My Genealogy Hound

DAVID CRAIG, retired; P. O. Greenville; another of the early pioneers of Darke Co. is the gentleman whose name heads this sketch; born in Montgomery Co., Oct. 5, 1804, and was a son of John Craig, a native of Virginia, who had a hatred to the institution of slavery, and emigrated to Kentucky, then a free State, but upon slavery being admitted as one of its institutions, he came to Montgomery Co., Ohio, where his death occurred in 1812; in the spring of 1816, our subject came to Darke Co., being then 12 years of age, and he and his twin brother contracted and cleared several acres of land in Wayne Township, by which they cleared upward of $1 per day each; at 15 years of age, he went to Butler Co., and learned the blacksmith trade; his skill and reputation in the making of edge tools soon became established, and for three years he found employment at Amanda, most of the time making stonecutter’s tools for the contractors of the Miami Canal; he was a witness to the commencement of the building of the canal, and saw the first dirt thrown out by Gov. Merrill, of Ohio, and Gov. Clinton, of New York; in 1828, he and his twin brother purchased two lots on Main street, Greenville, erected a wagon and blacksmith shop, and carried on the above business in connection with the manufacture of plows and agricultural implements until 1850, when he located upon his farm, two and a half miles south of Greenville, and here he engaged in farming until the spring of 1877, when he disposed of his farm, removed to Greenville, where he has since lived. Mr. Craig has suffered the privations and hardships of frontier life; upon locating here he had to go to Montgomery Co., purchase corn at $1 per bushel, and bring it to Greenville upon horseback; it may be said of him that he is one of the self-made men of Darke Co.; coming here at 12 years of age, he battled against adversity for many years, and now at the advanced age of 75 years is in possession of all his faculties, and has accumulated sufficient property by his hard labor and correct business habits to carry him and his amiable wife through their declining years. Upon the 3d of August, 1834, he was united in marriage with Ruhanah Shanon, who was born in Cumberland Co., Penn., Feb. 17, 1816, and came to Darke Co. with her parents in 1832. They were the parents of three sons and four daughters, viz., Elizabeth A., born Sept. 15, 1835; James M., Nov. 29, 1836, now in Government employ at Washington; Thomas A., born March 2, 1839—died Feb. 22, 1845; Marietta, May 5, 1842; Martha J., Jan. 18, 1844; Phoebe S., Dec. 17, 1845, and David Edgar, June 1, 1852.