Source:Fleming-neville/content
NEVILLE is a well-known name in Pittsburgh and vicinity, and it commemorates not only a notable name but a noble one, the nobility that of true and native worth of character. One may say also a distinguished family.
At one time there were three streets named Neville in the community of Pittsburgh. These were the present Neville street in Shadyside, Neville street on Mount Washington, now Natchez, and Neville street in the old borough of Birmingham, now Muriel street, South Side.
Then we have Neville Island, in like commemoration, and there is the post village of Neville in Clermont county, O., on the government grant to Gen. Presley Neville for his services in the Revolution, and where he died in 1818.
In the way of geneology [sic] the Neville blood is traced through many prominent families of Pittsburgh, and in direct descent. Among them are the Craig, Shields, Chaplin, Davison, Wallingford and Corning families, the latter three the married names of Neville B. Craig's daughters.
This reminds us we have Craig and Wallingford streets, also. There was once Craig street in old Allegheny, now the North Side, Pittsburgh, now called Cremo street, and it may be as well to state in passing that the cream is altogether a matter of euphony.
Chaplins and Shields.
The Chaplin and Shields lines are similar. Maj. Isaac Craig, also a distinguished officer during the Revolution, married Amelia Neville, daughter of Gen. John Neville. Harriet Craig, daughter of Maj. Craig, became the wife of Lieut. John Huntingdon Chaplin, U. S. N. Their son, Lieut.-Com. William Craig Chaplin, U. S. N., married Sarah Jane Crossan, and they became the parents of the late John M. Chaplin and his brothers.
The genealogy could be further presented in the mention of the Craig family commemoration. Sufficient above to show a line of colonial descent whose deeds have been written indelibly in the history of Pittsburgh.
Gen. John Neville, the most distinguished ancestor in this genealogy, was born in Virginia. He was the son of Richard Neville, a native of England, and Ann Burroughs, a cousin of Lord Fairfax, a noted Virginia name to this day, and well commemorated. What soldier of the Civil War who served about Washington can forget Fairfax Court House? Gen. Neville's birthplace is in Prince William county, Va., and in that county is Manassas and Bull Run.
John Neville's wife was Winifred Oldham. The date of his birth is July 24, 1731. He was therefore about eight months older than Washington, whom he knew at an early age. In fact, the first mention we have of John Neville in our history is as a young volunteer in one of the Virginia companies serving under Braddock and present in action on the memorable July 9, 1755, on the banks of the Monongahela, and surviving unharmed. Else not this history.
In the Revolution.
We find the next mention of Neville just prior to the Revolution. The odious Dunmore had been obliged to flee before the wrath of the sturdy Virginians and his tool and factotum, the equally despised Dr. John Connolly, had fled from Pittsburgh.
The importance of Pittsburgh and Fort Pitt as a frontier post was apparent as necessary to the protection of and as a depot of supplies on the borders of the colonies of Virginia and Pennsylvania. Hence the action of the Virginia provincial convention at Williamsburg in the adoption of the following resolution August 7, 1775:
Resolved that Captain John Neville be directed to march his company of one hundred men and take possession of Fort Pitt, and that the said company be in the pay of the colony from the time of their marching.
Neville marched from Winchester, Va., and took possession of the fort on September 11. The move was entirely unexpected by the Pennsylvania adherents in Pittsburgh, and we find letters from Gen. Arthur St. Clair, then representing the Penns here, apprising the Penns of events in Pittsburgh and mentioning the displeasure of Penn's supporters at the success of "the Virginia invasion."
However, it was a wise move. The war for independence had commenced and the reasons why Fort Pitt should be occupied by colonial troops were so potent that they were tacitly admitted. Neville's act was nothing more than an act of ordinary prudence and it was a wise foresight that sent here at that time a man of the character of John Neville, in whose firmness, fidelity and discretion implicit confidence could be placed by both factions.
Old Dispute Forgotten.
The boundary dispute was forgotten in the common cause of independence, the throwing off of an odious yoke of unbearable tyranny. St. Clair acquiesced with the many and soon found that the evils he had predicted as the result of Neville's movement were entirely imaginary, and St. Clair had to admit that Neville acted with great prudence and impartiality. He was a patriot, pure and simple; unselfishly devoted to the cause he had espoused.
