Notes and Links

Alexander died in 1766 and was buried in March of that year at the original Sugaw (often pronounced "Sugar") Creek Presbyterian Church Cemetery on Craighead Road, in Charlotte NC. Note: The "Sugar Creek Schoolhouse", "Sugar Creek Road", "Craighead Road" and the "Sugaw Creek Park" are now within the city limits of Charlotte NC, in the NNE side of the city. The name "Sugaw" reflects the name of a local Indian Tribe. Today the creek is named "Sugar Creek", but the Church is named the "Sugaw Creek Church".

• m1. Agnes Brown*, ca. 1734 in PA. The dates and locations of Agnes Brown's birth and death not known. Under the assumption that she was the mother of all the children shown below, she may have died in Virginia, after the birth of her youngest child, Thomas Brown Craighead in 1753, but before her husband moved to NC in 1756.
• Alexander and Agnes Brown had 8 children, the first 6 were daughters born in Middle Octorora, PA; and the last 2 were sons born in VA. Alexander moved from PA to VA, probably in 1749 (according to the Foote Reference) and to Sugaw Creek NC (Now Sugar Creek - a part of NE Charlotte NC) in about 1756, shortly after Braddock's defeat. Children:
  • Margaret Craighead, d. 1775, Margaret is apparently named after Alexander Craighead's mother. Her birth date is not known, but she is now believed to be the first child born to Alexander Craighead. She may have been born in 1735 or 1736.
    • m. James Carruth (or Carouth), and had 5 children (Elizabeth may not be not listed in correct birthdate order):
      • Alexander Craighead Carruth (1765-1833)
      • Walter Carruth; b. 1767
      • William R. Carruth (1769-1831)
      • James Carruth (1772-1831)
      • Elizabeth Carruth; m. Major Lawson Henderson (1774-1843), on July 26, 1789, and had 14 children, one of whom was:
        • James Pinckney Henderson (1808-1858), the first Governor of Texas

  • Agnes "Nancy" Craighead*; b. Mar. 17, 1740 in Octarora PA; d. Nov. 9, 1790, Waxhaw SC.
    • m1. in 1759, Rev. William Richardson (1729-1771)
    • m2. in 1772 George Dunlap* (1736-1800).
  • Rachel Craighead (1742-1825). Rachel was born in Middle Octarora, PA, and died in Guilford County, NC on Jun 12, 1825. She is buried in the Buffalo Presbyterian Church in Guilford County, NC.
    • m. in 1766, Rev. David Caldwell (1725-1824), Grad. Princeton College (D.D. 1761), and Univ. of NC (M.D. 1810), Capt. in Am. Rev., and had 13 children, 10 of whom are known:
      • Rev. Samuel Craighead Caldwell (1767-1824); m1. Abigail Alexander; m2. Elizabeth Lindsay. Samuel had 2 children by his first wife and 9 by his second.
      • Rev. Alexander Caldwell (1769-1841); m. Sarah Davidson.
      • Andrew Caldwell (1771-1845)
      • James Edmond Caldwell (1772-1836), never married.
      • Martha Caldwell; b. 1775, never married.
      • David Caldwell, Jr.; b. Oct 7, 1777; d. Jul 3, 1836; m. Susan Clark.
      • Thomas Caldwell, twin to David, Jr.
      • John Washington Caldwell (1780-1844); m. Margaret Cabe.
      • Robert Craighead Caldwell; b. 1786; m1. Maria Latta; m2. Merjora Wood Bourne; m3. Mary Claney.
      • Patsy Caldwell (1805-1827)

  • Jane Craighead (1743-1766)
    • m. Patrick Calhoun (1754-1796). Jane was Patrick's first wife. She died in 1767 after a miscarriage of twins. Patrick's second wife, Martha Caldwell, was closely related to Rachel Craighead's husband, Rev. David Caldwell. See also James Pettigrew (1713-1786) for a remarkable coincidence. See under James' son, John Pettigrew (1736-1808). Patrick Calhoun and Martha Caldwell had a son, John Caldwell Calhoun (1782-1850) famous SC Statesman and orator, member of the U.S. Congress, and Vice President of the U.S (1825-32) under John Q. Adams and Andrew Jackson.

