Elijah Craig (abt. 1738 - 1808)

Born about 15 Nov 1738 in Orange, Virginia, British Colonial America

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 18 May 1808 at about age 69 in Georgetown, Scott, Kentucky, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Becky Simmons [send private message]

Biography

Elijah Craig is Notable.

Elijah Craig was born in Orange County, near Spotsylvania, Virginia on 15 Nov 1738, the 5th child of Polly Hawkins and Taliaferro or Toliver Craig, Sr.

Converted by David Thomas in 1764, Elijah Craig soon began holding meetings in his tobacco barn.

Elijah was a Baptist preacher in Kentucky sometimes credited with developing bourbon whiskey. He has been claimed to be the first to age the distillation in charred oak casks, "a process that gives the bourbon its reddish color and unique taste", however, American whiskey authorities state that there no historical evidence indicates that Craig's whiskey was unique in its time, nor that he practiced charring of the aging barrels. An early distiller physically located in Bourbon County named Jacob Spears is credited with being the first to label his product as "bourbon whiskey". Craig's distillery, founded around 1789, was actually located in what was then Fayette County, Virginia and then Fayette County, Kentucky as Kentucky was transitioning to statehood. Some would say that true bourbon had to be made in Bourbon County only, although today it can be produced anywhere in the United States with the name bourbon (95% of bourbon still comes from Kentucky). Despite the disagreement on Craig's standing as the first bourbon producer, there is a distillery today called Heaven Hill which produces a bourbon whiskey named "Elijah Craig".

Besides being a preacher, Elijah was a businessman, developing Kentucky's first fulling mill for cloth manufacturing, first paper mill, and its first ropewalk, and the first lumber mill and grist mill in Georgetown, Scott County. He established the first classical school in Kentucky in 1787 and founded Rittenhouse Academy in 1798. He donated land for Georgetown College, the first Baptist college founded west of the Allegheny Mountains.

Established Elijah Craig's Station Space:Kentucky_Resource_Page:_Early_Stations_and_Forts in 1783

Facts

• Fact: will (15 DEC 1790) Woodford, Kentucky

• Fact: Burial (1808) Scott, Kentucky, United States

• Fact: Occupation: minister

• Fact: Religion: Baptist

• Fact: http://familysearch.org/v1/TitleOfNobility Reverend

Property

Sometime after Elijah Craig's death in 1808, Josiah Pitts (his son-in-law) purchased land from Elijah Craig's estate in Scott County, Kentucky.

The Payne-Desha House was built on the west side of Royal Spring Branch on land originally owned by Elijah Craig. After Craig's death in 1808, General Richard Gano and Josiah Pitts purchased the property near Royal Spring Branch from Craig's estate. The Payne-Desha House is a historic house located on land west of Royal Spring Branch near downtown Georgetown, Scott County, Kentucky that was built in 1814 by Robert Payne Source.^[1]

Will

• Kentucky, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1774-1989

Name: Elijah Craig Probate Date: 13 May 1808 Probate Place: Kentucky, USA Inferred Death Year: 1808 Item Description: Will Records Others Listed- Relationship(s): Elijah Craig:- Simeon Craig - Son, John D. Craig - Son, Joel Craig - Child, John Craig - Child, Lucy Craig - Child, Mary Craig - Child, John Hawkins - Child, Josiah Pitts - Child.

• Specifically: "...my beloved wife Mary Craig... my nine children namely, John Craig, Toliver Craig, Lewis Craig, Joseph Craig, Elijah Craig, Benjamin Craig, Jeremiah Craig, Joice Faulkener, and Elizabeth Cave... make John Sanders and Sarah Singleton's part Equal with theirs in property... ^[2]

Sources

1. ↑ [1]
2. ↑ [2]

• "Kentucky Probate Records, 1727-1990," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89DL-N9CB-C?cc=1875188&wc=37R1-VZ9%3A173854201%2C1561684348 : 27 March 2015), Woodford > Will records, 1789-1815, Vol. A-D > image 139 of 641; county courthouses, Kentucky.

Link to copied image: [3]

• "Family Tree," database, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org : modified 18 June 2021, 21:17), entry for Reverend Elijah Craig (PID https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/4:1:L4BB-CKZ ); contributed by various users.

• Craig, Lillian K.. Reverend John Craig, 1709-1774 : his descendants and allied families. New Orleans, LA: Accurate Letter Company, 1963.

• Masters, Frank M.. A History of Baptists in Kentucky. Louisville, KY: Kentucky Baptist Historical Society, 1952.

• Howard, Virginia W.. Bryan Station Heroes and Heroines. Lexington, KY: Press of the Commercial Print Co., 1932.

• Wulfeck, Dorothy F.. Hawkins of Virginia, the Carolinas and Kentucky: court records, queries, brief lineages, genealogical notes. Naugatuck, CN: D. F. Wulfeck, 1963.

• Darnell, Ermina J.. Forks of Elkhorn Church. Louisville, KY: Standard Printing Co., 1946.

• Parker, Anna V.. The Sanders Family of Grass Hills. Madison, IN: Coleman Printing Co., 1966.

• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/36818127/elijah-craig : accessed 08 December 2021), memorial page for Rev Elijah Craig (1738–18 May 1808), Find a Grave Memorial ID 36818127, ; Maintained by Carol STEVENS (contributor 46861595) Unknown.

Memorial Here: [4]

• Elijag Craig on Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia

• See Also [5]