Capt. Neville at this time was 44 years old, frank and hearty in manner, of sound judgment, of much firmness and decision of character, "and probably in all respects, as well suited to the emergency for which he was selected as any individual who could have been named, and who would have undertaken the duty."
This is a well worded and truthful portrayal of Neville as a man in trying times.
Neville B. Craig, historian of Pittsburgh, has told much of his grandfather, Gen. John Neville. Neville Craig was the son of Maj. Isaac Craig and Amelia Neville, the general's only daughter.
We can use his biography as we find it, and first say something of the general's career during the Revolution. We find of record in our Pennsylvania Archives much mention of the Nevilles, but they did not serve in the Pennsylvania line.
It is of record that John Neville was appointed lieutenant colonel of the Twelfth Virginia Regiment November 12, 1776, colonel of the Eighth Virginia Regiment, December 11 1777; transferred to the Fourth Virginia, September 14, 1778, and served until the end of the war.
Breveted a General.
He was breveted brigadier general September 30, 1783. He was elected a delegate to the Provincial convention of Virginia which appointed Washington, Peyton Randolph, Patrick Henry and Richard Henry Lee to the first Continental Congress which met in Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia, in September, 1774. Neville was ill and could not attend.
Gen. John Neville was appointed inspector of revenue for the fourth survey of Pennsylvania in 1791 and served as such during the whisky insurrection. The story of his services in this office is a story of peril and of his undeviating adherence to what he regarded his duty and it awakens admiration. His own and his grandsons' accounts of some happenings follow below:
John Neville built at his own expense the first Protestant Episcopal Church west of the Allegheny Mountains, still standing at Woodville, Allegheny county, Pa. A bronze memorial tablet in his memory was erected there in 1913. In a civil capacity after the Revolution he was a member of the Board of Property of Pennsylvania, a member of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, and a member of the Pennsylvania convention which ratified the Federal Constitution.
The story of his ownership of Neville Island is of interest, but too long for today's article. He died in Pittsburgh, July 29, 1803, aged 72.
There is also a record of John Neville having been appointed major of Virginia troops by the Virginia convention June 14, 1776. He remained in command at Fort Pitt until June 1, 1777, when he relinquished command to Gen. Edward Hand.
It had become known to Washington and other patriots that the Indian uprising which the agents of the crown were organizing on the frontiers was part of the general campaign for the subjugation of the rebellious colonies.
Fort Pitt Taken Over.
It seemed necessary for the Continental Congress to take charge of the defense of the Western borders, and it offered to take Fort Pitt under its care and provide a garrison at the expense of the Congress. This offer was accepted by the Virginia Assembly and Lieut. Col Neville (advanced in rank) was ordered to transfer the fort to the Continental officer appointed to its command.
Hand was Washington's personal selection. He was no stranger here, having served at the fort and in the Illinois country before resigning from the British service. We have memories of Hand street in Pittsburgh—later, and again Ninth street.
Hand arrived June 1, 1777, and took over the property from Neville. He led no forces across the mountains, but arrived accompanied by only a few officers. Hand had his troubles, but that is Hand's story, already told in the history of Ninth street.
John Neville went into active service in the field and served with conspicuous ability in the Southern campaign.
Neville B. Craig, grandson of Gen. John Neville and nephew of Gen. Presley Neville, remembered both well. Mr. Craig was the son of Maj. Isaac Craig and father of the late Isaac Craig.
Neville Craig was born in the blockhouse to which his father had added an addition—shown in all old prints of the property. The date of his birth was March 29, 1787. He died in Pittsburgh March 23, 1863.
Of his grandfather he tells us this, in his "History of Pittsburgh," published in 1851.
When General Wayne was advancing from Fort Greenville to the Maumee, the troubles which had long been brewing here in opposition to the excise on whiskey, broke out into open hostility in repeated attacks on, and the final destruction of, the proprty [sic] of Gen. John Neville in this vicinity, and in the occupancy of our town by armed insurgents.
The Whisky Insurrection.