  • Mary Craighead. Mary's birth date is unknown. A tombstone at the Waxhaw SC cemetery states that a Mary Dunlap died on "Dec 5, 1796 aged 66 years". However, the interred was either not the daughter of Alexander Craighead, or her age was overstated by about 15 years. Another possibility is that Samuel Dunlap, Jr. had two wives named Mary. The first being Mary Craighead, b. c1746, and second being another Mary (the one in the grave) born in 1730. This idea is supported by the fact that Mary Craighead Dunlap is reported to have had only three children, thus may have died earlier than is supposed. A descendant of Mary and Samuel Dunlap has reported that the grave is that of Mary (Craighead) Dunlap, but the date on the tombstone may reflect the death of Samuel's second wife, also named Mary.
    • m. Samuel Dunlap (1715-1791), son of Alexander Dunlap of Waxhaw SC
    • Mary and Samuel had children:
      • Samuel Ferguson Dunlap
        • m. Mary Crawford, daughter of Maj. Robert Crawford
      • Rev. E. Dunlap, a Minister in Columbia SC
      • William Dunlap
        • William had a son, Rev. Robert Dunlap of PA, who had a son Dr. Thomas Dunlap of MS.

  • Elizabeth Craighead
    • m. Alexander Crawford (1750-1839), and had 8 children:
      • John Crawford
      • Jane Crawford; m. ___? Davidson
      • James Thomas Crawford; b. 1770-80 in Maury County, TN; d. 1837; m. on Feb 1, 1821 to Jane Brown Porter (1800-1874) in Memphis TN.
      • Alexander Craighead Crawford; b. 1781; m. Esther Alexander on Dec 20, 1808. He served under Andrew Jackson at New Orleans.
      • Margaret Renick Crawford; b. May 10, 1783 in the Waxhaws, SC; d. Mar 27, 1867, Osford MS; m. Dec 2, 1802 at Nashville TN to David Washington Porter (1782-1856)
      • George Crawford; b. 1780-90; d. Talluhatchee County, MS; m. Priscilla Alexander in c 1813-14 and had 8 children.
      • Patsy Crawford; m. ___? Nichols.
      • Elizabeth Crawford; b. 1780-90; m. on Jan 13, 1810 to Joseph Stockhard.

  • Robert Craighead, b. June 27, 1751
    • Robert Craighead became one of the first settlers of Knoxville TN and built the first jail there. There is a Craighead-Jackson house in Knoxville and there was a "Craighead Cavern" now known as the "Lost Sea" tourist attraction near Knoxville. Robert served in the American Revolution under General Sumpter. He was described as a "brave and excellent officer".
    • m. Hannah Clark

  • Rev. Thomas Brown/Benton Craighead, b. 1753; d. Sep. 11, 1824 near Haysborough in Davidson County TN. Some sources show his middle name as "Brown", including the Princeton General Catalog, where he is listed as graduating in 1775. He was the President of the Davidson Academy in Nashville TN 1786-1806. Rev. Thomas Benton Craighead was also the founder of the first Presbyterian Church in Nashville TN.
    • m. Elizabeth Brown (1756-1828) in 1789. She was of Davidson County TN.
    • There are many descendants of Thomas and Elizabeth, see the page on the link to her parents, John Brown (1728-1803) and Margaret Preston (1728-1802), and their descendants. Agnes Brown may be an older sister to John Brown (1728-1803), but this remains to be documented. If true, then Thomas Benton Craighead (1753-1824) married a niece of his father's first wife, Agnes Brown.

• m2. Miss ___? Scott, possibly: Jean Scott
  • It is not known if Alexander and Miss Scott had any children between them. It may be assumed that "Miss" Scott had no children by previous marriages. It has been stated that Rev. Alexander arrived in NC as a widower in 1756, thus this marriage would have been a short one, perhaps from 1754-56, ending with her early death or an annulment.

