Page 6 - The CRAIG family

The CRAIG family
This is the story about my Craig ancestry line and I have written it in such a way that it gives some insight as to the lives of our ancestors.
When I started this journey for me and my brother David, my main objective was to find the answer as to whether or not our Grandfather Marshall was biologically a Craig or a Reed. This has long been a mystery because Daddy was always close to the Reed family and he used to say he thought he was related but he didn’t know how.
What we do know is that Nancy Barnes (our great grandmother) was married to George W. Reed, had 5 children ranging from ages 3 to 11 and was pregnant with our grandfather Marshall when her husband George died June 21, 1882. His cause of death is not known but rumored to be of a suspicious manner. Nancy and George lived next door to George’s parents, William and Mary Reed. In the 1880 census Colmore is a single 23-year-old man and a boarder in the home of William and Mary Reed.
Colmore was 25 years old (7 years younger than Nancy) when he married Nancy Barnes Reed on August 11, 1882, 2 months after the death of her husband. Our grandfather Marshall was born 4 months later on December 27, 1882.
My theory: The Reed family probably assumed that Marshall was the biological son of George since Nancy became pregnant with him while they were married and further assumed that Colmore Craig, well known to the family, married Nancy because she was a pregnant widow with 5 children and no means of support. That would be the logical reason why the Reed family was always so attentive to Daddy... They thought the child Nancy was pregnant with was fathered by her husband George. They lived in Sellersburg and the Reed children went to Silver Creek where Daddy also went to school.
I had my DNA done with the hope that I would learn the true parentage of Marshall. In June I was contacted by Tony Popp from Florence, Boone County, Kentucky. He was contacting me because of our DNA match. As it turns out our DNA shows that we are 4th cousins twice removed. We share the DNA of William Craig, Sr., born in 1800. My 2x great grandfather Samuel (Colmore’s dad) and Tony’s 4x great grandfather, William, Jr., were brothers. After learning of this connection, I went back and studied other matches that Tony and I share and there is absolutely no doubt that Marshall was biologically a Craig.
So, the mystery is finally solved and without any judgment whatsoever, the facts are: While married to George W. Reed, Nancy Barnes Reed got pregnant with Marshall by Colmore Allen Craig, who was a boarder living next door with her in-laws. George died June 1882, Nancy and Colmore married August, 1882 and Marshall was born December, 1882.
The following information and stories include 5 generations:
Ralph Emerson Craig (Father) and his Siblings: Eva, Charlotte, Edward, Virginia, and George Marshall Edward Craig (Grandfather)
Colmore Allen Craig (Great grandfather)
Samuel Craig (2x Great Grandfather)
William Craig, Sr. (3x Great Grandfather)
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