Correcting the Record

Robert Morris Financier of the American Revolution

page 409

     Charles Rappleye in his biography of Robert Morris devotes a chapter to the debate concerning the charter of the Bank of North America.  John Smilie was a vehement opponent of the bank.  The debate was acurately portrayed.  But Rappleye did not thoroughly examine the results of the October 1786 elections when he made the statement on page 409, "while Whitehill returned, John Smilie lost his seat".

     John Smilie did not return to the Assembly in November 1783, but not because he lost his seat; he was not a candidate for the Assembly.  John was a candidate for the Supreme Executive Council and was elected.

Pennsylvania, Published Archives Series, 1664–1902 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Original data: Pennsylvania Archives. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, retrieved 20 April 2015, John Smilie elected Councilor, Fayette, 2nd Tue October1786, Series 6, Vol 11, p 194

     Pennsylvania did not have a Governor under its Constitution of 1776, but a plural Executive branch, with all of Pennsylvania's counties plus the city of Philadelphia each electing one Councilor to the Supreme Executive Council.

     Benjamin Franklin, Philadelphia's Councilor, was the President of the Supreme Executive Council during John Smilie's three year term.

April 18, 1787, Pay Order for John Smilie's service on Pennsylvania's Supreme Executive Council from November 2, 1786, through April 18, 1787, issued by Benjamin Franklin

This Pay Order originally appeared in the August 1989 issue of Smilie Chatter and was used with permission of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania

 Correcting the Record

Irish Immigrants in the Land of Canaan 

page 91

    

The authors of Irish Immigrants in the Land of Canaan may be experts on Irish immigration, but they have not delved deeply into where our ancestor settled. On page 91 they tell you that John Smilie settled in what is now Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. John's 1762 letter to his father identifies his location as "Fishing-Creek on Susquehanna". There are at least four tributaries that flow into the Susquehanna River that are named 'Fishing Creek' found in present day Columbia, Dauphin, Lancaster, and Perry Counties.

John Smilie's 'Fishing Creek' was in Drumore Township, which, in 1762, in 1785, and today, is in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. In 1785 when Dauphin County was created out of Lancaster County, Drumore Township remained in southern Lancaster County.

US Census, Ruhrfisch, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons

John's letter to his father documents his arrival in New Castle, Delaware in September 1762 and he is writing from Fishing-Creek on Susquehanna, Drumore Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The tax records of Drumore Township chronicle John's presence.

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS7W-M3NC-F

John immediately appears in the 1763 Drumore Twp tax list as a Freeman

            The Lancaster County, Drumore Township, tax record collection at FamilySearch has gaps and the next record is in 1769.

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS7W-M3FB-Q

1769

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS7W-M3FP-3

1770

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS7W-M3N7-1

1771

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS7W-M3FJ-N

1772

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS7W-M3F2-S

1773

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS7W-M3F6-M

1775

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS7W-M3FQ-L

1778

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS7W-M3XV-F

1779

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS7W-M3XJ-D

1780

      The 1780 tax list contains the note "300 Acres of Land in Westmoreland County".  After 1780 John Smilie no longer appears in the Drumore Township tax records.

Craig Homes 1872
Uniontown, Pennsylvania

The 1872 Atlas of the County of Fayette and the State of Pennsylvania, by G.M. Hopkins & Co., Philadelphia, shows four Craig homes associated with our family.

The home of John Smilie Craig, grandson of John Smilie, is marked with the star in the upper left of the map.  My grandparents' generation (pre-1900) still spoke of the house, but I don't know when it disappeared.

Three red arrows point to the homes of three of the sons of John Smilie Craig.

• Joseph Huston Craig  1824 - 1907
• Joseph Huston Craig being named for the husband of John Smilie's daughter Mary Smilie
• William Craig  1831 - 1903
• William Craig being the name of his grandfather, William Craig, husband of Jane Smilie
• Robert Porter Craig  1836 - 1899
• Robert Porter Craig being named for John Smilie's only son, Robert Porter Smilie

The home of Joseph Huston Craig previously appeared in the August 15, 2015 post here in the Smilie Chatter.  This is the house pointed at by the red arrow on the right (east) side of Uniontown and marked as "J. H. Craig".  To my knowledge, it is still standing and is occupied.

The home of William Craig on the map is at the top near the home of "Jno S. Craig"  The red arrow points to a house on the east side of the road.  The map identifies this house as one of several properties belonging to "G. Crossland", which was Greenbury Crossland, the father-in-law of William Craig.

This photo of the house with William Craig at the gate includes his wife, Emily Crossland, and William's younger daughter, Sarah (Sallie).  The young man on the wagon is Sallie's future husband, Rush Morris.  Sallie was to live her entire life in this house.  Sallie died before I was born but I knew her husband and her children.

The house had several major changes over the years.  This would have been about 1915 when Rush and Sallie Craig Morris were raising their children here.

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania took this property by eminent domain to build the present-day interchange of US 119 and PA51 which was completed in 1971.

These are pictures of the house just prior to its demolition.

Below is the Living Room fireplace

Above is the basement fireplace of the William Craig house.

The home of Robert Porter Craig was at 367 Morgantown Street, Uniontown, which is the bottom (most southern) red arrow on the 1872 map.  He commonly went by Porter Craig.