TALIAFERRO TIMES Volume I, January 8, 1997 Issue 10
SALUTATIONS
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LAURIE McKENNA ( McKenna7@ix.netcom.com) - Laurie who is very new to netting and to TT
sent the following information at my request. I thought others might also benefit.
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Here are the web sites that I have used so far and thought were good. Please remember that
I'm new to genealogy and what was useful to me may not be useful to other readers.
1. WWW Genealogy Index--(http://www.gendex.com/gendex), this is a huge database of individuals and who found them. I found two researchers this way. One was interested in people who had spent time in Paduka KY. (I'm not sure why he had Thomas Stribling's name because he didn't spend time in KY). The other was searching the Birdsong line (Nancy Birdsong married Sigismund Stribling abt. 1789).
2 Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet (http://www.oz.net/~cyndihow)* This is a huge list of sites that is well organized. I found it when I was looking for cemetery information but it has lots more. * The new URL for this site is http://www.CyndisList.com/
3. Genealogy Home Page (http://www.genhomepage.com)--another site with lots of links
4. Helm's Genealogy Toolbox (http://genealogy.tbox.com/genealogy.html) The guide to beginning genealogy was very helpful for me. It also has the LDS FHL research outlines (US and individual states) which I find very useful
5. Everton's Genealogical Helper(http://www.everton.com)--This will send you to the genweb sites for individual states which are then arranged by county. Some have a lot of information, some don't.
6. Ancestry's Social Security Death Index (http://www.ancestry.com/ssdi/main.htm)--This lists people who died about 1965 and later. It gives their social security # (so you can request their SS application), when they were born, where they applied for their SS card, when they died and where the last SS payment was sent (sometimes just the Zip Code is given). It's one of the few sites that actually gives you data, not just information on how to do something.
I have also found the Library of Congress Catalog very helpful for searching family histories (this is how I found STRIBLINGS OF WALNUT HILL AND RELATED FAMILIES). There is a web site for the LC but to browse the catalog you need TELNET capability. If you don't have it you may be able to get it easily. Most libraries that have on-line catalogs use the TELNET system. It took me several hours of browsing to find the software to download to give my computer TELNET access. Then I read the brochure that came from my ISP and found the directions there! (I felt really stupid for not looking there first!). If you have questions or find mistakes, let me know and I'll try to help.
NEW MEMBERS
LAURIE (McKenna7@ix.netcom.com)
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There's a little family genealogy and a little history, and the two do go together.
I'm brand new to genealogy but have already realized that you can't do family genealogy
without a knowledge of history.
I started researching my family's history about a month ago when the family computer was hooked up to the internet. I realised that computers, the internet and genealogy work exceptionally well together and soon found lots of web sites related to genealogy. I quickly became "addicted" and now find myself calling older family members, writing letters and travelling regularly to the District of Columbia (I live just north of the District in Olney, MD).
My connection to the Taliaferros at this point is not secure. A search of the LDS
FHL Ancestral File gave me ELIZA TALIAFERRO b. 1698 in Prince Wm. Co. VA (m.to Thomas
Stribling b. abt 1690 in England) as the mother of Thomas Stribling b. 1734 in Prince Wm.
Co. Va. This Thomas Stribling is a direct ancestor of my grandfather, Jesse Wales
Stribling b. 1895 in Seneca SC. Another reference to the Taliaferro family came in a
Stribling genealogy written by Bruce Stribling (c.1979), STRIBLINGS OF WALNUT HILL AND
RELATED FAMILIES (one of which is Taliaferro). I read the book in the Library of
Congress but only had enough time to search my grandfather's line to Thomas Stribling,
b.1734. If anyone has more information on Eliza Taliaferro I would very much like to
hear from them.
QUERIES
GENE (trap-27th-va@worldnet.att.net)
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Two questions: a General Taliaferro was in Stonewall Jackson's Brigade, they didn't
get along very well. At the Battle of MacDowell, Gen. Taliaferro saved the day. Who
was he?
A few years ago on a trip to the Buffalo River in Arkansas , at a park called "Big Spring" there is a Headstone or Monument to a General Taliaferro. Is this the same General?
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PAUL PHIPPS (PaulPhipps)
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I remember the first time I saw this name in my searching in NC. My thought was how
did an Italian end up with all those Tar Heels. I am not a Taliaffero descendant, but have
a number of collateral connections.
My Query is as follows: "Seeking parents of Andrew Tolliver b. abt 1800 in Ashe Co., NC. Andrew married Hannah (?), and they had 3 daughters, Jane, Susan, & Abigail all b. in Ashe Co. They all married into the Phipps family."
