Isaac Craig (1742 - 1826)

Born 1742 in Hillsborough, County Down, Ireland

Descendants

Died 14 May 1826 at about age 84 in Montours Island, Pennsylvania, United States

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Biography

Major Isaac Craig served with 4th Continental Artillery Regiment (1779), Continental Army during the American Revolution.

Isaac Craig is a DAR Patriot Ancestor, A027219.

From Genealogical and Personal History of Western Pennsylvania:

Harriet was a daughter of Major Isaac and Amelia (Neville) Craig, her mother a daughter of General John and Winifred (Conway) Neville and a sister of General Presley Neville, who served on General Lafayette's staff during the war of the Revolution.

He married, March 28, 1809, Harriet, daughter of Major Isaac and Amelia (Neville) Craig, the former an officer in the Continental army, and the latter the daughter of General John Neville, of Virginia, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, also of Revolutionary fame.

From History of Pittsburgh and Environs:

Major Isaac Craig was born in Hillsborough, County Down, Ireland, about the year 1742, and came to Phil­adelphia about the close of the year 1765.

Having married in February, 1785, Amelia Neville, daughter of General John Neville...

In 1815 he removed to a valuable farm in­herited by his wife on Montour's Is land in the Ohio river, nine miles below Pittsburgh, where he passed his latter days in comfort, dying June 14, 1826, at the age of eight-four years old.

Major Craig had two brothers and one sister in America, all of whom he survived. His brother, James Craig, a Philadelphia merchant, died there Aug. 20, 1798, of yellow fever, and John and Jane died in New York. Major Craig married, Feb. 1, 1785, Amelia Neville, born in Winchester, VA, April 4, 1763, daughter of General John and Winifred (Oldham) Neville.

Neville B. Craig, son of Major Isaac and Amelia (Neville) Craig,...

Biographical Sketch

Major Isaac Craig (1742-1826) was a notable figure in the United States Army. Additionally, one of the first men to purchase land from the Penn family and establish residence in Pittsburgh. He came from County Downe, Ireland and settled in Philadelphia in 1765. He worked as a journeyman and master carpenter until 1775 when he enlisted in the American army to fight the British for independence. He became Senior First Lieutenant of Marines in the Navy in 1775. While serving under Commander Hopkins on the Andrew Doria, he was present at the capturing of Fort Nassua and Fort Montagu in the West Indies. In 1762 he was promoted to the Captaincy of Marines. In that capacity, Craig participated in the Battles of Trenton and Princeton. The pinnacle of his military career came on March 3, 1777 when he became the Captain in the Regiment of Artillery. In 1780 he was ordered to Fort Pitt where he was in charge of artillery and ammunition supply to regiments of the American army. In October 1781 Craig was promoted to Major in the Fourth Regiment of Artillery. Daughters of the American Revolution, DAR Genealogical Research Databases, database online, (http://www.dar.org/ : accessed 2022-08-22), "Record of Isaac Craig", Ancestor # A027219. ^[1]

At the completion of the war Major Craig, along with Lieutenant Stephen Bayard, purchased land from the Penn family. Craig purchased a little more than three hundred acres on the west side of the Monongahela River. In February 1785 Major Craig married Amelia Neville. Amelia was the only daughter to John Neville, a native of Virginia and Commander of the Fourth Virginia Regiment in the American Revolution.

A short time later Major Craig was offered the position of Deputy Quarter Master General and Keeper of Military Stores. His duties incorporated the areas from Lake Erie to Fort Adams on the Mississippi River. Along with his duties as Deputy Quarter Master, Major Craig also aided in the construction of Forts Fayette, Erie, Le Bouef, and Wheeling. He held this post during the administrations of George Washington, John Adams, and, for a short time, Thomas Jefferson. Additional services in the military were the construction of two vessels to be used against the Spanish, allies of France, during the French Revolution, and the preparation of military stores for the army during the War of 1812. At the conclusion of the war Major Craig retired from military service. He moved to Montour Island (possibly Neville Island of today) where he lived until his death in 1826.

Major Isaac Craig and Amelia had ten children. Most notable of the children were Neville B. Craig (b. 1787) once editor of the Pittsburgh Gazette; Presley Hamilton Craig, Surgeon in the United States Army during the War of 1812 and the Mexican-American War; and, Henry Knox Craig (1791-1869), Lieutenant and chief Ordinance officer during the War of 1812 and the Mexican-American War.

Sources

1. ↑ Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army During the War of the Revolution

• Jordan, John W. Genealogical and Personal History of Western Pennsylvania (Lewis Historical Pub. Co., New York, 1915, Vol. 1: p. 25-28; Vol. 2: p. 953-55)
• Cushing, Thomas. History of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania (A. Warner & Co., Chicago, 1889, Part 2: p. 431)
• Find A Grave: Memorial #75729950
• https://historicpittsburgh.org/islandora/object/pitt%3AUS-QQS-MSS56/viewer
• Northwestern Historical Association. Memoirs of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania (Northwest Historical Association., Madison, Wisconsin, 1904, Vol. 1, p. 355-357)
• Fleming, George T. History of Pittsburgh and Environs (The American Historical Society, New York and Chicago, 1922, Vol. 4, p. 115-119)
• Daughters of the American Revolution, DAR Genealogical Research Databases, database online, (http://www.dar.org/ : accessed 2022-08-22), "Record of Isaac Craig", Ancestor # A027219.
• Heitman, Francis Bernard. Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army During the War of the Revolution (W.H. Lowdermilk & Co., Washington, DC, 1893); p. 15, p. 175