Toliver Craig, Sr.
| Toliver Craig | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Taliaferro Craig c.1704 Spotsylvania County, Virginia Colony |
| Died | 1795 Woodford County, Kentucky, United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | Tolliver Craig |
| Occupation | Landowner, militia officer and farmer |
| Known for | Early Kentucky pioneer and landowner; one of the defenders of Bryan Station |
| Spouse(s) | Mary "Polly" Hawkins (m. 1730) |
| Children | 12 |
| Parent(s) | Captain Ricardo Tagliaferro? and Jane Craig |
| Signature | |
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Toliver Craig Sr. (born Taliaferro Craig; c.1704–1795) was an 18th-century American frontiersman and militia officer. An early settler and landowner near present-day Lexington, Kentucky, he was one of the defenders of the early fort of Bryan Station during the American Revolutionary War. It was attacked by the British and Shawnee on August 15, 1782.
Craig and his family were early converts to the Baptist Church in the Colony of Virginia. 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 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 and Logan counties, Kentucky. He was elected as a representative to the Kentucky state legislature.
Sources disagree about the circumstances of Taliaferro Craig's birth. According to traditional accounts and his own descendants, Taliaferro was the illegitimate son of 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.
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Wikipedia