Someone asked if I was going to change information sent in. My answer is that I will correct spelling when I run Spell Check, any text that is garbled on transmission, or obvious mistakes such as correcting 1978 when the author clearly meant 1778. If I have questions, I will get in touch with you. My job is to compile information you send and to transmit it to the group.

I wish to thank all of you who have submitted information about yourselves and your families.  A special appreciation to Eleetra and Ray Weathers of Texas who are laboriously typing the information about the Taliaferro family in "Historic Georgia Families."  This publication contains an excellent introduction to the Taliaferros.  TALIAFERRO TIMES will run excerpts in serial for the first few issues.

Thanks also to all of you whose enthusiasm and energy is inspiring and gratifying, particularly several of you who made sure I learned who my Taliaferro family is.  It sure is nice to know I'm no longer an unattached Taliaferro.
 

NEW MEMBERS

GLEN TAYLOR (DGT54)
*****I was born in Washington, D.C., but have been in Northern Virginia all but the first 6 years.  Married, with a four year old son, I currently live in Burke, Fairfax County, Virginia.  I am currently a Fire Captain with the Alexandria Fire Department assigned to an Engine Company in the north part
of Old Town Alexandria.  Although my name is Taylor, my birth father is Daniel Grayson Jones.  My parents were divorced when I was 6 and I acquired my stepfathers family name.  Father, stepfather and son are all "relating" well.

Taliaferro roots:  My father is Daniel Grayson Jones and my 3rd Great grandfather was Hardy Jones, Jr.  He married Elizabeth Taliaferro in 1811 who bore 5 children.  Her parents were Charles Taliaferro (1766/1838) and Sallie Burroughs (1770/1810).  Charles was the son of John Taliaferro (1733/1821) and
Mary Hardin (?)
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WAYNE ROGERS (wwr@netdepot.com)
*****Would like to identify errors and illuminate descendants of John of the Mount ca 1685-1763/Agatha Hay** and** Robert Taliaferro ca 1687-1768/Margaret French/Ann Pitman.  My maternal ggggf: JOHN Toliver b 25 Nov 1786 VA, d 1867 Lawrence Co MO (from 1839) m ca 1805 to Mary DICK b 28 Dec 1786 NC, d 1877 Lawrence Co MO d/o John Dick b ca 1755 MD d 1811 Logan Co KY and Mary Elizabeth ROWLAND, gd of Conrad Dick and Catherine, from Germany to PA to Frederick Co MD (1755) to Rowan Co NC (1779). John T & Mary Dick lived in Warren Co TN ca 1810-1839. Issue: Nancy 1807-<1850 m John HALEY; Rachel 1811-1902 m Judge Jas Joel CHERRY; John Henry 1813-1862 Capt CSA d @ Pea Ridge m1 Hannah - m2 Ann LANCASTER; William 1814-1856 m Amelia - ; Rebecca Eliz. 1816-1889 m Roiston Haley 1813-1895 (half-bro of John Haley); Mary Frances 1821-1911 m William J BROWN; Ellen b 1822 m Thomas WEBBER; Sarah Jane 1824-1889 m Stephen Conger POWELL. Father of John unproven. William of Grayson Co VA and Wilkes Co NC ca 1750->1827 is suspect.  Personal information:   2999 Gant Quarters Drive, Marietta GA 30068, 770-977-1758. BA UT, Eng. Hist., NGS Cert. CLU CPCU Retired, b 1927 Terry Co TX. Lived TX NM VA LA OK PA IL GA. .
 

COLLATERALS

GLEN TAYLOR (DGT54):  Jones (NC), Taylor (VA), Berryman, Sparschott, Eldridge, Foute (TN), Watt, Proctor (DC/MD) and Biscoe.
 

QUERIES

LARRY LEE (SXGY62A@prodigy.com)
I was told that Gen. George Catlett Marshall was a descendant of Francis Taliaferro and Elizabeth Catlett.  My file on this family runs 127 pages, but I have no Marshalls.  Gen. George C. Marshall was born Dec 31, 1880 Uniontown, Penn., d. Oct16, 1959, Washington, D.C.  His father was also George Catlett Marshall. He married 1st Elizabeth Coles (d. 1927) and married 2nd Katherine Tupper Brown in 1930.

