson of Reuben:^[3]

Reuben Craft and Alithea Wetmore

The entry for Reuben Craft in Appendix VIII of Early Loyalist Saint John^[4] shows that he was unmarried as late as June 1784. I [i.e., Hebron Adams] have not yet found a record of his marriage or of the birth dates of any of his children.

As noted earlier [p. 2], Reuben appears to have spent his first winter in New Brunswick (1783-84) in Carleton, and quite likely his second winter, as well. He was among a number of Loyalists who petitioned Governor Thomas Carleton (who arrived in New Brunswick in November 1784) for grants of ten-acre lots in Parr. I have found no evidence that he was granted land in Parr. Wright^[5] places his initial grant on the Hammond River.^[6]. He seems to have found that land to be inadequate for farming, and he eventually acquired land by purchase.^[5] According to The History of French Village, he and his wife purchased land and settled there "as early as 1786."^[7] Reuben's wife, Alithea Wetmore, was born in Rye, New York, on 19 May 1771, the eleventh child of James and Elizabeth (Abrahams) Wetmore. In 1786, then, she would have been only 15. In Reuben's land grant petition of November 1790,^[5] he stated that he was "now a man of considerable family," which I interpret to mean a wife and at least two or three children. This implies marriage by 1788, if not necessarily as early as 1786.

Reuben's 1790 petition was written from Hammond River (French Village, now Smithtown, is on the Hammond River); another locality, near the Hammond's junction with the Kennebecasis River, is called "Hammond River" now, and may have had the same name in Loyalist times. In the absence of evidence that Reuben and Alithea lived elsewhere after 1790, I consider them to have been Kings County residents.

As stated earlier, the Wetmore genealogy lists six children for Reuben and Alithea -- Jerusha, James, John, Charity, William, and Reuben.^[8] After Reuben's death, apparently early in the first decade of the 1800s, Alithea married Walter Sherwood, by whom she had six more children -- James 2nd, Charles, Elizabeth, Deborah, Esther, and Jane. Alithea died, 23 July 1834, in her 64th year.

Sources

1. ↑ Crafts, James M., and Crafts, William M., The Crafts Family, A Genealogical and Biographical History of the Descendants of Griffin and Alice Crafts of Roxbury, Mass., 1630-1890 (Gazette Publishing Company, Northampton, Massachusetts, 1893, 803 pages), pp. 703-704. Cit. Date: 4 Aug 2022.
2. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (accessed 11 July 2021), memorial page for Reuben Craft (unknown–unknown), Find A Grave: Memorial #180415325, citing Acadian Loyalist Cemetery, French Village, Kings County, New Brunswick, Canada ; Maintained by Daphne (contributor 48574975).
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Adams, Hebron E., The Craft Family of New York, New Brunswick, and Maine (Typescript, self-published, Reston, Virginia, Feb 1987. Photocopy in the library of David James; additional copies archived at Maine Historical Society, Portland, Maine; Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick; New Brunswick Museum, Saint John, New Brunswick; Kings County Museum, Hampton, New Brunswick; Calais Free Library, Calais, Maine), pp. 4-5. Cit. Date: 11 Jul 2021.
4. ↑ Bell, David. Early Loyalist Saint John : the Origin of New Brunswick Politics, 1783-1786 (Fredericton, N.B: New Ireland Press, 1983).
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2} Wright, Esther Clark, The Loyalists of New Brunswick. United States (E. C. Wright, 1955), Appendix 2, Item 4.
6. ↑ Index to New Brunswick Land Grants, 1784 - 1997 (RS686), Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, Craft, Reuben
7. ↑ Beyea, Andrew Sherwood, The History of French Village (manuscript at the Archives and Research Library of the New Brunswick Museum, Saint John, New Brunswick, 1924; transcribed by David Horgan, 2001, 105 pages, with index. PDF in the library of David James), p. 69. Cit. Date: 11 Jul 2021.
8. ↑ Wetmore, James Carnahan, The Wetmore Family of America, and Its Collateral Branches: With Genealogical, Biographical and Historical Notices (Munsell & Rowland, Albany, New York, 1861, 670 pages), p. 225. Cit. Date: 16 Dec 2019.