Western Pennsylvania Genealogy
Compiled by Douglas H. Lusher


Family Group Record



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Lt. Samuel Craig and Jane Boyd


Husband Lt. Samuel Craig 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 

           Born:  - New Jersey
     Christened: 
           Died: Abt Nov 1777
         Buried: 


         Father: John Craig (1695-1758) 6
         Mother: 


       Marriage: 

   Other Spouse: Elizabeth McDonald (      -      ) 1 5 6 8 - New Jersey

• Additional Information: Jane Maria Craig, Samuel Craig, Senior, Pioneer to Western Pennsylvania, and His Descendants (Greensburg, PA: Privately printed, 1915), Pg 16.
To read more about his life and career, click here.


Wife Jane Boyd 1 3 5 9 

           Born:  - Ireland
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried:

Children
1 M Andrew Craig 1 5 10 

           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Elizabeth Freeman (      -      ) 11

2 M William Craig 1 5 12 

           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Esther McConahy (      -      ) 13

3 F Jane Craig 1 5 14 

           Born: 1767 ?
     Christened: 
           Died: Aug 1833 15
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Peter Wallace (      -1839) 15 16 17
           Marr: Nov 1786 15

4 M Joseph Craig 1 5 19 

            AKA: [Unk] Craig 18
           Born: Abt 1770
     Christened: 
           Died: Abt 1842
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Nancy (Agnes) Moorhead (1777-1835) 18 20

5 F Agnes (Nancy) Craig 1 2 3 5 9 21 22 

           Born: 15 Feb 1773 5 22
     Christened: 
           Died: 30 Jul 1817 22
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Samuel Moorhead (1769-1853) 3 18 21 23 24 25
           Marr: 1792 22

6 F Rebecca Craig 1 5 26 

           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried:  - near Cowansville, Washington Twp, Armstrong Co, PA

         Spouse: Joseph Shields (      -      ) 27

General Notes: Husband - Lt. Samuel Craig


After an interval of about sixty-five years, during which we have no record or tradition of the movements of the Craig family who came to America in 1684, we find the Samuel Craig branch of it in Warren County, New Jersey, at or near Belvidere on the Delaware river. They were there as early as 1753, perhaps earlier. Across the Delaware, a few miles distant, was the "Craig or Irish Settlement" in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, founded in 1728 by Thomas Craig and brothers and sisters. The relationship between these people and Samuel Craig, of Belvidere, is unknown, but they were probably related.
He and his wife were the parents of nine children, among them twin daughters who so closely resembled each other that their own mother could not distinguish one from the other except by having them wear different colored beads.
Of their life in New Jersey little is known. Smallpox entered the family and Mrs. Craig and one of the twin daughters and another child died within the space of three days, and the other twin\emdash Esther\emdash lost the sight of one eye from the disease.

The Craig family is of Scotch extraction, but for a time sojourned in Ireland, from which country her ancestors emigrated to the then British colony of New Jersey in the year 1680. A descendant of this family, Lieut. Samuel Craig, came to what is now Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, in 1769, and purchased a farm. He was the founder of a large family in western Pennsylvania (although it has been found that some of the name settled in Pennsylvania at an earlier date than he did.)
He and his three sons, Capt. John, Alexander and Samuel, all served in the army during the Revolutionary war. He held the rank of lieutenant in the Proctor battalion. It is recorded that in the latter part of 1777 many of the soldiers from western Pennsylvania were sent back to protect the inhabitants of the western frontier and among them was Samuel Craig. He does not appear to have been at home long until he was captured by the Indians, and never reached home again. After his return he was under an order acting commissary, and the duties of his office led him to Fort Ligonier. Before starting it is said he refused a guard, saying "they would think the old man was cowardly," and he never reached Ligonier, as he was taken prisoner at Chestnut Ridge. In a diary kept by Samuel Galbreath at the building of Fort Ligonier is the following entry in reference to a scouting party: "Nov. 3d, 1777. Monday. They likewise found a mare belonging to Samuel Craig who had been going to Ligonier for salt on Saturday, Nov. 1st, 1777. He is supposed to have been taken prisoner as his body could not be found." In the writings of his granddaughter, Mrs. Margaret C. Craig, is the following in reference to his capture: "He was taken prisoner by the Indians at Chestnut Ridge; his beautiful bay mare was found dead perforated by eight bullets. Fragments of paper were found strewn along the path to indicate the direction taken by the Indians. All efforts of his family to ascertain his fate were unavailing." [HAC 1914, 315]

All efforts of his family to ascertain his fate were unavailing, but it was later learned that he was exchanged and died in Philadelphia while on his way home. [EPB 15, 178]

In 1769 Samuel Craig purchased a tract of land on the eastern side of the Loyalhanna, in what was then called the "Derry Settlement," and moved thither with his family. Soon after the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, Samuel Craig and his three sons, John, Alexander, and Samuel, Jr. (all those of the family who were able to bear arms), enlisted in the First Battalion, Westmoreland County Provincials, Samuel Craig, Sr., being lieutenant and color-bearer. In 1776 these soldiers were ordered East and suffered great hardships in that terrible march through an almost trackless wilderness. They participated in a number of hard-fought battles under General Washington, but in the latter part of 1777 many of them were sent back to protect the frontier from the depredations of the Indians and, until the close of the Revolution, served along the Western Border. In July, 1776, Samuel Craig, Sr., was commissioned lieutenant, and after his return to Western Pennsylvania was for some time acting commissary.

