Craig Brother and Sister in Pittsburgh

Agnes Craig Clark, great-granddaughter (311)

Joseph Huston Craig, great-grandson (312)

 Joseph Huston Craig[i]

Agnes and Joseph shared more than being the two oldest children of John Smilie Craig (31).  Agnes was married to Samuel M. Clark.  Samuel and Joseph were both carpenters.

The first U.S. Census to record the names of all the residences of a household was 1850 and Joseph and Samuel were found boarding at a home in East Birmingham, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.  Birmingham, East Birmingham, South Pittsburgh and Ormsby, all small municipalities on the south side of the Monongahela River, were merged in 1872 into the City of Pittsburgh; it is the area now known as Pittsburgh’s South Side.  If you have seen pictures of or even ridden on the Pittsburgh Inclines, that is the area we are dealing with.

September 4, 1850, the census enumerator recorded

Joseph and brother-in-law, Samuel, living in the residence of John Jackson.[ii]

There are two 1850 census records for Samuel Clark in East Birmingham.  One on September 4 boarding at the Jackson residence with Joseph Craig.  A second record on September 9 records a family of four people.

The only census record of Agnes[iii]

This second census record is one of those pieces of history to really muck things up.  The person who gave the information to the census enumerator either was not a member of the household or it is not our family.  I believe it is the former rather than the latter for several reasons.

·       I have not been able to find this 1850 family – Samuel, Agnes, Amelia, John - in the 1860 census.

o   Agnes dies in 1854, so she is not going to be in the 1860 census

o   I can not find a 1860 family with a Samuel Clark having children Amelia and John.

o   I do find a 1860 family with a Samuel Clark having children Rebecca and John (plus a new wife and an additional two children).

·       If the adult male or female of the household were giving the information they would most likely know where the male was born.

·       If its someone outside of the household giving the information, what information are they most likely to get correct?; the names and the birth of the baby male child

·       If it is our family, the informant does not know the correct name of the three year old female child.  And there would be a reason for that, because the three year old female child is often living with Agnes’s parents in Union Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania.  If the 1850 East Birmingham census had a 3 year old female named Rebecca instead of Amelia, the names would match.

·       The seven/twelfth year old male child, John, would be John Huston Clark, born 24 September 1849. The age in the 1850 census is supposed to be given as the person’s age on 1 June 1850. 

o   A neighbor who is the informant for the census enumerator would know that the child was born in Pennsylvania, but the non-exactness of the age is understandable.

o   I can not find another John Clark born in Pennsylvania in 1849 +/- with a parent named Samuel or Agnes that appears in the 1860 census other than our John with his father, step-mother and correct siblings.

John and Jane Craig household 1850 Census

Children Agnes and Joseph not listed

Rebecca Jane Clark enumerated at the home of her Grandfather[iv]

Agnes Craig Clark died 25 April 1854.  She was the oldest child of John and Jane Springer Craig, born 13 November 1822.  Agnes had four sisters, none of whom married.  She was the mother to three children:

          Rebecca Jane Clark (3111) born

          John Huston Clark (3112)

          William Ormsby Clark (3113)

Agnes is buried in Oak Grove Cemetery

South Union, Fayette, Pennsylvania[v]

  

Pittsburgh City Directories

The University of Pittsburgh and a large number of western Pennsylvania historical organizations maintain a website “Historic Pittsburgh” http://digital.library.pitt.edu/pittsburgh/  which includes a number of city directories.  Beginning in 1856 the directories start including information about residents of the south side municipalities.

1856-1857 Pittsburgh and vicinity City Directory, page 250[vi]

The city directories only show the names of the men unless the head of household is a woman.  Agnes would have been deceased when the 1856-1857 City Directory would have been published.  Samuel’s second wife, Harriet Semans, would have been a part of the household about the time of the 1856-1857 city directory; their first son Thomas was born 30 May 1858. Joseph was married in 1852.

