DAR to honor Arthur St. Clair, wife, daughter with ceremonies in Greensburg, Ligonier

Sep. 21—Westmoreland County was less than a year old when a daughter, Louisa, was born to one of the county's first prominent citizens, Revolutionary War leader Gen. Arthur St. Clair, and his wife, the former Phoebe Bayard.

Recognizing the couple's important contribution to American independence, the Daughters of the American Revolution will lead a wreath-laying ceremony at 5 p.m. Saturday at their gravesite in Greensburg's St. Clair Park.

St. Clair's daughter, who stepped up to help him during his later government service, also will be honored, on the 250th anniversary of her birth in 1773. The DAR will rededicate her grave marker at 1 p.m. Sunday where she is laid to rest at Old Ligonier Cemetery in Ligonier.

Louisa St. Clair Robb also will be recognized with the DAR American Women in History Award.

"The award recognizes women who have been exceptional in a number of different areas of our history, and she meets the criteria," said PJ King Steeby, corresponding secretary of the DAR's Detroit-area Louisa St. Clair Chapter, which is organizing the weekend ceremonies.

Louisa "led a very eclectic life," Steeby said. Through her father, "she had a front row seat to the Revolution when she was a young girl."

Arthur St. Clair was at George Washington's side during the war, as he crossed the Delaware River to achieve American victories in New Jersey and later accepted the surrender of British forces at Yorktown.

After the war, the teenage Louisa was introduced to society in Philadelphia while her father served as seventh president of the Continental Congress, in 1787.

Because her mother was in ill health, Louisa took on the responsibility of assisting her father in his public duties when he relocated from Ligonier to serve as governor of the Northwest Territory from 1788-1802.

"She acted as the right-hand man and hostess for her father," Steeby said, adding, "She was quite the horsewoman."

Nineteenth-century historian Samuel Hildreth additionally said Louisa was "an expert huntress ... loading and firing with the accuracy of a backwoodsman; killing a squirrel from the highest tree, or cutting off the head of a partridge with wonderful precision."

Father and daughter were based in Marietta, in what is now Ohio. The territory also would give rise to Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and part of Minnesota.

When Louisa returned to Ligonier, she married and had six children with Samuel Robb. Robb served in the War of 1812 and was held as a prisoner by the British until the Treaty of Ghent ended the conflict.

Arthur St. Clair was never repaid by the government for the sums he invested in the care of his soldiers. He had to auction off his family's home, "The Hermitage," north of Ligonier, lost his iron furnace operation and moved to a log building atop Chestnut Ridge.

Louisa cared for her parents until their deaths in 1818, and she died in 1840, Steeby said.

Members of the DAR chapter named in Louisa's honor stopped in Ligonier in 1934 to dedicate a white granite marker and bronze plaque at her grave site, replacing a deteriorating marker. They rededicated the marker in 2014, as they plan to do Sunday.

Several area DAR chapters are expected to participate in the weekend ceremonies, including the Greensburg-based Phoebe Bayard Chapter.

The General Arthur St. Clair Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution will provide a color guard in period costume for Sunday's program at 218 N. Market St., Ligonier.

Jeff Himler is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Jeff by email at jhimler@triblive.com or via Twitter .