We now know that most of the Crago's and Craigo's of in the World have roots in Cornwall, England.  The effort to determine that fact consumed more than seventeen years of DNA research, and many more years of documentary work.  But, sadly, we still know little about our Crago cousins in Australia, England, New Zealand and Canada, all of whom seem to have emigrated from Cornwall, England.  Although we find early references to the Craigo surname in both England and the American Colonies, the Craigo variation of Crago seems to have gained popularity, for the most part, in America in the early 19th century, and today is seldom found outside the USA.  Its’ roots, however, seem to lie with the Crago's, Cragoe's, Cragow's and Crugow’s of Cornwall, England.  

 

Let me hasten to add that if you're a Cragoe, Cregoe or Crego, be assured that this is the right surname research group.  At this point, we know of no other group looking at the DNA of the Cragoe's, Cregoe’s and Crego's of the world.  This is the correct study group for any of these variations of the Crago surname.  From our DNA studies to date, we know that Crago’s and Craigo’s definitely share a Recent Common Ancestor (RCA), a male who apparently lived in the past 500 years or so.  We believe that the Crego's and Cragoe's may share this same common paternal origin, but that has not yet been DNA proven. While DNA results to date do not support that conclusion, very few Cragoe's and Crego's have been tested.

yDNA results have helped us to identify most of the various distinct early Crago and Craigo family trees in America, and they've enabled us to focus our research on those lines in specific localities where conventional documentary research should prove helpful. Right now, that seems to be in Northern Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and western North Carolina from 1670 until about 1771, then Ohio from 1790 to 1820, and finally Cornwall, England from 1500 to 1750.   AND, if I were to pick just one place to do conventional paper research on the American Crago’s, it would be in Peters Township, Franklin County, Pennsylvania (or its predecessor counties) from about 1700 to 1780.  But, why these dates and places?

To begin with, the earliest apparent reference to a Crago (or Crage) in North America may be in 1671, but the first credible Crago family record (i.e., where a head of household, parent and child, or even a husband and wife, have been proven) dates from much later, in late 1770 or early 1771.  At that time, we learn of a Thomas Crago and his two sons living in the Washington County, Pennsylvania area (also known as Yohogania County, Virginia, because the two states disputed jurisdiction of that area during that period). Today, we know this same area as Greene County, Pennsylvania.  Every other credible American reference prior to 1770 found so far is to a single Crago individual.  These references are found mostly in military rosters and tax lists. 

Secondly, while we know a few Crago’s and Craigo’s settled in Ohio before 1820, paper records in Ohio are very sparse prior to 1820, when the first relatively-complete federal census is available. The James Crago, Robert Craigo, and Thomas Crago families all seem to have settled in Ohio between 1790 and 1820, but there are many questions about these families, and there is still much to learn about them.

Third, the Peters Township, Franklin County, Pennsylvania area seems to be the home turf of Thomas Crago, who was later killed by Indians in Greene County, Pennsylvania, Robert Craigo, who enlisted in the Revolutionary Army at Carlisle, Franklin County, Pennsylvania, and James Crago, who seems to have been indentured to Robert Crawford in Franklin County, Pennsylvania and also enlisted in the Revolutionary Army at Philadelphia.  Many arrows seem to point to Southeast Pennsylvania, and Franklin County (formerly Lancaster County) in particular, as a fertile ground for further paper research. 

Finally, it appears from our DNA studies that many of us Crago’s and Craigo’s have a common ancestor born in the 1500’s in Cornwall, England.  We're pretty confident that at least some of these early Crago's lived in the Liskeard, Braddock, Lanreath and St Pinnock parishes in Cornwall.  We're looking for more Crago male volunteers for DNA testing with roots in any part of England.

The Different American Crago/Craigo Family Lines --

First, let me share some of the Crago, Craigo and related Craig family information we've gathered from paper sources, not just DNA studies. We currently have information on about 5,175 individually-identifiable persons who were raised as Crago or Craigo children (including a few who changed their name to Craig).  About 3,500 of these 4920 Crago's (or about 70 percent) were born in America.  This is certainly not every Crago and Craigo who has ever lived, since there are many living persons who are not easy to place in an appropriate family tree with available online Internet records. Their personal data is often protected.  But, I believe this database is reasonably complete for any Crago or Craigo born in America before 1900. 