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KATHRYN GAVEN (GENEOLGY6) Kathryn is new to Taliaferro research. I found her
questions to be provocative and challenging even for 'old' Taliaferro searchers.
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My husband's 8th and 9th great grandparents are Col. John (the Ranger) Taliaferro and
Robert Taliaferro, born in 1626. Does anyone know where either of these men
and their wives are buried and where their old homesites and/or homes are standing
today? I believe that Robert Taliaferro died in 1671 and John died June 21, 1720 in
Essex, VA. Any help would be most appreciated.
Robert Taliaferro died ca 1671, in what was then "Old" Rappahannock County and probably at Taliaferro's Mount. John the Ranger lived at Cedar Creek farm on the Peumandsend and probably died there. No graves for either, or their wives, are known.
Also, Martha Taliaferro, the daughter of Richard Taliaferro, married in 1715 a Mr. Thomas Turner of King George Co. Va. What is the background of the family of Richard Taliaferro? Who was his wife and his father and mother?
Is this Richard the Pirate, son of the immigrant and Katherine Debnam, married Sarah Wingfield, dau of ?John and Martha? I'd like to know more about him. Why the designation, Richard, the Pirate?
JOYCE BROWNING (JBrown7169@aol.com)
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Everytime I run across the name "Hay" as we frequently do in researching the
early Taliaferro family, I wonder (yet again) if the American Hay family has any
relationship to the family of Bennet Haie who married Francis Taliaferro in England.
Bennet Haie's family lived in Southwarke, across the Thames from London. Does anyone
have information about her family or the American Hay family that might lead to an answer
to this question?
RESPONSES
PAUL PHIPPS (PaulPhipps) submitted a partial answer to the Taliaferro spelling question
we discussed. His findings will be interesting to all of us. The Editor's
comment which started this discussion and sent Paul scavaging was that the earliest
consistent mispelling of the Taliaferro name as Toliver that I had seen was in early Ashe
County NC, where the Toliver spelling stuck.
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Your comment on the spelling of Taliaferro and about the name getting corrupted to
Toliver, beginning in NC, got me to thinking. [I know that is hard to believe]
I made a quick survey of my North Carolina Census books, and here is the result.
1790 Surry Co. John Talliaferro and Charles Taliaferro
Wilkes Co. Moses, Jn, Chs, Wm all Toliver
1800 Ashe Co. All Toliver
1810-1840 It remained as Toliver
Then in 1850 they started mispelling it again, and it came out as: Tollaver for the most part, but some still Toliver.
In 1859, they made Alleghany Co from Ashe Co, and as a result, all the Tolivers now were in Alleghany Co.
The 1860 Alleghany Co. showed the name spelled as follows: As in the 1850 Ashe Co., they were still for the most part spelling it as Tollaver, with a few Tolaver and Toliver.
In the 1870 Alleghany Census, all were spelled Toliver. I think now that is pretty much the accepted spelling, at least in NC.
For my convenience, I am going with Toliver. If it is spelled other than that, I
will just make a note. I sometimes I set my own rules. :-)
TALIAFERROS IN EUROPE
Editor's Note: This two-part monologue about the immigrant, Robert Taliaferro, was written some years ago. It will not surprise me to learn that other research challenges some aspects of this monologue and I'll welcome them. The purpose is to invite questions and additions so that the end result will be a biography of our immigrant ancestor which is asaccurate and complete as we can possibly get it.
Robert Taliaferro, the American Immigrant
(1626-1671)
The first Robert Taliaferro immigrated as a young man to Virginia. It is possible that he came initially for some purpose other than immigration - he was from a merchandizing family - and decided that Virginia, with her fertile, verdant landscape and busy water courses, was his land of opportunity.
Robert Taliaferro appears to be the only son of Francis and Bennett Haie Taliaferro. He was baptized at Stepney, outside London, "aged 8 days old," on 19 November 1626. He was born on 11 November 1626, twelve years after the marriage of Francis and Bennett Haie Taliaferro. He had an older sister, Anne. There are no recordings in the parish records of the baptism or burial of other children, so it must be that Anne and Robert were the only children.