General Marshall was Chief of Staff of the United States Army all during World War II until Nov 21, 1945, later becoming Secretary of State under President Harry Truman and fathered the Marshall Plan.

Can anyone make a connection to the Taliaferro family?
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Glen Taylor (DGT54)
I started into this based on a casual conversation with my father who mentioned we "may" be related to MG WILLIAM BOOTH TALIAFERRO, CSA.  I have nothing on him, but I know he's out there.  Also seeking info on ELIZABETH TALIAFERRO (3GGM), ROSE BERRYMAN (wife of Richard Taliaferro 1706-48), daughter of Benjamin Berryman and Elizabeth Newton.  Also HAY TALIAFERRO, who served with the 17th Virginia Infantry, CSA in Alexandria, VA.  I have a Hay Taliafero listed, of Cheerful Hall (Orange Co., VA), but no information.
 

RESPONSES

ELEETRA WEATHERS (rrw@htcomp.net) response to JOYCE (Jbrown7169): ****Perhaps we have a clue for more information for Dr. John Taliaferro. At some time in the past we copied pages from "Historic Georgia Families." compiled by L. W. Rigsby, published in 1969 by Genealogical Publishing Company of Baltimore.

Page 104
"Capt.Richard and Rose (Berryman) Taliaferro had issue:
           I. Sarah Taliaferro: b June 7, 1717;...."
          II."Benjamin Taliaferro; b. Nov. 1, 1728; d. abt. 1751; his land in Amherst was inherited by his brother Zachariah."
         III. "Zachariah Taliaferro; b. Aug. 29, 1730; d. in South Carolina in April, 1811; was early in life a captain of a ship; Justice and sheriff of Amherst; member of Amherst Committee of Safety 1775-6; married 1749, Mary  Boutwell.
                                   Issue....."

Page105
               IV.  "Richard Taliaferro; b. Feb. 15, 1731, d. Feb. 26, 1731."

              V. "Dr. John Taliaferro; (See Chapter IX, Part II. of this sketch.)"

 [Note:  Thanks to all of you who knew who I was even if I didn't.  This was the shortest response.  Like the young man in the piece last week, I feel like I have a place. One of my early surprises, when I moved to Essex Co VA, was the sight of people seining for herring in Pneumensend's Creek in Caroline County.  I find now that my Taliaferros lived on this colorful little creek. In their day it was deep enough for a ship of 7 or 8 feet draft to sail inland for a couple of miles. It underwent the same changes so many eastern Virginia sustained after the landscape was cut over to make room for the new tobacco fields.  During years of floods and rains and deep snows, the soil washed into the creeks.]
 

TALIAFERROS OF EUROPE

We are all indebted to ELEETRA AND RAY WEATHERS (rrw@htcomp.net) of Hamilton TX (rrw@htcomp.net) who are taking time off from their busy lives to type and give us all access to information from "Historic Georgia Families."   Few American families can claim that Thomas Jefferson was their family's first genealogist.  Further, he exhibited a characteristic shared by all family historians - he made a mistake,  or accepted someone else's mistake.  The important thing is that he provided us with the material that led to the correction of the mistake.
           ******Source:  "Historic Georgia Families," compiled by L. W. Rigsby,
                       Genealogical Publishing Company, 1969

CHAPTER I.
"EARLY ACCOUNTS OF THE TALIAFERRO FAMILY"

"Accounts of the earlier portion of the Taliaferro family have been derived chiefly from records at Court House, Essex Co.,VA. and from the correspondence of Thomas Jefferson in the Archives Dept. of the Congressional Library at Washington, where there are some letters of George Wythe to Mr. Jefferson, which are interesting in connection with the history of the origin of the family; Mr. Wythe's interest in the matter being due to the fact that his wife at that time (his second wife) was Elizabeth, daughter of Col. Richard Taliaferro of James City County, VA.  During Mr. Jefferson's stay in London and Paris in 1786-87 he secured for his friend, George Wythe, a copper plate engraved with the Arms of Taliaferro, and the best editions of "Vitruvius" and "Polybius" containing much of the early history of this family.

