Robert Taliaferro

It is believed that, the Robert and Katherine Taliaferro moved their family to Taliaferro's Mount, but this is not been confirmed, although other factors make it seem plausible. In the cellar of the house presently standing on Taliaferro's Mount, the outlines of a much earlier structure are visible. The land is privately owned and was purchased in 1984/5 by a new owner who planned extensive renovations and research of the property and structures.  A little distance from the old house stood the grove of cedars with periwinkle lacing the ground - obviously the site of an old family graveyard though no graves or stones were apparent. Local Taliaferros report that the gravestone of an early Francis Taliaferro was used for years as a stepping stone at the back door of the house.

 In the year 1666, in partnership with Lawrence Smith, Robert Taliaferro obtained a patent for 6,300 acres in Essex County VA (later Caroline County). This property was 4 miles in length and lay between Ware Creek and Snow Creek.

 A year later, in 1667, Robert Taliaferro purchased two tracts of land totaling 1,000 acres from Richard White in Essex County (later Caroline County).  This is the tract of land through which Mount Creek flows.  On the west side of Mount Creek, a high promontory rises and juts out above the Rappahannock River.

 It is still known as Taliaferro's Mount.  Before it became Taliaferro land, this high elevation was used by the Indians as a lookout.  Over two hundred years later, it was used again as Rappahannock residents gathered there to watch the thunderous bombardment of Fredericksburg twenty-five miles upstream.  Indian incursions in this frontier area of Virginia were not infrequent during this period of Virginia history.  A fort was built at Port Royal, a few miles downstream from Taliaferro's Mount. It was at or near this fort that Capt. John Catlett is reported to have been killed during an Indian raid in 1670.  In view of Col. Catlett's death near Taliaferro's Mount, researchers believe that Robert Taliaferro, the elder, may also have been present when the raid occurred and that he may have died soon after from injuries which he sustained. It is certain that he was deceased by 25 November 1671 when orders of the General Court of Virginia were given to preserve the estate of his orphans.  Robert Taliaferro was only 45 years old.

His oldest child at the time of his death was Robert, Jr. who was approaching his twentieth birthday.  His youngest child, Charles, was barely five years old.  It appears that Robert Taliaferro died unexpectedly and without the comfort of being able to arrange his affairs and write a Last Will and Testament. Katherine Taliaferro, mother to at least six Taliaferro children, married again in 1650 to one Dedman or Debnam.  Her Taliaferro children who became the ancestors of this large Virginia family were:

Robert, Jr., b. 1652   ~   Francis, b. 1654    ~ John, b. 1656          ~   Richard, b. 1662    ~ Catherine, b. 1664     ~   Charles, b. 1669

The Taliaferro sons followed their father's example and assumed roles of leadership in their home counties and in the colony.  This is a Virginia family which traces its heritage back to the founding of American liberty, the exciting days of new world discovery, and the golden years of Venice, Italy. 

At the time of his death, Robert Taliaferro held estates in both Gloucester and Essex Counties in Virginia.   In Gloucester he owned the original home plantation of 800 acres In the growing new county of Essex, America's frontier at the time of his death in 1671, he owned his half of the Taliaferro-Smith patent, 3,150 acres, 1500 acres he purchased from Richard White, 600 acres inherited in right of his wife on Mount Creek, and another 600 acres she inherited from her mother on Peumensend's Creek, also in Essex County.  All but the original Gloucester land now lies within Caroline County VA.  The Grimes land on Peumensend's Creek became the cradle of many Taliaferro babies.