Robert Taliaferro grew up in the semi-rural, prosperous village of Bethnal Green, Stepney Parish. By the time of his birth in 1626, much of the shipping activity of the busy Thames had shifted away from the area near the Tower of London to Stepney, east of the city. The three tiny Jamestown ships departed from the Stepney with their "gentleman adventurers" in 1607. [Noted that Weldon Rogers and I disagree on the nature of Bethnal Green. As he says, the Britannica agrees with him, but not my gazateers and histories of 10 or 12 years ago]
Bethnal Green was an ancient little English village, originally called Mile End, and changed to the more fashionable Bethnal Green when it became a popular suburb of London. In the early seventeenth century, it was one of the safe retreats for wealthy citizens of London. The founder of another old Virginia family, William Claiborne, also has associations with Bethnal Green. His parents Thomas and Sarah Smith Claiborne married there and lived in Bethnal Green before they moved the Kent, even further from the London milieu.
What sort of life did young Robert Taliaferro have growing up in a community of fairly prosperous households. What were his interests? Who were his companions? His friends had families much like his own, their fathers active in the commercial whirl of London, with a seasoning of merchants and ship captains. Did he slip off to the docks to observe the bustle of activity and did he, perhaps, hear stories about this new land across the ocean and did the stories capture his imagination and become the stuff of his daydreams? Probably not. There were enough other activities in England to engage his interest, and his Bethnal Green home was some distance from the dock area. He evidently lived in reasonably comfortable circumstances and received an above average education. Young Robert Taliaferro could read, write, and calculate, and probably had good grounding in the classics and geography, a popular discipline now that English ships were sailing all over the world.
It is doubtful that Robert Taliaferro's family continued its close association with the Italian community of his grandfather, Bartholomew Taliaferro or even with the Italian community in London. More likely, he came under the influence of his mother's Haie (Hay) familiy who lived across the Thames in Southwarke.
When his Father, Francis Taliaferro, died in mid August 1647, Robert Taliaferro was only a few months shy of his 21st birthday. Normal practice would have been for young Robert Taliaferro to underake administration of his father's estate; but he did not. His elder sister, Anne Gray, was named Administratrix of their father's estate. As the turn of events occurred in England in 1647, Robert Taliaferro probably could not act as Administrator of his father's estate.
England was in turmoil in 1647. The English civil war had just ended. Victorious Puritans would soon behead the King, Charles II. Oliver Cromwell was in the early stages of his protectorate and still battling competitors for supremacy among their Puritan comrades. As the Puritan government became established, Englishmen who supported the monarchy found that England was no longer a safe haven for them. Not only might they lose their financial wealth, some were in danger of losing their heads if they remained in England. The Stepney docks must have been frantically busy as entire families and their retainers sought passage out of England.
Among the ships standing by to sail from the Stepney docks in August 1647 was the "Honor" which, two months later, docked at the York River port in Virginia. York County records show that passengers were making preparations to sail as early as February 1647. The "Honor," owned by Thomas Harwood and captained by William Harrison, embarked from its Stepney dock on 24 August 1647. Both Thomas Harwood and William Harrison were residents of Stepney.
Young Robert Taliaferro, two months shy of his 21st birthday, was a passenger on the "Honor" when it pushed away from the dock on August 24th 1647, less than two weeks after his father was buried. This is why the estate of Francis Taliaferro was presented for probate the day after he died, and why Anne Taliaferro Gray was granted administration of estate instead of the son, Robert.
Evidently, Robert Taliaferro's plans to sail on the "Honor" had been made some time before his father died. This was a very awkward time for this young man to be traveling out of England, leaving it to his sister and her husband to settle the affairs of their father.
Was it, perhaps, imperative that he leave the country at just this time? Was
Robert Taliaferro so closely associated with the Royalist cause that he had to flee for
his safety? It seems that this might be so; otherwise, custom being waht it was in
1647, administration of Francis Taliaferro's estate would have been reserved for his son
who was only a few months shy of 21 years. Instead, administration was very quickly
granted to the other child, a daughter - definately not the usual way of doing
business in the seventeenth century. (To be continued)
COLONIAL TALLIAFERROS
Gloucester County is on the north side of the York River. The York River was originally known by the Indian name of Chiskiake. Englishmen rechristined it Charles River in honor of the King of England. After the English Civil War in the mid 1600s, it became known as the York River. The York River is formed by the confluence of the Mattapony (Mat-ta-pon-i) and Pamunkey (Pa-mun-ki) Rivers which reach well back into Orange and Spotsylvania Counties. There is still a Pamunkey Indian Reservation in this area. The point of land formed by the junction of the Mattapony and Pamunkey was first owned by William Claiborn, Robert Taliaferro's 'almost' neighbor in Bethnal Green. It is occupied now by the town of West Point. At the very birth of the New World, Pocahuntas grew to young womanhood beside these streams that watered Virginia's Gloucester County . The native Indians bestowed on them the gift of their language which still colors the landscape: Mattapony .. Cappahosic .. Poropotank .. Romancoke ... Pamunkey ... Chesapeake, "Mother of Waters."