In this group of people, there are currently eight distinct American family lines that trace their roots to a Crago or Craigo male born before 1812, and whose namesake ancestor appears to have emigrated to America before 1751.  Collectively, those eight family lines include about 60% of the known American Crago's and Craigo's in my data files. 

No other Crago/Craigo family lines, apart from these eight (four of them with proven common paternal roots, and four other lines with no apparent common yDNA links), appear to have immigrated to America until after 1830.  And, except as noted in the material which follows, every individual identified as a Crago or Craigo born before 1830 and living in America has been placed into one of these eight family lines. Those family lines are as follows:

1)     Thomas Crago, b. abt 1726 (+/- 5 years?), of the Washington/Fayette/Greene Co., PA area, through his son, Thomas Jr., b.  1759, with 1,126 Crago/Craigo-surnamed descendants,

2)     Thomas Crago b. abt 1763, of the Ross/Jackson/Vinton Co., OH area, with 840 Crago/Craigo-surnamed descendants,

3)     Thomas Crago b. 1811 of Wood Co., OH, with 93 Crago-surnamed descendants,

4)     Robert Craigo b. abt 1757 of the Butler/Preble Co., OH area, with 164 Craigo/Craig-surnamed descendants,

5)     Nathan Crago b. 1783 of Fayette Co., IN, with 312 Crago-surnamed descendants (a different DNA profile),

6)     Eli Craigo b. abt 1807 of Preble Co., OH and Edgar Co., IL, with 55 Craig and Craigo-surnamed descendants (a different DNA profile),

7)     John Crago b. abt 1765 of Lincoln Co., NC, and Callaway Co., MO, with 93 Crago/Craigo-surnamed descendants (an apparently different DNA profile),

8)     Thomas Craigo b. abt 1789 of Lincoln Co., NC, and Gilmer Co., GA, with 79 Craigo-surnamed descendants (an apparently different DNA profile), and

As a side note, a few significant, but more recent, American Crago/Craigo family lines in my database (representing mostly English immigrants since 1831)are the following:

 

9)     Thomas Crago b. 1798 of Cornwall, England and Wayne Co., Pennsylvania, USA, (immigrating about 1831),with 68 Crago-surnamed descendants,

 10)      John Crago b. about 1809-10 of England and Lamar Co., Texas, USA (immigrating about 1881) with 21 Crago-surnamed descendants,

 11)      Godfrey Crago b. 1821 of Germany and Wisconsin, USA (his family immigrating about 1882) with 21 Crago-surnamed descendants,

 12)      Francis Crago b. 1828 of Cornwall, England and Clearfield Co., Pennsylvania, USA, (immigrating about 1881) with 136 Crago-surnamed descendants,

 13)      John Henry Crago b. 1831 of Cornwall, England and South Dakota, USA, and Wyoming, USA (whose six sons immigrated from 1871 to 1903), with 110 Crago-surnamed descendants,

 14)      William J Crago b. 1852 of England, and Nebraska, USA and Florida, USA (immigrating about 1881) with 23 Crago-surnamed descendants, and

 15)      Alfred Crago b. 1880 of England and Oregon, USA, and California, USA, (immigrating about 1916) with 24 Crago-surnamed descendants.

 

There are, of course, other Crago/Craigo family lines that I have not included in this brief write-up. But, these 15 family lines just listed make up about 90 percent of all identified Crago’s and Craigo’s now known in America.  In total,I've identified 79 Crago's who were born in England, but died in America. 

American Family Lines and DNA Testing 

Since 2003, a DNA research project, hosted by FTDNA, has been on-going to identify the various Crago and Craigo family lines in the world. To date, we have tested 29 different Crago, Craigo, Cragoe and Craig volunteers.  Fourteen (14) of these DNA volunteers have near-identical DNA patterns -- and eleven (11) of them trace their roots to 1) Thomas Crago b abt 1732, 2) Thomas Crago b abt 1763, 3) Thomas Crago  b 1811 and 4) Robert Craigo b 1757 listed above.  DNA has clearly established that all four of these family lines share a recent common paternal ancestor. They are all 24/25, 25/25, 36/37 or 37/37 matches with the modal haplotype for the 11 volunteers.  We now refer to this implied common haplotype as our "Ancestral Crago DNA Profile".  

