TALIAFERRO TIMES Volume I , November 6, 1996 Issue 1

 SALUTATIONS

"With reasonable certainty it can be claimed that all persons of the name Taliaferro, in its many spellings, who resided in Tidewater Virginia in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries all  branched from the same tree.  That tree was rooted by Robert the immigrant.

From the fourth generations on, the Taliaferro family got out of  control."  Claude Lanciano, 1972.
 
The Taliaferro family is an intriguing American family for several reasons. Anyone who has a Taliaferro ancestor must reserve a special place for them in their roll of families.
1.  The European background of the Taliaferro family is different from that of most colonial American families.
3.   This family's American origin is confined to one colony - Virginia - giving us an outstanding opportunity to explore the fulsomeness of the family, its times and its landscapes.
2.  In spite of colonial spelling vagaries and an Italian name, the Taliaferros were particular about protecting their name.  As young sons and daughters moved west and lost touch with the early family, changes in spelling occurred; but during the early years, the spelling was consistent and Italian.
A frequent spelling is Tolliver, reflecting the Virginia pronunciation of the name.

NEW MEMBERS

JOYCE (JBrown7169)
My name is Joyce Browning.  I live in Reston, Virginia, but I was born in Stokes Co NC at the foot of the Sauratown Mountains, and I grew up in Raleigh, NC.  We have three sons and three grandchildren. I am a widow, recently retired from California Institute of Technology's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory. I worked at their NASA Space Station Office which wrote the requirements
and definitions of America's Space Station, now the International Space Station. Following that assignment I was transferred to CalTech's Washington Business Office to coordinate administrative services under CalTech's contract to manage NASA's Visiting Senior Scientists Program. I  had unique opportunities to learn about the early Taliaferro family from the eastern Virginia Taliaferros; but I know little about the parade of Taliaferros between the first few generations and our later Taliaferros.  I am looking forward to learning more about them and their families.

Taliaferro Roots:  My husband's Taliaferro line descends from Benjamin Taliaferro of Amherst Co VA.  His daughter, Lucinda (1797-1857), married Mayo Davies of Bedford County VA in 1816. . . My Taliaferro line descends from Dr. John Taliaferro of Surry Co NC.  He moved to Surry shortly before the Revolutionary War.

COLLATERALS
JOYCE (JBrown7169):  For Benjamin Taliaferro, Amherst Co VA: Beverley,  Browning, Claiborne, Clayton, Crawford, Davies, Franklin,  Gilmer, Harris, Peyton, Taylor  For John Taliaferro, Surry Co NC:  Butler,  Claiborne, Cleveland, Crawford, Dalton,  Franklin, Fulton,  Gilmer,  Hanby, Harris,  Jessup, Joyce, Marshall, Moore, Perkins, Redd, Sparger, Walker, Webster

QUERIES
JOYCE (JBrown7169) is searching for the parents of two fourth or fifth generation Taliaferros:  Benjamin Taliaferro, b ca 1770, lived in Amherst Co, VA: and Dr. John Taliaferro, b ca 1740, in Caroline or Orange Co VA, settled in Surry Co NC about 1765.

RESPONSES
None yet

COLONIAL TALIAFERROS
One of the best summary histories of the early Taliaferro family is in "Our Most Skillful Architect, the Life and Works of Richard Taliaferro, 1705-1779," by Claude Lanciano, 1981; published by Lands End Books, Route 3, Box 370, Gloucester VA 23061.
Here is a portion of the Introduction.
*******
"It has always seemed such a shame to me that Taliaferro generals, justices, senators, and even Indian agents have their footnotes in history while the one member of the family who made a lasting contribution to the beauty and style of the nation has been forgotten."  --Mrs. Henry B. Taliaferro,
Jr., 1972

Richard Taliaferro, has long been a figure of interest from the popular colonial period of  Williamsburg.  He would be even better known were it not for a short record, for within his circle he was not eclipsed by a more able or prominent man of his calling which was architecture.  The limited volume of surviving material, particularly on his personal life, has given pause to this undertaking intended both as a chronicle of his life events and as a survey of works with which his name has been associated. . . . It has been said that if we are to be understood we should all be studied for at least a century before birth.  Biography, it could be ventured, is best served in those circumstances.

