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Historic Locust Grove was the family home of William and Lucy Croghan. Lucy was the sister to General George Rogers Clark, and multi generations of the Clark and Croghan families assembled on the property over the years to share their triumphants and tragedies. Both William Croghan and George Rogers Clark (who spent his last years at the house) were Revolutionary war heroes. But few of the next generation followed their footsteps and certainly never achieved the acclaim of the first generation or even that of William’s father the first George Croghan who had emigrated from Ireland to Pennsylvania in 1741. Traveling west from Pennsylvania, this George Croghan became a prominent fur trader, frontiersman, and Indian agent.
William and Lucy had 8 children. George attended the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, and then joined the army in 1811. He quickly saw military service as the young republic entered the War of 1812. Croghan, (pronounced - Crawn) participated in the Battle of Tippecanoe and the siege of Fort Meigs and was soon given command of Fort Stephenson along the Sandusky. But that was the highlight of both his military career and his life. After this peak he quickly spiraled out of control. Family members bailed him out financially and worried constantly about the military and political scrapes he found himself in. Although he married Serena Livingston Croghan and had 7 children of his own - he returned alone to Locust Grove around 1842 and even joined a temperance league.
In 1846, he rejoined the army with General Zachary Taylor in Mexico and served at the battle of Monterey. On January 8, 1849, he died of cholera at New Orleans.
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