This first insurrection against the law of the union occurring at our very door, cannot be overlooked in a work proposing to give a history of our city. The general histories of the country notice it; Brackenridge and Findlay have both written apologies for their conduct in it, which have been looked upon as histories, and Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury, has given a very dispassionate account of it. The late Judge Wilkinson, of Buffalo, New York, who grew to manhood on a farm in the immediate vicinity of the field of the greatest outrage, has, in some notes published in the Western Pioneer, borne just testimony to the virtues and services of the principal sufferers in the insurrection, but has fallen into some errors in his account of the family connection, while he says, "John Neville, a man of the most deserved popularity, was appointed collector (inspector it should be), for Western Pennsylvania; he was one of the few men of great wealth who had put his all at hazard for independence. Besides his claim as a soldier and a patriot, he had contributed greatly to the relief of the suffering settlers. If any man could have executed this odious law, Gen. Neville was the man. He was the brother in law of the distinguished Gen. Morgan and father-in-law to Majors Craig and Kirkpatrick, officers highly respected in the western country.
Judge Wilkinson, from his residence, saw ascending flames from the negro huts, the stables, the large well filled barn, and the comfortable mansion of Gen. Neville, and manifests in his article all that kindly feeling which a good neighbor might be expected to entertain. His kind heart had not changed in the half century which had elapsed between the destruction of the property, and the writing his account of it; but his memory, or his information of the family relations, was not so faithful as the kindness of his heart.
John Neville was not the brother-in-law of Gen. Morgan, nor the father-in-law of Major Kirkpatrick. John Neville and Abraham Kirkpatrick married sisters of the name of Oldham, of as sound and true hearted a Whig family as any in the country, one of whose brothers yielded up his life in the cause of country at Eutaw Springs, in South Carolina; the other at St. Clair's defeat. Presley Neville, the only son of John Neville, married the daughter of Gen. Morgan, and Isaac Craig married the only sister of Presley.
Story of Neville.
John Neville was, as Judge Wilkinson states, a man of great wealth for those days. He was the descendant of a lad who at a very early day was kidnaped in England and brought to Virginia, and who subsequently accumulated a good property there. John Neville was a man of good English education, of plain blunt manner, a pleasant companion, and the writer well recollects how eagerly he listened to his well told anecdotes, and how by his manner he could give interest to trifling incidents. He was born on the headwaters of the Occoquau [sic] River, Va., on the direct road from Washington's paternal estate to Winchester and Cumberland, and the residence of his father is laid down in Spark's map illustrative of the "operations in Virginia" during the war of 1754. From this circumstance probably it was, that he became an early acquaintance of Washington, both of whom were about the same age, and thus with the ardor of a young man, he engaged in Braddock's expedition.
He subsequently settled near Winchester, in Frederick County, where he for some time held the office of sheriff. Prior to 1774 he had made large entries and purchases in the Chartiers Creek, then supposed to be in Virginia, and was about to remove there when the Revolutionary troubles began.
Had he attended the Provincial convention in 1774 he would have represented Augustat [sic] county, Staunton, the county seat, in which county Pittsburgh was included in the Virginia jurisdiction then.
History of Presley Neville.
Mr. Craig continues:
Presley Neville, his son, was an accomplished gentleman, having received the best education the country could afford, was a good classical and French scholar, had served throughout the Revolution, part of the time as an aid [sic] to La Fayette. He and his father had together a princely estate on Chartiers Creek besides large possessions elsewhere in Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky. He had, also, large expectations from his father-in-law. But unfortunately for the comfort of his latter days, his heart was tenfold larger than his estate and all his expectations.
In recently looking over some old letters from him, written while he was yet in exile, and the ashes of his father's destroyed mansion and barn and stables, and negro huts were yet warm, I was struck with the following kind-hearted expression:
"The prisoners arrived yesterday, and were, by the ostentation of Gen. White, paraded through the different parts of the city (Philadelphia)—they had large pieces of paper in their hats to distinguish them, and wore the appearance of wretchedness; I could not help being sorry for them, although so well acquainted with their conduct."
Maj. Kirkpatrick, who once owned all of Mt. Washington, was the grand uncle of Neville B. Craig. He was present at the burning of Gen. Neville's home at Bower Hill—too long a story for space today.
Amelia Neville Craig.
Amelia Neville Craig, mother of Neville B. Craig, was the sister of Gen. Presley Neville. Harriet Craig Chaplin was the sister of Neville B. Craig.
The reference "while yet in exile" is not clear. John Neville's property at Bower Hill was burned by the mob July 16, 1794. Presley Neville, his obituary states, came to Pittsburgh in 1792 and remained until 1816.
Mr. Craig probably means that Gen. Neville's sensitive spirit was so acutely affected by Gov. Snyder's removing him from the office of prothonotary of Allegheny county that he left Pittsburgh for a time.