Not forgotten is that Richard was a Taliaferro. . . . [and] quite so much a Catlett.  Therein lie clues to his personality.  In addition to several siblings he had some double cousins representative of the
Taliaferro-Catlett harmony.  Collectively all provided a showcase for confirming his traits or
showed contrasting habits by which his departures were highlighted. . . Because of the destruction of many Virginia county records, particularly those for James City County, Richard Taliaferro, the architect, has largely been a phantom figure. . . One reason for Richard Taliaferro's relatively
uncelebrated position even among the artisically aware is that his best documented involvements were with public buildings.  Among them were the Governor's Palace, the Capitol, and the President's House at William and Mary College. . . There was more than casual involvement of Richard Taliaferro with the Carter family so many of whose members had houses of palatial scale built
during his lifetime.  The idea is not new for his name has been loosely linked with many of the grander houses of Virginia.

The main reason for going into a partial genealogical study was to differentiate among the half dozen Richard Taliaferros who surfaced during the life of Richard Taliaferro, the architect.  Other names in the family that were commonplace were:  Robert, Francis, John, William, Charles, and Zachariah.  The same names, as residents and officers, sometimes in more than one county, is explained by the re-use of traditional given names within the family.  Identical names often appear on the record with considerable overlap in the span of the respective lives.  The sons, by virtue in part of the
duplicated names of the fathers, were assured the titles that the elders had enjoyed and dutifully served.  Supporting this arrangement was the social standing of the family at large and the propensity of its members for leadership.

Migration of the Taliaferros, principally west and south, was induced partly by the pressures of a growing population in a time when agriculture was the main support of life and the key to trade for provisions of manufactured essentials.  Crop yields fell as the land was debilitated from continuous
tobacco plantings without benefit of fertilization.  Before the inheritance reforms that did away with primogeniture took place, younger sons, less well endowed, were drawn to the frontiers for the opportunities in land bounties and homesteading that were opening there.
 
RESEARCH

A real problem in establishing Taliaferro lineages is the loss of records in Caroline and King and Queen Counties in VA.  One resource is the Land Tax Records, accessioned at the Virginia State Archives, which begin in 1787. Below is a list of Taliaferros who paid Caroline land tax 1787-1814.  Only the years in which changes in ownership occur are listed.

1787        Mary Taliaferro Est. (transferred to Francis Taliaferro). Francis Taliaferro Est. -2300 ac.  Harry -300 ac.   John -957 ac (a note indicates that part of this land is located in Spotsylvania Co).   William -250 ac. Mary Taliaferro Est. trans to Harry Taliaferro-no acreage cited. Robert-500 ac.

1788        John-957 ac (shown as on Snow Cr).  William-250 ac.  Henry-no acreage (transferred to David Chivis).  Francis Estate-2300 ac.  Robert-500 ac.

1792       John-957 ac.  William-250 ac.  Robert's Estate-500 ac

1793        John-957 ac.  William-250 ac.  Francis Estate-1600 ac. Robert's Est (transferred to Robert).  Robert-500 ac

1794       John-957 ac.  William-250 ac.  Francis Estate (transferred to Charles).   Charles-1600 ac.  Robert-500 ac

1797       John-957.  William-250 ac.  Charles (altered as follows: 2300 to which added 500 ac from Robert = 2800 ac from which subtract 658-1/2 ac to Robert = 2142-1/2 ac; sold to James Taylor 54-1/2 ac, leaving Charles with total of 2088 ac).  Robert (altered as follows:  500 ac to which add 658-1/2 ac from Thomas Alcock, 26 ac from George Holloway, 658-1/2 ac from Charles Taliaferro = 1843 ac, from which subtract 500 ac to Charles Taliaferro = 1343 ac)

1800      John-957 ac.  William-250 ac.  Charles-1388 ac.  Robert (altered as follows:  1343 ac from which subtract 324 ac to James Taylor = 1018 ac)

1805       John-277 ac (the balance now found in Spotsylvania Co). William-250 ac.  Charles-1188 ac; Robert's Estate-1018-1/2 ac

1806       John-277 ac.  Charles-1188 ac.  William-250 ac.  Robert's Estate (altered as follows - 983-1/2 ac after 35 ac transferred to James Dickinson

1811      John-277 ac.  William-250 ac.   Charles-1188 ac.  Robert's Estate-959 ac.  Frances-209 ac.   Norborne (altered as follows - 195 ac to which add 164-1/2 ac from William Buckner = 459 ac)

Beginning in 1814, the location of the land appears.

