Major Isaac Craig, (immigrant)

Other Events and Attributes:

• Immigration: 1765, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Notes:

Revolutionary War officer, Pittsburgh business and civic leader, born in Hillsborough, Ireland. Craig took part in the capture of the Hessians at Trenton on Christmas night 1776, and fought in the battles of Princeton, Brandywine, and Germantown (all 1777); he wintered at Valley Forge (1777-78). Commanding Fort Pitt, Craig led troops to assist George Rogers Clark in the Detroit expedition (1781). Craig was deputy quartermaster general and military storekeeper of Pittsburgh (1791), led federal troops during the Whiskey Rebellion (1794), and helped prepare munitions during War of 1812.

Isaac Craig, originally from Ireland, and his business partner, Stephen Bayard, purchased all of the ground between Fort Pitt and the Allegheny River from John Penn and his son in 1783.

A Revolutionary War captain who saw action at Brandywine and Germantown and wintered at Valley Forge, Craig came to Fort Pitt in 1781. Eventually, he purchased the site of Fort Pitt and resided in the blockhouse with his family for several years.

After the war, Craig served as deputy quartermaster general and military storekeeper of Pittsburgh and led federal troops in 1794 during the Whiskey Rebellion. In "The History of Pittsburgh: Its Rise and Progress," published in 1906, Craig is credited with filling "many offices of public trust, and took an active part in making and developing his adopted town."

Buried in the grave yard of the First Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh PA (later removed to Allegheny Cemetery). Came to American in 1765, landing near Philadelphia. He was a house carpenter and worked at this trade becoming a master builder which he continued until the breaking our of the Revolution. He enlisted in the navy. In November 1775, he was commissioned lieutenant of marines (probably the first ever appointed in our navy)

In February, 1785, Major Craig married Amelia Neville, the only daughter of John Neville, a native of Virginia, and the colonel of one of the Virginia regiments, who was
then residing at Woodville, about eight miles from Pittsburgh, and about one half-mile south of the new stone Episcopal Church, on the Washington turnpike. He had entered a large body of land there, before the Revolution, while it was supposed to belong to Virginia.

Major Craig had a taste for, and a very respectable knowledge of Mathematics, was an excellent carpenter, and was fond of mechanic art generally, and philosophical experiments; and it was, no doubt, because of this knowledge, and these inclinations, that the American
Philosophical Society, in May, 1787, unexpectedly,
on his part, complimented him by electing him a member.

In September, 1787, an Act was passed by the Legislature, incorporating the Presbyterian Congregation of the town of Pittsburgh. In this Act eleven trustees were named, six of
whom were officers in the Revolutionary army, Major Craig being one. The congregation proceeded immediately to erect a log church on the spot where the beautiful stone edifice is now almost completed; Isaac Craig being one of the building committee, as he was afterwards in the erection of the original brick church around the primitive log building.
(findagrave)

Isaac married Amelia Neavill (Neville) in Feb 1785 in Pennsylvania. Amelia (daughter of General John Neavill (Neville) and Winifred Oldham) was born on 4 Apr 1763 in Winchester, Frederick Co, Virginia; died on 17 Feb 1849 in Pittsburgh, Allegheny Co, Pennsylvania; was buried in Allegheny Cem, Pittsburgh, Allegheny Co, Pennsylvania. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Harriet Craig was born in 1785; died after 1810.
2. Neville B. Craig was born in 1787; died after 1800.
3. Mathilda Craig was born in 1788; died in 1850.
4. Presley Craig was born in 1789; died after 1800.
5. Henry Knox Craig was born in 1791; died after 1800.
6. John Craig was born in 1793; died after 1800.
7. William Craig was born in 1794; died after 1800.