This is the story of Mary Craig, the grandmother of John Craig Hunt, and the journey that brought her to the Ohio Country in 1788 when she and her husband, James Carpenter, were caught up in the excitement over emigration to Ohio. Her life story is one of courage and conviction. First, a look at her life leading up to the frontier of Southwestern Ohio.
John Craig, his wife, and their eldest child, Jane, set sail from Scotland. Their second child, Mary Craig, was born circa 1765 on the voyage to America. The family settled in New York, and a son, John Craig, was born. Mary’s father died not long after their arrival.
Mary’s mother worried about her family’s safety as the British began the seven year occupation of New York City. She renewed her acquaintance with a gentleman she had known in Scotland, who was now an officer in the British Navy or the British Army. She and Alexander Fergeson were married.
Ten year old Mary sided with the Patriots and moved to the home of Dr. Halstead in Elizabethtown, New Jersey. Mary assisted Dr. Halstead as the wounded soldiers were brought to his house, which served as a hospital. Mary bravely protected property in Elizabethtown from the British and once had a sword drawn on her. She stood her ground, trusting that her young age would protect her.
Mary witnessed General George Washington marching to New York and strewed flowers on the road as he passed by.
Mary’s sister married an Englishman and moved to England. Mary’s mother and stepfather, along with her brother and half-sister, relocated to Nova Scotia.
James Carpenter and Mary Craig were married in 1787 and joined John Cleves Symmes on the journey over the Allegheny Mountains and down the Ohio River to Columbia, five miles upriver from present day downtown Cincinnati. The frontier in 1788 was protected by only 600 soldiers. Native Americans did not welcome the settlers.
A blockhouse and log cabins were constructed. Sadly, James Carpenter succumbed to the strenuous work of building a cabin for his young family, leaving Mary and his daughters Hannah and Rebecca.
For fifteen months, Mary Craig Carpenter shunned the sometimes rough language and behavior she found “repulsive” in the blockhouse and chose to live “several hundred yards from the blockhouse.” Her children slept in the cellar underneath the floor of their cabin while their mother sat up every night to watch for Indians. She used this time to knit or do house work that could be done in the dim light of embers.
One night, as Mary succumbed to sleep, her dog slept by the door and awakened her with a growl. She gathered her babies and raced toward the blockhouse. She was spotted by a guard in the Fort Washington tower, and soldiers were summoned.
Francis Dunlevy, a young teacher at Columbia, was smitten by the brave young mother.
Judge Francis Dunlevy had served in numerous Indian campaigns and arrived at Columbia in 1792. He had a classical education, and he excelled in advanced math. He taught in the school in Columbia, which was one of the first in the Northwest Territory.
Francis Dunlevy and Mary Craig Carpenter were married in January of 1793. They had six children who lived to adulthood. Francis Dunlevy served in the legislature and at the Ohio Constitutional Convention in 1802. He was the presiding judge in the Court of Common Pleas.
Mary’s daughter Hannah married Isaac Hunt in 1808 and settled on the land her father had purchased from John Cleves Symmes.
Moving to the Ohio Country meant one might never again see family. However, a letter addressed to Mary “in the Miami country” arrived.
Mary’s brother had returned to the United States from Nova Scotia. Mary’s sister returned to New York from Liverpool, England, to reconnect with Mary and their brother. Mary’s sister learned their brother John Craig* had died that same year, 1806, and her sister was in the “far West.” The sister refused to enter “Indian country” and arranged to meet Mary in Pittsburgh. Sadly, the sister contracted and died of yellow fever while in New York.
Mary died in 1828, her heart broken by the deaths of adult children, one of whom was Hannah who died after the birth of her twelfth child. The Hunt House was built circa 1860 by Hannah’s son John Craig Hunt. The house remained in the family until it was sold to Blue Ash in 2003.
This information is adapted from Hunt family papers archived with the Blue Ash Historical Society.
*The letter from N. H. Dunlevy dated December 9, 1851 relates the following about Mary’s brother:
“From Nova Scottia, John Craig and both the Fergusons, father and son, about 1800 returned to northern New York State…John Craig married a Mis [sic] Runsom, bought a large tract of land on the shore of Lake Champlain, was busily and profitable [sic] engaged in rafting lumber down Lake Champlain in the St. Lawrence and thence to Quebec. But in a storm in 1806 wa drowned leaving wife and one child.”
From this same letter, it appears the mother of Mary Craig Carpenter Dunlevy died in New York prior to the family’s move to Nova Scotia. Mr. Ferguson, John Craig, and the child she had with Mr. Ferguson relocated after the recapture of New York.