"The correspondence of Mr. Wythe and Mr. Jefferson accepts the Italian origin of the family; the name originated from the Latin"tatum ferre," meaning "to bear a sword or dart."  Tradition says that this name was bestowed upon a barbarian during Caesar's campaign in Gaul 58 B.C., when a barbarian who saved the life of Caesar was rewarded for his bravery by being made Armor Bearer to Caesar; this being a great privilege, in as much as it was contrary to custom in the Roman Camps to allow a barbarian to carry arms.  Mr. Wythe supposes the Italian Emigrant to be Lawrence Taliaferro, who came to Scotland in 1500; but there are grounds for even an earlier origin, and there is no doubt that the family had been long seated in England before their emigration to Virginia.

"A branch of the Taliaferro family wandered into Normandy; Taliofor of Talafer being the name of a Norman knight who came over to England with William the Conqueror in 1060; he being called the hero of Hastings.  He received large grants of land for his bravery in County Kent, which descended to his posterity, who became the Earls of Pennington.

"In Bulwer's novel, "Harold," there is the story of a troubadour named Taliaferro who was a personal friend of William the Conqueror.  This Taliaferro died a gallant death at Hastings.

 "In 804 A.D., a Taliaferro was created Duke de Angouleme by Charles the Bold of France, and in Hume's History of England there is a record of the marriage of Isabelle Taliaferro, daughter of Count de Angouleme to King John of England; and from them descended a long line of kings and queens. They were also dukes of the Plantagenet  line, thus linking not only with the Norman King, but with the old line of English rulers, Edward the Confessor and others.
 
"Be that as it may, the first of the family in Virginia was the Emigrant, Robert Taliaferro, Gentleman.  It is not known from what country Robert Taliaferro came, but as he and his sons were Protestants, it is supposed that religious freedom was the cause of the emigration. He first resided in York County; the records showing that his name first appears about 1645. He was a man of consequence; for he had large grants of land in Gloucester County and on the Rappahannock River, including one of 6500 acres which he patented jointly with Major Lawrence Smith. The grant in Gloucester is dated 1655, and in the document the name is written"Toliver," thus showing that the pronunciation is the same as it is to-day.  He  married Sarah, daughter of Rev. Charles Grymes of "Brandon" and aunt of Hon. John Grymes, receiver general of Virginia.  He died about 1682.

"From the Emigrant, Robert Taliaferro, there has come a long line of descendants, some of whom remained in"Virginia, while many others moved with their families South and West, settling in Kentucky, Tennessee, North "and South Carolina, Alabama, and Georgia.  Among these worthy descendants of the Emigrant, Robert Taliaferro, there was one Dr. John Taliaferro, a physician, a soldier, and a Baptist minister, who moved from his home on the Bannister River, Pittsylvania Co., VA., in 1779 to Surry County, North Carolina, settling on Fisher's River; and later, about 1790-91, he moved to Wilkinson County, Georgia, where he has to-day some worthy descendants who feel a pride in his name and service.  From this good name there has descended a number of prominent Baptist ministers, physicians, lawyers, and statesmen, residing in this and other Southern States."

 [Note:  For those who are wondering how Bartholomew and Francis Taliaferro fit into this description of the early Taliaferro family, they will be addressed in later issues.]

COLONIAL TALIAFERROS

Glenn (DGT54) received this via the normal loop from Mary Underwood; Tuscon, Arizona. (emp257@indirect.com)
*****Her source:  "Historical sketches of the Campbell, Pilcher and Allied Families" by Margaret Campbell Pilcher, published 1911.

Colonial and Continental Record of some of the Taliaferros.

Zachariah TALIAFERRO, of Pendleton, SC, sixth in descent from the first Robert TALIAFERRO, of Gloucester Co., VA, often told his children the story of one of his ancestors, a proud Virginia dame of the Colonial period, boasting that her father traced his ancestral lines to one of the noted standard bearers of the Norman Conquest, he being the first man to set foot on English soil and plant the standard of William the Conqueror, which was never to go down.
 