                                                                         

Year	Samuel M. Clark	Joseph Huston Craig
1850 census	East Birmingham	East Birmingham
1856 Pgh CD	es Ormsby bt Water and Vingin ay, B	ws Harmony, bt Neville & Bingham
1857 Pgh CD	cor Bingham and Craig, B	h Harmony n Bingham
1858 Pgh CD	-	h and s Harmony, EB
1859 Pgh CD	-	of Snyder & Co., Harmony bel Carson, B
1860 census	Uniontown	Birmingham
1861 Pgh CD	Bingham n Craig, B	-
1862 Pgh CD	Bingham n McKee, B	-
1863 Pgh CD	Bingham n McKee, B	-
1863 Draft Registration	Uniontown	North Union
1864 Pgh CD	Bingham n McKee, B	-
1865 Pgh CD	McKee, B	-
1866 Pgh CD	Bingham n Craig, B	-
1870 census	Uniontown	North Union

It is difficult to tell where the more permanent residence was located, but depending on the year it would appear from the data available that Samuel Clark and Joseph Craig maintained some semblance of a residence in both locations.

1872 Map of Birmingham, Allegheny County, PA[vii]

I don’t know where Samuel’s Uniontown home was located.  Joseph Craig built a brick home on present day Craig Lane in North Union Township off of Coolspring Street.

Joseph Huston Craig’s House

Craig Lane, North Union Township

Catherine Craig (31232) standing in doorway

1968[viii]

In 2013 I was contacted by a collector of antique tools inquiring about Joseph Huston Craig.  He had found Joseph’s carpenter’s tools at White Horse Mill Antiques, White Horse, Lancaster County, PA and has since restored them.  There was a tag on the chest identifying that the chest came from a sale of Buck Craig’s [Walter Tennehill Craig (312314)] things and had belonged to Joseph Craig; “ a stamp "J H Craig" which he applied liberally to both the chest and his tools.”  I very much appreciate the photos of the restored chest and tools that have been provided.[ix]

 Joseph Huston Craig's carpenter's tool chest

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[i] photo of original taken by Edward Black

[ii] Seventh Census of the United States, 1850, East Birmingham, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, page 39(a) stamped 27 penned; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M432, 1009 rolls); Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29; National Archives, Washington, D.C.  Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009.  Retrieved from Ancestry 28 June 2014

[iii] ibid, page (44b stamped) 38 penned Retrieved from Ancestry 28 June 2014

[iv] ibid, Union Township, Fayette, Pennsylvania, page 139 stamped, retrieved from Ancestry 12 Dec 2011

[v] headstone photo © 2009 Jack McNees, all rights reserved, used with permission

[vi] Thurston, George H., Directory of Pittsburgh & vicinity for 1856-1857

Pittsburgh, Pa: 1856-1857, Historic Pittsburgh City Directories,http://digital.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/t/text/text-idx?c=pitttextdir;page=browse;key=date

[vii] G. M. Hopkins & Co., 1872 Atlas of the cities of Pittsburgh, Allegheny : and the adjoining boroughs, from actual surveys & official records, Plate 104, Historic Pittsburgh Map Collection, http://digital.library.pitt.edu/maps/

[viii] photo by Edward Black

[ix] photo of chest and tools, by JE, 2014, used with permission

Meet the Cousins

I think it was the summer of 2007 when my wife and I drove down to Alexandria, Louisiana and joined several of the cousins at the home of Steve Carter (21B2723).  Steve and I had met at the 1987 Smilie family reunion in Peoria.  It was at Steve’s home that I met Jim Smilie (186431) with whom I had been communicating for a number of years.

This year, Jim’s son Michael (1864312) earned his Eagle Scout rank.  Cousin Dal Smilie (186411), also an Eagle Scout, traveled to Alexandria, Louisiana, from Montana for Michael’s presentation.

Three Eagle Scouts, March 14, 2015

Michael, Jim and Dal Smilie

Jim Smilie Family Photo, used with permission

Michael Smilie’s last game, Holy Savior Menard baseball team,

with proud parents Becky and Jim Smilie

Jim Smilie Family Photo, used with permission

Jim Smilie wrote a personal article about the memories and meaning of the Fourth of July.

http://www.thetowntalk.com/story/opinion/2015/07/04/jim-smilie-evolution-one-celebration-july/29672987/

It was that same summer that we drove to Lincoln, Nebraska, and met Keith Jacobshagen (1712111), and his wife, Paula Day.  Keith was still teaching at the University of Nebraska at that time.  When I contacted him prior to our trip Keith did not know anything about his large family of Smilie relations; he only knew one second cousin.  Last year Keith had the honor of having one of his paintings acquired by the Smithsonian.