1814      John-277 adj Jno Battaile, 16 miles N.E. of Courthouse. William-250 ac adj. R. Taylor, 14 miles N.E. of Courthouse.  Robert's Estate - widow owns for life - 959 ac adj. R. Taylor, 10 miles N.E. of Courthouse.  Francis - lives in Fredericksburg - 209 ac adj. L. Battaile, 18 miles N.E. of
Courthouse.  Norborne (shown as altered, but no details)

 
MISCELLANY

The following words are excerpted from  "Reflections:  Windows on the Past;" Louise Eubank Gray; 1995; published by the Brunswick Publishing Corporation, 1386 Lawrenceville Plank Road, Lawrenceville, VA 23868
- - - - -
To Love a Place
I once thought that a sense of place was a universal characteristic - like the nose on your face, but I know better now. . . A few years ago a young man came to me seeking some information on an ancestor, the first of the family to leave England for the New World.  He had settled in Middlesex County, Virginia, in the late 1600s and built Wortham Hill.  The family had flourished and his progeny had spread westward as had many others, but some had remained. Wonder of wonders for him, a descendant still lived in the house built by the immigrant. . . . He told me:  "I have never felt loyalty to any particular place.  When I was growing up we moved frequently. . . When I went to college and was asked where I was from, I honestly didn't know what to say.  Now at last I know where I'm from."

This young man has an acquired sense of place.

Virginians have been credited with a kind of snobbishness.  One quote goes: "To be a Virginian either by birth, marriage, adoption, or even on one's mother's side is an introduction to any state in the union, a passport to any foreign country, and a benediction from above."

There are three categories of residents in the [Rappahannock River Valley] an informant told me.  First, of course, are the "born-heres;" they may trace their ancestry to settlers of the 17th or 18th centuries.  Next, are the "brought-heres."  They were fortunate enough to marry a native and become permanent residents of the hallowed region.  Then there are the "come-heres" -- people who visited, found the area beautiful, the climate pleasant, the people charming, and the rural atmosphere just what they wanted.

The "born-heres" who return seek out some familiar creek or they buy a few acres near some post office on the verge of closing because the associations of name and place have an attraction, subconscious or conscious.

What are the things which contribute to this sense of place?  What are the memories, often buried in the subconscious, which exert this powerful claim? A friend who had spent many years away from his place in Virginia said that the strongest memory which came to him in a wave of nostalgia was that of
odors.  "Honeysuckle," he said, "and the smell of new-mown hay."  These brought mental pictures that evoked real homesickness.

This same sense of place brings to my ears, like an echo, speech patterns, long forgotten, but surging from the subconscious to recreate persons and a place.

"That dog ain't worth killin --couldn't trail a fox if it ran in front of him."
        "Them cresses will sure make you smack yo mouth."
        "I'm mighty tired of yo long-winded tales, Josh."

Virginia is a green state -- beautiful in any season.  Ride along a country road even in the dead of winter and the bordering pines stand erect and proud, the rich green branches softening the landscape, the tangy pine odor freshening the air and the whispering of the slender needles caressing the ear.  Watch for an occasional cedar or holly, not interrupting the greenness, but adding accent to the scene.  In spring the greenness has a new intensity with white dogwoods, purple-pink Judas trees, feathery shad bushes, and the magenta of blossoming maples providing color to the landscape.  Or pass along a swampy area and the odor of laurel (Virginia magnolia) fills the air with over-powering sweetness.
-- - - -
A fitting finish to our introductory edition of Virginia's Taliaferro family. Mrs. Gray has captured the gentle landscape where our Taliaferro family was born, the simple beauty that their eyes met every day in the place where they grew to young manhood or womanhood, married, raised new Taliaferros, and were buried beneath the periwinkle -- sheltered by the family that was "rooted
by Robert the immigrant."
__________________________________________________
TALIAFERRO TIMES:  Compiled from email and other sources
Distributed by Joyce Browning         cJBrown7169@AOL.com
6 November 1996
 
 
Issue 2, 13 Nov 1996
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