Another story is that three TALIAFERRO brothers came to Virginia from England. One died young, never having married; one was supposed to have left no children by the name TALIAFERRO, but left CRAIG descendants, he having married a widow CRAIG, taking her name for reasons satisfactory to himself and his elder brother, Robert TALIAFERRO.  These two brothers were not friendly, their families having no communication with one another and when they separated they divided some family jewels.  One ring, which they considered a valuable heirloom, each wanted.  They decided the dispute by cutting the ring, making two complete circles, each taking one.  Ex-Governor SMITH, of Georgia, a descendant of Robert TALIAFERRO, is authority for this story, saying he had seen one of the rings.  These two were Robert TALIAFERRO and his brother, who took the name CRAIG.

A reported by Ms. Underwood:  "There is much more in here, including lines of descent in both Virginia and South Carolina.

RESEARCH

WAYNE ROGERS(wwr@netdepot.com) sent information about an earlier Zachariah, this one of Caroline County VA.  This information corrects a widely repeated error.
*****The earliest Zachariah was son of John the Ranger and Sarah Smith who died in 1722. His will left slaves and land to his brothers Richard, Charles & William. His oldest brother, Lawrence, refused to allow the Will to be probated and nothing was done until 1745. By that time, slaves had increased and the land was more valuable.

Zach's heirs filed suit which continued until after the Revolution. All of this survives in the Huntington Library under Taliaferro vs Taliaferro, one of the longest lawsuits of record.

Until the Madison deed was found in the Court Order Books, Zachariah's land was assumed to be Blenheim, which before 1727 was in King William Co.  And since nobody knew, they also assumed that Richard b 1747, the youngest son of Richard and Rose Berryman inherited Blenheim and he was the one married to Jane Bankhead.

All in error. Zachariah was repeated in every generation of Richard and Rose's family but it was in honor of a beloved brother who died young and still single. As for Richard b 1747 - never been identified.

Lanciano's expertise in architecture is correct, Blenheim was built about the same time, 1750s, as was Powhatan and the Wythe House. Powhatan's roof line was altered later to resemble the Gov. Palace. The Architect 1705-1779 was a son of Francis T d 1710 and Eliz Catlett d 1716, and brother of John the Ranger.

 [Note:  Lanciano, above, was the author of "Our Most Skillful Architect," quoted in Issue I.  This book is a biography of an early Richard Taliaferro.]

MISCELLANY

Sources: "The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography," Jan 1969, p. 22, also Vol. 32, page 260; The Huguenot Records, Vol. 10; and others.

*****I promised I would present a new perspective to the persistent tradition that Bartholomew Taliaferro was a court musician.  Certainly, it would not be surprising to discover that this Renaissance Italian was an artist. English records, as we have been able to discover it, do not support this tradition.

In presenting the proposition below, I do so with hope that others will challenge it and produce conflicting information so that we can come to a comfortable acceptance of the source of this very strong Taliaferro tradition.

In inviting conflicting information, I am not calling for a litany of published, but unsubtantiated, reports that Bartholomew Taliaferro was a musician, but ligitimate information to support or deny the tradition.
                                   ******
On March 4, 1562, in London, Bartholomew Taliaferro received Letters of Denization (naturalization) which identified him as a subject of the Duke of Venice and a citizen of London.  The following year, 1563, in a London census, he is identified as a Merchant. This is not new information.  It has been known for over 25 years.

So - one wonders - why has this tradition persisted hundreds of years, in spite of what preserved records tell us.  Where did it start?  What is the truth?  What power formed this Taliaferro family tradition and sustained this totally inaccurate tradition for so many years?

I wanted to find some justification for a tradition which has been so stubbornly persistent.  Surely, we must give cognizance to the strength of the tradition.  So, I began looking around, not for reasons to deny that the family had unusual musical talent and ability, but to substantiate it and I believe I found the truth.