Paula & Keith

photo by Larry Ferguson,

 Larry Ferguson Studio,

 Omaha, NE, Dec 2005, 

used with permission

Keith Jacobshagen’s 2014 Smithsonian painting honor.

http://journalstar.com/entertainment/visual-art/l-kent-wolgamott-jacobshagen-painting-to-smithsonian/article_d5bbcf6f-922b-573d-acca-9f0902a56d74.html

Huffington Post did a nice article about Keith’s 2011 expo.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-seed/keith-jacobshagen_b_858376.html

Keith Jacobshagen Interview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXt6K7b9DYk

Paula did a short video of Keith painting in the Studio

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFGM3phyz20

Pennsylvania’s Revolution

Pennsylvania had been created in 1681 by a charter given to William Penn by King Charles II. This gave Penn and his descendants ‘Proprietorship’ or ownership of the government and all of the land of the colony, which they sold to the arriving settlers.  There was an elected Assembly but as the colony grew in numbers and westward expansion, and diversity of nationalities and religion, the membership never accomplished what we would call ‘reapportionment’.

This resulted in an Assembly dominated by Quakers and Philadelphia interests which, while it had sent delegates to the Second Continental Congress, had instructed those delegates not to support rebellion.

When the Proprietary Assembly meeting in the Pennsylvania State House concluded its business on June 14, 1776, it intended to return on August 26.  It never did.

An assortment of groups throughout the colonies, known as ‘committees of correspondence’, ‘committees of safety’, or the Sons of Liberty maintained organized opposition to oppressive British measures.

Our John Smilie was elected by Drumore Township to the Lancaster County Committee of Correspondence in 1775.

Carpenters Hall, Philadelphia, about 1 ½ block east of the Pennsylvania State House (Independence Hall), was the meeting place of the Pennsylvania Provincial Conference, June 18 – 25, 1776

The committees of Pennsylvania assembled at Carpenters Hall, Philadelphia, June 18, 1776 and remained in session until the 25^th.  John was one of the delegates from Lancaster County.

Some of the results of the meeting:

·       Declared the Proprietary government ended

·       Instructed Pennsylvania’s delegates to the Second Continental Congress to support independence

·       Set about forming a new state constitution

·       Began raising 6,000 men for the Continental Army 

The following links give detail to the event:

http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/documents_from_1776_-_1865/20424/pa_constitution_of_1776/998585

PA Museum Commission

http://www.ushistory.org/pennsylvania/birth3.html

Independence Hall Association/USHistory.org

https://journals.psu.edu/pmhb/article/viewFile/28325/28081

Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, vol.58, issue 4, October, 1934

http://articles.philly.com/1989-06-24/news/26105130_1_birthday-colonies-pennsylvania-charter

Edgar Williams/Philadelphia Inquirer

disclosure:  Edgar Williams (1919 – 1999), the senior writer at the Philadelphia Inquirer when he retired in January 1989, continued to write a weekly column and special interest pieces until his death.  He was Edward Black's father-in-law.

Header: left, Carpenters Hall, Philadelphia, photo by Davidt8, via Wikimedia Commons

center, Congress Hall, Philadelphia, House of Representatives Chamber, National Park Service photo

right, Grave of John Smilie, Congressional Cemetery, Washington, DC, photo by Robert C. Keller

Family Numbering System appearing in Smilie Chatter

The Henry System

Much of the beginning material of Smilie Chatter will center on John Smilie (1741-1812).  Soon though, I’ll be randomly telling stories about members of the family in the many branches of the family.  You need to be able to follow where the person fits in the family.

The Henry numbering system has always been my choice for numbering descendants.  It is simple and direct.  First born is number 1, second born is 2.  When you exceed 9 children, number 10 becomes ‘A’, number 11 becomes ‘B’, etc.