How good a man Presley Neville was can be inferred from the following rather fulsome eulogy, after the fashion of the times. It appeared in the Pittsburgh Gazette, December 18, 1818:
Died at his residence, near the town of Neville, in the State of Ohio, Gen. Presley Neville, in the 63d year of his age.
Death has laid his icy hand on one more veteran of the Revolution; but although among his victims theree [sic] have been some whose names were more familiar to the voice of fame, a better or a braver man has not fallen than the object of this notice.
General Neville was a native of Virginia. After graduating at the University of Philadelphia with distinguished reputation for classical attainments, he entered the army in the year of 1775, at the age of 19, as an ensign in the company commanded by his father, the late Gen. John Neville.
Rise Is Rapid.
He quickly rose to the rank of captain, and, as such, became aide-de-camp to Marquis de la Fayette, in which capacity he served several campaigns. Similarity of feeling and manners created an ardent friendship between these accomplished and, at that time, young officers which was continued uninterrupted, and which retained Maj. Neville in the family of the Marquis for three years. At the expiration of that period he volunteered with his father to join the Southern army, and received the brevet of lieutenant colonel. He was made prisoner at the surrender of Charleston, returned thence to Virginia on parole, and was not exchanged until the end of the war.
Gen. Neville was in the battles of Princeton, Trenton, Germantown, Brandywine and Monmouth, at the last of which he had a horse killed under him.
At the close of the Revolution he married the eldest daughter of Gen. Daniel Morgan, and emigrated to a property which he held near Pittsburgh, at that time in Virginia. In 1792 he removed to Pittsburgh, where he continued until the year 1816; he then changed his residence to Ohio.
He was always honored with the friendship of Gen. Washington, and, until within a few years, he held many of the most confidential offices under the general and state governments. Governor Snyder was the first to inflict a wound on the peace and pride of this distinguished citizen and meritorious soldier in the evening of his days, by removing him from the lucrative office, prothonotary of this county (Allegheny). We impeach not his motive, but we hope that it was such as to justify him at a future day.
Personally Popular.
It falls to the lot of but few men to enjoy so great a degree of personal popularity as has attended the subject of this notice through life. He was favored by Providence with the possession of an ample fortune, which enabled him to indulge to excess a benevolence as warm and as expansive as ever glowed in a mortal breast. It had a fault; it was too lavish for prudential maxims to mingle in its council, and too honorable to doubt the rectitude of its ardent impulses. Like most generous men, he suffered dearly for his liberality; but he repined not at this dispensation of Providence, nor repented of those acts which he performed with pleasure and reflected on with pride. He was admired by his equals, respected by his inferiors and loved by all who knew him; the oppressed clung to him for support, and the prayers of the needy ascended to Heaven in his favor. In Gen. Neville we had a brilliant example of the character which we may emphatically term that of a well-bred gentleman. The distinguishing features of his character were courteous hospitality and a polished urbanity of manners. He carried into private life that nice sense of honor which so peculiarly belongs to the to the [sic] soldier, and which, through the native growth of his own bosom, was polished and refined in camp. His affections were warm, and his philanthropy pervaded the whole tenor of his thoughts and actions. As a husband, he was delicate and affectionate; as a father, warm and indulgent; as a man, mild but firm. The rule of his conduct towards society was to do nothing which a gentleman should be ashamed of, and he cared but little what name the world might put upon his action if he gained the approbation of his own heart without trespassing on the feelings of others; yet, so nice was his sense of the delicacy which ought to be observed towards the opinion of the world, as well as the feelings of individuals, that it would give him serious pain to reflect for a moment that he had offended against the one or the other in the most minute particular.
He breathed his last on the banks of the Ohio, not surrounded by all the comforts of life, for this would have been too great a happiness for an old soldier, but he drew his last sigh surrounded by his children, on the soil granted to him for his Revolutionary service. At the present day the remembrance of those services are of but little value, except as a theme of pride to his descendants; but the future historian will rank him among those heroes to whom his country owes her independence. He left a widow and a large family to mourn his loss.
This eulogy is signed "O." at the time it was published. Morgan Neville was the owner and proprietor, having but lately purchased the paper from John Scull, one of the founders.
Morgan Neville was the son of Gen. Presley Neville, and it may well be taken for granted that nothing was too good to say of his distinguished father.
Neville B. Craig was a cousin of Morgan Neville and succeeded him as editor proprietor of the "Gazette."
