Albert John Craft - Civil War Hero

Albert John Craft was born to William Craft, Jr and Maria Cratin on 3 June 1840 in Roxbury, Delaware, New York. He was the third of nine children.

Our Craft ancestors were patriots! Many served in the military. This included Albert. He enlisted on August 13, 1862, being twenty years old, 5 feet 6 inches tall, blue eyes and black hair, with a fair complexion. He carried the rank of sergeant. Mustered on August 22, 1862 at Kingston, New York. Miles of marching and eleven battles later including Gettysburg, he was wounded in the battle at Petersburg, Virginia on March 25, 1865 and was taken to Washington DC for medical attention. He was discharged on June 8, 1865.

Most likely, he would have been sent to Harewood Hospital which opened on September 4, 1862, and operated until after the end of the Civil War. Abraham Lincoln and his wife were treated there as well.

Albert’s son (mother Phila Jennie Bellows) Merrick Tuttle Craft is father of Kenneth Roland Craft - Munner’s father. Merrick Tuttle Craft, their third child, married his neighbor across the street, Mary Jane Hine. No online dating...just your neighbors.

Albert and Phila had six children. The last two were twins...one dying the day she was born and the son died around two years old. (Side note - Merrick Tuttle Craft's son Kenneth Roland Craft was also a twin. His sister died soon after childbirth) History repeated itself - skipping a generation.

Arnold Craft, grandson of Albert and Anna (second wife) went to Roxbury, New York to do some research on his family. He met with the town historian, Erma Mae Griffin. Arnold asked about his father. Turned out, her aunt was Phila Jane Bellows, Albert’s first wife.

Rumor had it that Albert had murdered Phila and that Albert’s second wife, Anna Every was pregnant when Phila died. There was always a rift between the children of the first wife and the second wife.

This rumor is not quite true. Let’s do the math. Phila Jennie Bellows Craft passed away in September 1891. Albert and Anna were married 24 October 1892. Their first child, Maria (named after Albert’s mother - Maria Cratin) was born before they were married on 22 September 1892. It seems there was a relationship before they were married, which could have been a cause for the children of the first wife to be upset. And perhaps it was that he married just a year after their mother’s passing.

Another rumor/story is that while Phila was sick at the end of her life, she needed help. The help’s name was…. Anna Every, a young next door neighbor.

Anna was 32 years younger than Albert John Craft. They went on to have six children. The last child, Albert Roosevelt Craft, died - living only 12 days. His death certificate says he died of cholera infantum, an acute non contagious intestinal disturbance of infants formerly common in congested areas of high humidity and temperature. It does state on the death certificate that contributing factors were ‘bottle feeding and hot weather.’

Albert John Craft died three years after his son’s passing on 29 October 1908 in Thompson, Susquehanna, Pennsylvania leaving his wife, Anna, with four children ages 5-15. Their oldest daughter was married earlier that year. Two wives, twelve children, eleven Civil War battles...and a farmer. What a life!

Phrases Albert loved to say - as quoted by his son, Arnold.

“If you have a problem, look at the guy in the mirror.”

“What goes round come around.”

“Greed is a terrible thing.”

Munner Insights - “I believe my dad’s (Kenneth Roland Craft) Civil War gun was his grandfather’s (Albert John Craft). Or perhaps my dad picked it up along the way. My dad’s guns hung on the wall at the Bush Farm Cottage along with other Civil War memorabilia. It is amazing those guns were never taken. No one lived at the cottage during the long northeast PA winters.

During a visit to the Archives in Washington DC, I read his military file with letters back and forth regarding his wife’s military pension.

The year we had our Fox Family Reunion at Lake Anna, I tried to inspire a side trip to the battlefield at North Anna, Virginia. I wrote up all his battles and created a challenge.” See attached.