Although I don’t have birth dates for John Smilie’s daughters, we do have a birth date for his son Robert, 6 July 1767.  Women generally married at younger ages than the men and Mary's children were older than her sister Jane's, so I have worked under the premise that Robert was the first born, Mary was second born, and Jane was the third child.

The three children of John Smilie get numbered:

          1       Robert Porter Smilie

          2       Mary Smilie

          3       Jane Smilie

The grandchildren of John Smilie get numbered:

          1       Robert Porter Smilie

                   + Mary Ann Beatty

              11    John Smilie

              12    William Smilie

              13     Robert Porter Smilie

              14     Mary Ann ‘Polly’ Smilie

              15     James P. Smilie
              16     baby boy Smilie

              17     Jane Smilie

              18     David Porter Smilie

              19     Isaiah Marshall Smilie

          2       Mary Smilie

                   + Joseph Huston

              21     Jane Huston

              22     Sarah Huston

          3       Jane Smilie

                   + William Craig

              31     John Smilie Craig

The number tells you something about the subject’s number; for example my number is 3151123.

3                 third child  Jane Smilie, daughter

31               first child   John Smilie Craig, grandson

315             fifth child   William Craig, great grandson

3151           first child   Mary Elizabeth Craig, 2^nd great granddaughter

31511         first child   Harry Russell Rankin, 3^rd great grandson

315112       second child  Clara Mae Rankin, 4^th great granddaughter

3151123     third child  Edward Black, 5^th great grandson

Counting the number of units tells you how many generations I am from John Smilie.  If you know your number you can calculate the relationship to another member of the family.  Wayne Feaster, the first president of the John and Jane Porter Smilie Family Association, was 21B3B

2                 second child        Mary Smilie, daughter

21               first child   Jane Huston, granddaughter

21B            eleventh child     Sarah Bryson Marshall, great granddaughter

21B3          third child  William Bryson Feaster, 2^nd great grandson

21B3B        eleventh child     Wayne Feaster, 3^rd great grandson

Comparing our numbers the relationship can be described.

2                 sisters/siblings              3

21               cousins                         31

21B            second cousins             315

21B3          third cousins                 3151

21B3B        fourth cousins              31511

                   (once removed)            315112

                   (twice removed            3151123

Wayne and I were fourth cousins twice removed.

John’s Political Life – Overview 1776 to 1790

Pennsylvania’s Constitution of 1776

This is an outline of John Smilie’s political activity from 1776 to 1790.  This time period covers the life of Pennsylvania’s first Constitution, the Constitution of 1776.

In 1776, Pennsylvania adopted a new constitution that has been described as the most democratic in America.  …the authors crafted a document that proclaimed in detail the rights of citizens and expanded the voting franchise to all tax paying free men. Power resided in a unicameral legislature whose members were elected to one-year terms. Government was to be administered by a twelve-member Supreme Executive Council. The Assembly and Council together would elect one of these men to be President (a position largely controlled by the Council). A Council of Censors was created whose members were to be elected every seven years to conduct, for a year, an evaluation of the activities of the government and to "censure" those actions that were deemed to have violated the new constitution. Any changes to the constitution could only be made through this Council of Censors.[i]

The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission website, http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/documents_from_1776_-_1865/20424/pa_constitution_of_1776/998585 presents a concise overview of the context and content of the Constitution.  I would point out a feature of the Constitution that they fail to emphasize.  The Constitution of 1776 begins by enumerating the rights of the citizens … and then creates a government to protect those rights.  This sets the context for John’s future opposition in 1787 to the proposed Federal Constitution which lacked any statement on the rights of citizens and subsequently had to be amended to contain a Bill of Rights.