Bartholomew Taliaferro probably was what the record say he was  --  a Merchant. England was Venice's biggest fan and supporter in the mid 1500s. There was a great deal of commerce between the two markets.
 
Bartholomew married Joane Lane on January 1, 1584 at St. Michael's Church, Cornhill, London.  I believe that we will find superlative musical gifts in her family.  Gifts that they were worthy to summoned by the Monarch and designated Musicians to the Queen of England.  No will has survived for the person I presume is Joane Lane's father, and he was not listed in the marriage record.  However, facts seem to lead us to John Lanye/Laniere who did not leave a will that has been found, so information regarding his descendants is speculative.  Given the variety of ways the name was spelled by scribes and clerks who wrote what they heard spoken to them, no doubt with an accent, it is no great leap forward to suppose that Joane Lane was a member of this family.

John Lanye arrived in London the same year that Bartholomew Taliaferro received his papers of denization,1562.  Both men were quickly granted denization.

In 1571, under the name John Laninell, he is described as a Frenchman, a native of Rouen, and a musician, with a wife and two children.  He stated that he had been in the country for ten years.  In a later record he is living in Hart Street, London.  Researchers of this London family (believed to be ancestors of the Virginia Lanier family) have discovered that the family lived originated in Northern Italy, until one of them moved to Gascony in southern France, from whence John Lanye immigrated to London.

Hereafter, I will use the modern spelling of the name, Lanier.

John Lanier, the emigrant and court musician, is believed to be the father of John Lanier who married Frances Galliardo, daughter of Marc Anthony Galliardo of Italy, also a court musician.  King Henry VIII sent to Italy for Galliardo, and the Italian musician remained in court favor into the reign of Queen Elizabeth.  John Lanie II was  owner of a considerable amount of property in the Parish of St. Olave, Hart Street, at a time when it was the most exclusive section of the city.

Bartholomew and Joane Taliaferro were also residents of Hart Street and parishioners at St. Olave's.  It is not a long street, so it is supposed that they were near neighbors of John Lanier.

Nicholas Lanier, another son of the emigrant, was also a man of means.  He owned much of East Greenwich, Blackearth, and the surrounding countryside. This area was south of the Thames about 12 miles east of the Tower.

A second Nicholas Lanier, son of John Lanier II (of Hart Street) and grandson of the emigrant, became the most distinguished member of this talented family. He was baptized September 10, 1588 (presumably at St. Olave's Hart Street), son of John Lannyer, Musician to her Majesty.  He became a composer and musician in the court of James I, successor to Queen Elizabeth.  Among his compositions is the music for Ben Johnson's "Lovers Made Men,"  and he merits frequent mention in the diaries of Samuel Pepys, also a parishioner at St. Olave's.  Pepys wrote of Nicholas Lanier, "his music puts me in an extacy."

Nicholas Lanier found his greatest fame during the reign of Charles I who began sending Lanier abroad as his emissary to seek out and purchase paintings and statues for a Royal Collection. The King's emissary was one of the first connoisseurs to appreciate the value of the old Masters.  He spent three years in Italy acquiring treasures to send to the King of England.  At the outbreak of the Civil War, Nicholas Lanier followed the Stuarts into Exile, and much of the art he acquired was sold.

Food for Thought

It is appropriate to note another important fact which has bearing on our quest.  Our ancestor, Robert Taliaferro, left England shortly before his 21st birthday.  He boarded the ship 'Honor' at the Stepney docks only two days after his father, Francis Taliaferro, died and was buried.  He left his older sister, Anne, to act as Administrator of their Father's estate.

The date, August 1646, the likelihood that his uncle was a close adherent of the deposed King, and the haste of his departure in company of Robert Lee, seems to signal that Robert Taliaferro fled England in the wake of the defeat of King Charles I by the Parliamentary forces.  Soon after he arrived in Virginia, he took up a patent adjacent to the earlier patent of Richard Lee, progenitor of Virginia's famous Lee family and a known Royalist. Richard Lee invited King Charles to take refuge in Virginia where he would be welcomed.

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