Caldwell Craig of Tobago

???? - 1794


Biography

Large-scale slave-owner on Tobago, who appears to have assigned his estates to his creditors shortly before his death in London (where he had married in 1774) in 1794.

  1. Original grantee in Tobago (as C. Craig, with P. Campbell) of Barbados Bay division (St George) Lot no. 39, which became Spring Hill, and which the two of them held in 1773. By 1773 Caldwell Craig was shown also as the Present Proprietor of: Courland Bay (St David) Lot no. 18 which had originally been granted to John Burn and which became Craig Hall; (as C. Craig) of Courland Bay (St David) Lot no. 34 originally granted to Charles Mackay, which became King Peter; (with heirs of Gray) of North-east Division (St John) Lot no. 46, originally granted to G. Stevens and W. Gray; and (as C. Craig) with P. Campbell of Sandy Bay division (St Patrick) Lot no. 4 originally granted to P. Campbell & A. Anderson, which became Prospect.

  2. [Marriages] 27 March [1774] Caldwell Craig Esq. West India Merchant to Miss Aiskell, daughter of Francis Aiskell Esq.

  3. Conveyance of Estates in the island of Tobago. (Conveyance of the Prospect, Mount Pleasant and Craig Hall Estates in Tobago, from Caldwell Craig to Ralph Woodford and others in trust for the creditors.) (Lots of Land: King Peter's Bay, Spring Estate, Bloody Bay Lot.) 9 me[m]branes of vellum, joined at foot, with 32 seals (outer membrane somewhat stained). Dated 1 July 1794.

  4. Burial of Caldwell Craig at St Olave Hart Street 31/10/1794.

  5. Caldwell Craig's widow remarried Alexander Campbell of Tobago and Millhill after Caldwell Craig's death in 1795.


Sources

  1. 'Tables showing the Lots in each Parish, numbered as originally granted - the original Grantee - the name of the Lot, or lots, if one has been acquired, and the present Possessor where there is one' and 'A Table, showing the Estates in cultivation in 1832, and their Owners, in 1832, copied from the list appended to Byres' map of that date, with those in cultivation in 1862', Henry Iles Woodcock, A History of Tobago (Ayr: Smith and Grant, 1867; new impression London: Frank Cass and Company Limited, 1971); John Fowler, A summary account of the present flourishing state of the respectable colony of Tobago in the British West Indies illustrated with a map of the island and a plan of its settlement, agreeably to the sales by his Majesty’s Commissioners (London: A Grant, 1774) pp. 34-35, 37, 41 and 51.

  2. The Lady's Magazine Vol. V (1774) p. 223.

  3. Caribbean Documents Collection, Special Collections, University of Miami Libraries, Coral Gables, Florida, Drawer 7 Folder 42.

  4. Ancestry.com, London, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812 [database online]

  5. Wilfred Jordan (ed.), Colonial and Revolutionary Families of Pennsylvania Vol. iv p. 85.


Further Information

Absentee?
Transatlantic?
Spouse
Mary Kirkpatrick Aiskell
Occupation
West India merchant

Associated Estates (4)

The dates listed below have different categories as denoted by the letters in the brackets following each date. Here is a key to explain those letter codes:

  • SD - Association Start Date
  • SY - Association Start Year
  • EA - Earliest Known Association
  • ED - Association End Date
  • EY - Association End Year
  • LA - Latest Known Association
1773 [SY] - 1794 [LA] → Owner

By 1773 Caldwell Craig was shown as the Present Proprietor of Courland Bay (St David) Lot no. 18 which had originally been granted to John Burn and which became Craig Hall.

1767 [SY] - 23/04/1768 [ED] → Joint owner

In 1768, Patrick Campbell and Cauldwell [sic] Craig of Tobago sold Sandy Bay Point Lot no. 6 to William Hall and George Gibb. The deed dated 23/04/1768 rehearsed the background, whereby Richard Ottley had agreed to purchase the lot in 1766 but in 1767 had ceded it to Peter Campbell in exchange for Campbell taking on the obligation to pay the British government for it. Campbell and Craig had since entered into a partnership to improve the land and by the new deed agreed to sell it for £750 to William Hall and George Gibb.

1773 [EA] - → Owner

C. Craig was shown as the 'present proprietor' of Courland Bay (St David) no. 40 by John Fowler c.1773, which Woodcock shows as becoming King Peters.

1773 [EA] - 1794 [LA] → Joint owner

Tentative association only. C[aldwell] Craig was shown by Fowler c. 1773 as co-owner with P. Campbell of Sandy Bay (St Patrick) Lot no. 4, which Woodcock shows as becoming Prospect.