• m3. Jane Martin. The date of this marriage is not known, but probably took place in about in late 1764 or 1765, a few years prior to his death. It is doubtful that she had children by Alexander. It is not known whether or not she had any children from prior or subsequent spouses. She is mentioned in Alexander Craighead's will of 1765. Alexander died in 1766. It is possible, but not known, that Jane's father was a Mr. Martin, who is mentioned in the Foote reference as the person who was supposed to "install" Alexander Craighead at Rocky River (Sugar Creek NC) in 1758, but was not able to travel to do so, thus Alexander was installed by his son-in-law, Rev. Richardson, instead.

The mystery of Agnes (Craighead) Alexander:

History shows that there was another Agnes Craighead whose parentage has not been confirmed. However, her husband, John Alexander, and their 10 children are known. Although, Rev. Alexander Craighead had acknowledged in his will a daughter (listed 2nd) named Agnes, most observers believe (and her tombstone confirms) that his Agnes was nicknamed Nancy and has been since known as Nancy Craighead (1740-1790), see above.

Some genealogies, such as the one for Rachel Craighead (see above), list Agnes as a sister to Rachel, with the birth date of "c1740", However, Agnes (a.k.a. Nancy) is known to have been born on March 17, 1740, and unless Nancy and Agnes were twins, it would be very unlikely that Agnes [who married John Alexander (1733-1814) - not to be confused with John McKnitt Alexander (1733-1817)] could also have been born in 1740. Moreover, the will of Alexander Craighead only mentions one daughter named Agnes, and that one was known as "Nancy". It is the opinion of this writer that the Agnes that married John Alexander was the first child of Alexander Craighead's brother, John Craighead. So, Agnes (Craighead) Alexander was a first cousin to Nancy and Rachel Craighead.

Some genealogists have listed Agnes Craighead (1736-1831) as a ninth child of Rev. Alexander Craighead. However, several genealogies list this Agnes with unknown parents. Agnes is often confused with Agnes "Nancy" (above) and some have thought that this Agnes was also a daughter of Rev. Alexander Craighead, but the marriage records for this Agnes and Agnes/Nancy (Craighead) (Richardson) Dunlap strongly infer that Agnes and Nancy were separate individuals, and it is likely that they were born to altogether different parents. There is no reason to suppose that Rev. Alexander would give two different children the same name.

Agnes Craighead (1736-1831):

• m. John Alexander (1733-1814). See a more detailed record of the descendants of this marriage on the page for Thomas Craighead (1664-1739).

Other Mysteries about Rev. Alexander Craighead:

In addition to the mystery concerning parentage of Agnes (Craighead) Alexander (1736-1831), there are other mysteries:

• Why did his youngest son, Rev. Thomas Brown Craighead change his middle name from Brown to Benton? Was his paternal grandmother, Margaret, the daughter of Laird Benton?
• What was his mother's maiden surname? One source says her name was Margaret Holmes Wallace, another possibility is Margaret Benton.
• Who were the parents of the younger Peter Craighead?
• Who was the mysterious Miss Scott, Alexander Craighead's second wife ? Was she Jean Scott, the first name, Jean, following an undated manuscript transcript from an issue of Genealogy and History magazine?

References:

• See the Craighead Family Genealogy Forum.
• The life of Andrew Jackson, by Marquis James, pup. by Bobbs Merrill, 1938.
• History of the Davidson Academy, Nashville TN.
• Personal communication with S. David Carriker of Charlotte NC, a descendant of Mary Craighead and Samuel Dunlap.
• The Caldwell family history.
• Sketches of North Carolina, Historical and Biographical ... by Rev. William Henry Foote, Pub. by Robert Carter, NY, 1846.
• The Scoth-Irish in America - Proceedings and Addresses of the Tenth Congress, Chambersburg, PA May 30-June 2, 1901, Pub. by the Scotch-Irish Society of America.
• Genealogy and History magazine, Feb. 15, 1946
• Nashville Whig Sep. 13, 1824.
• Presbyterianism in Nashville, Tenn. by Jacobs.
• Compendium of American Genealogy, pub. by the Virkus Co., 1930. This reference has several lines of descent from Robert and Thomas Craighead.