Elijah Craig (1738/1743 – May 18, 1808) was a Baptist preacher in Virginia, who became an educator and capitalist entrepreneur in the area of Virginia that later became the state of Kentucky. He has sometimes, although rather dubiously,[1][2][3][4] been credited with the invention of bourbon whiskey.
This Hawkins family is one for which I have an extensive data base. However, I have no reason to believe yet that it will connect to my own Hawkins family line. I have called this family the John and Mary Long Hawkins family. However, I am almost certain that Mary's maiden name was NOT Long. The lady mentioned in the above paragraph was encouraging me to give them a new and more accurate name.
This family was found in the Northern Neck of Virginia VERY early. They are a very colorful family! I will try to find links on-line to tell some of their stories. However, this morning I am interested in telling just one of the stories. And that is the fact that their grandson is said to have been the inventor of Bourbon.
I have never found a will for John Hawkins. However, after his death, there are land transactions that I have used to sort out his children. I believe that he and Mary had six children who lived to adulthood. One of the daughters is Mary Hawkins born about 1716 in Prince William County, Virginia according to folklore that is found on the internet. It may be well documented, but I have not done the research for myself. Mary married Tolliver (Taliferro) Hawkins c. 1730 and this information is again from another researcher that I met in Florida. Mary and Tolliver had a son also named Elijah Craig and it is Elijah who was a part of the Traveling Church that traveled from Culpepper County, Virginia to Kentucky looking for religious freedom after the Revolutionary War.
OK.....I have to add a correction to my above story. I googled to make sure that Elijah was indeed a part of the traveling church and that is NOT accurate:
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.[1]
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.
As far as I know, we do not yet have a DNA participant who has excellent paper trail to this family. If anyone can correct me on this statement, I would be very happy. I would pay for a participant myself who does have an excellent paper trail to this family if someone would find a man with Hawkins surname who would be willing to test and has the right paper trail! Please e-mail me directly at moses@earthlink.net if you have information to add to this post.
My husband and I visited this site probably ten years ago and took the photo at the top of this blog post along with others:
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