He was made second lieutenant in Colonel William Thompson's battalion of riflemen, November, 1775. In July, 1776, he was commissioned lieutenant of Colonel John Proctor's battalion, Westmoreland county militia.

He was of Scotch-Irish descent. He resided for several years in New Jersey, then removed to Franklin County, Pennsylvania, and in 1769 removed to Westmoreland County and settled on a tract of land east of the Loyalhanna, which he purchased from Thomas Burbridge.
His first wife was a Scotch lady, to whom he was married before coming to the United States.
Before his removal to Westmoreland County he married his second wife, who was an Irish lady.

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Sources

1 John W. Jordan, History of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, Genealogical Memoirs, Vol. II (Chicago, IL: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1906), Pg 408.

2 John W. Jordan, History of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, Genealogical Memoirs, Vol. III (Chicago, IL: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1906), Pg 174.

3 Fenwick Y. Hedley, Old and New Westmoreland, Vols. III & IV (New York, NY: The American Historical Society, Inc., 1918), Pg 1082.

4 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of the Allegheny Valley, Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1913), Pg 684.

5 —, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Her People Past and Present (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1914), Pg 315.

6 Thomas Lynch Montgomery, LL.D., Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania Biography, Vol. 15 (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1924), Pg 178.

7 Jane Maria Craig, Samuel Craig, Senior, Pioneer to Western Pennsylvania, and His Descendants (Greensburg, PA: Privately printed, 1915), Pg 14.

8 Jane Maria Craig, Samuel Craig, Senior, Pioneer to Western Pennsylvania, and His Descendants (Greensburg, PA: Privately printed, 1915), Pg 15.

9 Jane Maria Craig, Samuel Craig, Senior, Pioneer to Western Pennsylvania, and His Descendants (Greensburg, PA: Privately printed, 1915), Pg 16.

10 Jane Maria Craig, Samuel Craig, Senior, Pioneer to Western Pennsylvania, and His Descendants (Greensburg, PA: Privately printed, 1915), Pg 16, 95.

11 Jane Maria Craig, Samuel Craig, Senior, Pioneer to Western Pennsylvania, and His Descendants (Greensburg, PA: Privately printed, 1915), Pg 95.

12 Jane Maria Craig, Samuel Craig, Senior, Pioneer to Western Pennsylvania, and His Descendants (Greensburg, PA: Privately printed, 1915), Pg 16, 143.

13 Jane Maria Craig, Samuel Craig, Senior, Pioneer to Western Pennsylvania, and His Descendants (Greensburg, PA: Privately printed, 1915), Pg 143.

14 Jane Maria Craig, Samuel Craig, Senior, Pioneer to Western Pennsylvania, and His Descendants (Greensburg, PA: Privately printed, 1915), Pg 16, 98.

15 Jane Maria Craig, Samuel Craig, Senior, Pioneer to Western Pennsylvania, and His Descendants (Greensburg, PA: Privately printed, 1915), Pg 98.

16 —, History of Indiana County, Pennsylvania (Newark, OH: J. A. Caldwell, 1880), Pg 362.

17 Joseph F. McFarland, 20th Century History of Washington and Washington County, Pennsylvania and Representative Citizens (Chicago, IL: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Co., 1910), Pg 732.

18 William Henry Egle, M.D., M.A., Pennsylvania Genealogies; Chiefly Scotch-Irish and German (Harrisburg, PA: Harrisburg Publishing Co., 1896), Pg 66.

19 Jane Maria Craig, Samuel Craig, Senior, Pioneer to Western Pennsylvania, and His Descendants (Greensburg, PA: Privately printed, 1915), Pg 16, 111.

20 Jane Maria Craig, Samuel Craig, Senior, Pioneer to Western Pennsylvania, and His Descendants (Greensburg, PA: Privately printed, 1915), Pg 111.

21 J. T. Stewart, Indiana County, Pennsylvania - Her People Past and Present (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1913), Pg 841.

22 Jane Maria Craig, Samuel Craig, Senior, Pioneer to Western Pennsylvania, and His Descendants (Greensburg, PA: Privately printed, 1915), Pg 123.

23 —, History of Indiana County, Pennsylvania (Newark, OH: J. A. Caldwell, 1880), Pg 374.

24 Samuel T. Wiley, Biographical and Historical Cyclopedia of Indiana and Armstrong Counties, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia: John M. Gresham & Co., 1891), Pg 204.

25 Jane Maria Craig, Samuel Craig, Senior, Pioneer to Western Pennsylvania, and His Descendants (Greensburg, PA: Privately printed, 1915), Pg 111, 123.

26 Jane Maria Craig, Samuel Craig, Senior, Pioneer to Western Pennsylvania, and His Descendants (Greensburg, PA: Privately printed, 1915), Pg 16, 140.

27 Jane Maria Craig, Samuel Craig, Senior, Pioneer to Western Pennsylvania, and His Descendants (Greensburg, PA: Privately printed, 1915), Pg 140.

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