Toliver Craig Sr. (born Taliaferro Craig; 1704–1795) was an 18th-century American frontiersman and militia officer. An early settler and landowner near present-day
Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city coterminous with and the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the city's population was 322,570, making it the List of ...
, he was one of the defenders of the early fort of
Bryan Station
Bryan Station (also Bryan's Station, and often misspelled Bryant's Station) was an early fortified settlement in Lexington, Kentucky. It was located on present-day Bryan Station Road, about three miles (5 km) northeast of New Circle Road, ...
during the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...
. It was attacked by the British and
Shawnee
The Shawnee ( ) are a Native American people of the Northeastern Woodlands. Their language, Shawnee, is an Algonquian language.
Their precontact homeland was likely centered in southern Ohio. In the 17th century, they dispersed through Ohi ...
on August 15, 1782.
Craig and his family were early converts to the
Baptist
Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...
Church in the
Colony of Virginia
The Colony of Virginia was a British Empire, British colonial settlement in North America from 1606 to 1776.
The first effort to create an English settlement in the area was chartered in 1584 and established in 1585; the resulting Roanoke Colo ...
. His sons especially preached their religious views during the 1760s and 1770s. As a young man, his son Rev. Lewis Craig was a Baptist preacher jailed in Fredericksburg, Virginia for preaching without a license from the established Anglican Church, in a case considered important for religious freedom.
Toliver and his sons Lewis and Joseph Craig led 400-600 members of their congregation as "
The Travelling Church" into Kentucky in 1781. A younger son, Rev.
Elijah Craig, worked with
James Madison
James Madison (June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison was popularly acclaimed as the ...
on state guarantees for religious freedom after the Revolutionary War before following his kin to Kentucky, where he became a successful preacher, educator, and businessman.
Toliver Craig Jr. became an important landowner in
Scott
Scott may refer to:
Places
Canada
* Scott, Quebec, municipality in the Nouvelle-Beauce regional municipality in Quebec
* Scott, Saskatchewan, a town in the Rural Municipality of Tramping Lake No. 380
* Rural Municipality of Scott No. 98, Sas ...
and
Logan counties, Kentucky. He was elected as a representative to the
Kentucky state legislature.
Biography
Sources disagree about the circumstances of Taliaferro Craig's birth. According to traditional accounts and his own descendants, Taliaferro was the illegitimate son of
Richard Taliaferro
Richard Taliaferro ( ; –1779) was a colonial architect and builder in Williamsburg, Virginia, in what is now the United States. Among his works is Wythe House, a Georgian-style building that was built in 1750 or 1755. It was declared a ...
(aka Ricardo Tagliaferro), an Italian sea captain, and Jane Craig, a young Scottish woman descended from reformer
John Craig, who traveled with him to the Virginia colony. She was pregnant and Tagliaferro never married her. Craig gave birth to a son she named Taliaferro Craig in 1704. His name was later anglicized to Toliver or Tolliver. Jane Craig never married.
Ricardo Tagliaferro was said to have settled in Virginia, where he later married and had a family. He was said to have a brother there, Robert Tagliaferro (or Taliaferro). The Taliaferro families became distinguished in Virginia.
But this story about a connection of Craig's father to Robert Tagliaferro may not be accurate. The Robert Taliaferro who was the ancestor of the prominent Taliaferro family of Virginia (later anglicized to Toliver or Tolliver), arrived in Virginia from England in the mid-17th century. His ancestors had been in England for some time, with the first serving as a court musician to Queen
Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudo ...
in the 16th century.
Tolliver Craig became a modest farmer and member of the
Virginia militia
The Virginia militia is an armed force composed of all citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia capable of bearing arms. The Virginia militia was established in 1607 as part of the English militia system. Militia service in Virginia was compulso ...
. In 1730, he married Mary Hawkins, with whom he would have 12 children. Like most people in Virginia, he and his family were largely
illiterate
Literacy is the ability to read and write, while illiteracy refers to an inability to read and write. Some researchers suggest that the study of "literacy" as a concept can be divided into two periods: the period before 1950, when literacy was ...
. He was presumed to have decent social standing, as the Hawkins family were prominent in Virginia society at the time.
During the 1760s, Craig and his family embraced the
Baptist
Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...
movement. His sons
Elijah
Elijah ( ) or Elias was a prophet and miracle worker who lived in the northern kingdom of Israel during the reign of King Ahab (9th century BC), according to the Books of Kings in the Hebrew Bible.