1776	A delegate from Lancaster County to the Provincial Conference of Committees of the Province of Pennsylvania, 18 June 1776 to 25 June 1776, Carpenters Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, British America[ii]
1777
1778		19 October 1778 Lancaster County elects John Smilie to the Pennsylvania Assembly[iii]
1779		14 October 1779 Lancaster County elects John Smilie to the Pennsylvania Assembly[iv]
1780
1781
1782
1783			14 October 1783 Westmoreland County elects John Smilie to the Council of Censors[v]
1784		12 October 1784 Fayette County elects John Smilie to the Pennsylvania Assembly[vi]
1785		* Oct 1785 Fayette County elects John Smilie to the Pennsylvania Assembly[vii]
1786
1787	John Smilie was a delegate to Pennsylvania's Ratifying Convention of the Federal Constitution between 21 Nov and 12 Dec 1787 [viii]			2nd Tue Oct 1786 Fayette County elects John Smilie to the Supreme Executive Council for a three year term                                2 Nov 1786–19 Nov 1789[ix]
1788
1789	John Smilie was a delegate to Pennsylvania's Constitutional Convention 24 Nov 1789 to 2 Sep 1790[x]
1790

The Constitution of 1776 was birthed as a result of the June 1776 conference at Carpenter’s Hall.  The Pennsylvania Constitution had three elected bodies, the Assembly, the Supreme Executive Council, and the Council of Censors.  John was elected to each of these deliberative bodies. 

The Radicals that fermented the Revolution and formed the 1776 Constitution became known as the ‘Contitutionalists’. The waning years of the Revolution tempered the radical enthusiasm of the populace and the weak national government under the Articles of Confederation brought political energy for change in national and state governments.  The Contitutionalists struggled to maintain support while the ‘Republicans’ made electoral gains.

Political labels were fluid, but generally John would have been identified with the Constitutionalists, Anti-Federalist, and Jeffersonian Republicans, depending on the era.

Early in John’s political career he moved from Drumore Township in Lancaster County to Tyrone Township.  When John moved to Tyrone Township it was in Westmoreland County, but Tyrone Township became part of Fayette County in February of 1784.

All the while Philadelphia was Pennsylvania’s capital city, and other than the period that Philadelphia was occupied by British forces during the war, John would have traveled to and lived in Philadelphia while serving in his several capacities.  The Pennsylvania State House was the seat of government for the state and the Continental Congress.  The state government moved upstairs to host the Continental Congress until the Articles of Confederation moved the national government to New York.

John Smilie traveled almost the full length of Pennsylvania to attend sessions.

Travel from Tyrone Township to Philadelphia would have taken three to four weeks.

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[i] Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Pennsylvania Constitution September 28, 1776 http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/documents_from_1776_-_1865/20424/pa_constitution_of_1776/998585

[ii] Pennsylvania, Conventions, Provincial Conference of Committees of the Province of Pennsylvania, 1776, transcribed proceedings, UShistory.org, (http://www.ushistory.org/pennsylvania/birth3.html#page4) original Historical Society of Pennsylvania

[iii] Pennsylvania, Published Archives Series, 1664–1902 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Original data: Pennsylvania Archives. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 1778 October 19 Lancaster County Elections, Series Six, Vol 11, page 219

[iv] Pennsylvania, Published Archives Series, 1664–1902 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Original data: Pennsylvania Archives. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 1779 October 14 Lancaster County Elections, Series Six, Vol 11, page 220

[v] Pennsylvania, Published Archives Series, 1664–1902 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Original data: Pennsylvania Archives. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 1783 October 14 Westmoreland County Elections, Series Six, Vol 11, page 406

[vi] Pennsylvania, Published Archives Series, 1664–1902 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Original data: Pennsylvania Archives. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 1784 October 12 Fayette County Elections, Series Six, Vol 11, page 193

[vii] Oct 1785 election returns from Fayette County to the Supreme Executive Council do not report who was elected to the Assembly, but 1785-86 Assembly proceedings indicate John Smilie was a member

[viii] Pennsylvania, Conventions, The Debates in the Convention of the State of Pennsylvania, Thomas Lloyd, recorder, 1788, retrieved 21 April 2015, archive.org  (https://archive.org/stream/debatesofconvent01penn#page/n1/mode/2up), p.24

[ix] Pennsylvania, Published Archives Series, 1664–1902 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Original data: Pennsylvania Archives. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, John Smilie elected Councilor, Fayette, 2nd Tue 1786, Series 6, Vol 11, p 194

[x] Pennsylvania, Conventions, Minutes of the Grand Committee of the Whole Convention of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, images, archive.org (https://archive.org/stream/minutesofgrandco00penn#page/n5/mode/2up), John Smilie, p5