The Poropotank cited in Robert Taliaferro's early patents is a large tributary of the Mattapony River; and the Attopotomoyes Creek is a tributary of the Poropotank. Three hundred and fifty years ago when Robert Taliaferro and an associate, Samuel Sallis, selected this as their homesites, the Poropotank was navigable for a short distance inland. Previously reserved for the Indians, the Gloucester land was newly opened for settlement by Englishmen when Robert Taliaferro began patenting land. The Pamunkey Indian Reservation is not far distant from this site in Gloucester County.
1651 Samuel Sallate and Robert Troliver 800 acres Gloster 200 acres upon southeast side of Poropotanke and upon northeast towards head of Attopotomoys Cr.; adjacent land of Oliver Green. The other 600 acres upon the southwest side of a branch or swamp of said creek upon the head thereof, extending itself along the swamp which divides this and land of Isaac Richardson.
1655 Samuel Sollace and Robert Troliver 900
acres Glouster (re-patent to enlarge). On southeast side of
Poropotanck Creek. 200 acres upon northeast side of a branch of same called
Attapotomays Cr. Adjacent land of Oliver Green. 700 acres upon southwest side
of a branch or swamp, along the swamp dividing this and land of Isaac Richardson.
Also, same date: Sam. Sollace, 352 acres on southeast side of Poropotank Cr. upon
northest side of a swampe dividing this and land of Isaac Richardson and extending along a
branch of same dividing this and land of John Day (302 acres grand to William Ginsey in
1652, deserted, and reassigned to Sollace).
RESEARCH
GLEN TAYLOR (DGT54)
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I was at the Virginia Room in Fairfax Co Library and came across information about a
Taliaferro/Carter Family cemetery in Fairfax County. The "Epsom" reference is
clearly a link to the Francis Taliaferro, et al.... who were at Epsom. Now if I can
tie in the others. . . .
Benjamin F Taliaferro was a Fredericksburg attorney, son of Jane Taliaferro. and
Francis Whitacker Taliaferro, grandson (on his mother's side) of Robert T of Blenheim d
1791 and Jane Bankhead d 1834 and (on his father's side) Francis Taliaferro Jr of Epsom,
d. 1815 and Jane Champe Taliaferro. He was the executor of his grandmother's estate in
1834. He was a descendant of the immigrant thru 2 of his sons, and 3 of his grandchildren
with Elizabeth Hay (m Francis Taliaferro, Sr) and Agatha Hay (m John T of the Mount)
adding an additional wrinkle. I'm not making this up! See King's Marriages of
Richmond County. Just consanguinity in the Old Dominion.
MISCELLANY
A non-subscriber, not lucky enough to be a Taliaferro, sent this information to us. Please take some time out of your busy day to say "Thanks" to our friend, IRVING BLABON (IrvBlabon@aol.com), who just happened to pick up a free newspaper today that is published in Bolinas, California and found his reprint of a very interesting article.
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Article in brief:
Dr. Alfred Taliferro: Marin's First Physician, by Joan Reutinger
Dr. Alfred Taliaferro came from Virginia. The historian Bancroft calls the
Virginians "eminently human, hospitable and companionable, reverent as to place,
divinity and medicine. " And so was Dr. Taliaferro. He arrived in San
Francisco after coming around the Horn in a ship carrying every sort of merchandise,
including prefabricated houses, soap, tobacco and machinery, "to prosecute any and
every kind of business that might be available in the new California." He rented land
from Don Timothy Murphy in San Rafael and began to farm.
The article goes on to tell about the things Dr. Taliaferro did here in San Rafael, from farming, medicine, running a drug store, being the first doctor at San Quentin prison in 1874, elected to the San Rafaael Board of Trustees, establishing the Mount Tamalpais Cemetery in 1878, built an exact duplicate of the Virginia mansion where he was born ....etc.
Dr. Taliaferro died in 1885, he was a bachelor. I can copy the article and snail mail it to you or you might want to contact the weekly newspaper for information on the article. If you want more information, I could go to our local library and get it for you
Irving Blabon - Researching the NOSLER family of Virginia
W.Va.>Indiand>Iowa>Missouri>Nebraska>California>Oregon.
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TALIAFERRO TIMES: Compiled from email and other sources
Distributed by Joyce Browning
cJBrown7169@AOL.com
8 January 1997