In 1 Kings 18, Elijah defended the worsh ...
,
Lewis
Lewis may refer to:
Names
* Lewis (given name), including a list of people with the given name
* Lewis (surname), including a list of people with the surname
Music
* Lewis (musician), Canadian singer
* " Lewis (Mistreated)", a song by Radiohe ...
, and
Joseph Craig became Baptist preachers. Elijah and Lewis were jailed in
Fredericksburg, Virginia
Fredericksburg is an Independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 27,982. It is south of Washington, D.C., and north of Richmond, Virginia, R ...
for preaching without a license from the Anglican Church. One account had them defended by
, but other historians call that apocryphal.
He is said to have bought in 1779 the David Bryan estate in what is now Raleigh County, WV, from
pioneer Col. John (Johannes) Bowman.
Near the end of the Revolution, Craig and his family emigrated to Kentucky with the famous "
Travelling Church," about 500 people led by his son Rev. Lewis, arriving to settle first at Gilbert's Creek in December 1781. Both in the group's own self-identity and in later church history, the journey was likened to the people following Moses in the Exodus. Arriving in April 1782, Craig lived briefly with his wife, many children, and grandchildren at
Bryan's Station (near present-day Lexington). When the fort was besieged on 15 August by a British Canadian and
Shawnee
The Shawnee ( ) are a Native American people of the Northeastern Woodlands. Their language, Shawnee, is an Algonquian language.
Their precontact homeland was likely centered in southern Ohio. In the 17th century, they dispersed through Ohi ...
raiding party under Captain
William Caldwell and
Simon Girty
Simon Girty (14 November 1741 – 18 February 1818) was an interpreter with the British Indian Department during the American Revolutionary War and Northwest Indian War. As a child he and his brothers James and George were captured and adopted b ...
, Craig and his wife Polly, although both were elderly, were some of the more well-known defenders. The 66-year-old Mary "Polly" Craig was reported to have led a group of women outside the fort to fetch water from a spring to quench burning arrows. Their courage was honored in 1896 by a
DAR memorial located near the spring and naming all the Craig defenders.
Craig later became a prominent
landowner, purchasing the David Bryan estate from
John Bowman. He donated large amounts of land to the Baptist church. He died in
Woodford County, Kentucky
Woodford County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 26,871. Its county seat is Versailles, Kentucky, Versailles. The area was home to Pi ...
in 1795.
Toliver Craig Sr. had 12 children with his wife, Mary "Polly Hawkins:
John Craig, Sr.
- Rejoice "Joyce Jossa Jossie" Craig
- Tolliver Craig Jr.
-
Elijah Craig
- Rev. Lewis Craig
- Joseph Craig
- Jane Taliferro Craig
- Sarah "Sally" Craig
- Benjamin Craig
- Jeremiah Craig
- Elizabeth Hawkins Craig
- Elizabeth Craig
References
Further reading
*Craig, Winchell McKendree. ''The Craig Family: Genealogical and Historical Notes about the Craigs of America, Fayette County, Ohio, United States, Canada''. Rochester, Minnesota: Winchell M. Craig, 1956.
*Faulconer, James Gayle. ''Thomas Faulconer and His Descendants''. Baltimore: Gateway Press, 1984.
Howard, Virginia Webb. ''Bryan Station Heroes and Heroines''. Lexington, Kentucky: Commercial Printing Company, 1932 esp. pp. 81–83.
*McDanell, Kyle, ed.
Knox's Colleague: The Life and Times of John Craig'. Charleston, SC: Kyle McDanell, 2014.
*Parker, Anna Virginia. ''The Sanders Family of Grass Hills: The Life of Lewis Sanders, 1781–1861''. Madison, Indiana: Coleman Printing Company, 1966.
*Ranck, George Washington. ''The Travelling Church: An Account of the Baptist Exodus from Virginia to Kentucky in 1781 under the Leadership of Rev. Lewis Craig and Capt. William Ellis''. Kentucky Culture Series 18. Louisville, KY: Press of Baptist Book Concern, 1891
1910 reprint2015 reprintedited by Kyle McDanell.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Craig, Toliver
1700s births
1795 deaths
People from Spotsylvania County, Virginia
People from Kentucky
American people of Scottish descent
American people of Italian descent
American pioneers
Baptists from Virginia
Converts to Baptist Christianity
People from colonial Virginia