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 (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 in the 16th century. Tolliver Craig became a modest farmer and member of the
Virginia militia. 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. 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 movement. His sons
Elijah,
Lewis, and
Joseph Craig became Baptist preachers. Elijah and Lewis were jailed in
Fredericksburg, Virginia for preaching without a license from the Anglican Church. One account had them defended by
Patrick Henry, 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 raiding party under Captain
William Caldwell and
Simon Girty, 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 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==