The other three Crago volunteers who are close DNA matches to the "Crago DNA Profile" are descendants of 12) Francis Crago of Clearfield Co, Pennsylvania, whose family emigrated to America from Cornwall, England in 1880, 13) John Henry Crago, of Lawrence Co.,South Dakota, whose family emigrated to America from Cornwall, England in 1871.and a volunteer from South Africa, whose William Crago ancestor emigrated from Cornwall, England to South Africa in the early 1900's. These families all trace their roots to Cornwall, England.  They are 33/37, 34/37 and 35/37 matches with the "Crago DNA Profile".  And, the conclusion is clear -- Our DNA studies have demonstrated that the four American Crago family lines which are part of the "Ancestral Crago DNA Profile" group, and the John Henry Crago, Francis Crago and William Crago families all appear to share a common paternal ancestor who most likely lived in Cornwall, England, and is currently estimated to have been born in the early 1500's.

For a variety of reasons, the 3) Thomas Crago of Wood Co., Ohio (OH) seems to be a descendant of the 1) Thomas Crago, but paper documentation is still incomplete.  It's probably worth elaborating on this conclusion a bit.

First, we have a history of the Greene Co., Pennsylvania (PA) area by Leckey which states that 1) Thomas Crago Sr (b. abt 1732?), of Greene Co., PA is the father of a James Crago, who is also shown as married, with an unnamed son, in the 1790 Census of Washington Co., PA. This unnamed son of James I have arbitrarily called "John” Crago for lack of a better identifier. I believe, but cannot prove, that this “John” Crago was the father of 3) Thomas Crago, who was born in Ohio in 1811. No census records exist for most of Ohio prior to 1820, and it has been difficult to verify all Crago’s in Ohio before that time.  But, since James Crago does not show up anywhere else in America in 1800 and 1810, and 3) Thomas Crago reports he was born in Ohio in 1811, I believe the James Crago family moved to Ohio sometime after 1790, and before 1800. In this scenario, it is implied that both James and “John” died before the census in 1820, since they do not appear in Ohio, or anywhere else in America, when the entire country is covered by Federal census records.  And, their early deaths coincide with an oral family tradition that the parents of 3) Thomas Crago died while he was still very young.  He would have been just 9 years old in 1820.

While it can be argued, using simply these conventional research records, that 3) Thomas Crago of Wood Co. could be a great grandson of 1) Thomas Crago of Greene Co., Pennsylvania, recent DNA testing also argues in favor of that relationship.  Our testing to date shows that the descendants of 1) Thomas Crago of Greene Co., PA all have a value of 9on marker 450 -- a value which has not been found in our other "Crago DNA Profile"volunteers.  Marker 450 appears to be a "branch marker" for the descendants of 1) Thomas Crago of Greene Co., PA.   And, since we have shown that the Wood County 3) Thomas Crago has this specific marker, the 3) Thomas Crago of Wood Co., OH, would also seem to be a descendant of the Greene Co., PA 1) Thomas Crago, based on these DNA studies.

It is important to note that these seven proven genetically-linked family lines, ALONE, (Thomas, Thomas, Thomas, Robert, Francis, John Henry and William) account for about half of all known Crago’s and Craigo's in the world.  As more Crago and Craigo family lines are tested, it seems reasonable to assume that this percentage may increase. 

Some researchers have claimed that 5) Nathan Crago is a son of 4) Robert Crago.  Unfortunately, DNA studies to date do not support this Nathan Crago connection. In fact, two distantly related descendants of Nathan have been tested, and we can now conclude that Nathan and his descendants clearly do not match the base "Crago DNA profile" mentioned above. In addition, we have no known conventional paper proof that Nathan Crago is actually a son of Robert Craigo.  It is possible that he was a step-son of 4) Robert Craigo.   We just don’t know at this time.

Two descendants of 6) Eli Craigo b. abt 1807 of Edgar Co., IL, another widely assumed son of 4) Robert Craigo, also have a DNA profile which does not match our"Crago DNA Profile" -- or that of Eli's supposed brother 5) Nathan. This, too, was a surprising result. There is some persuasive evidence, however, to support the idea that Eli was born to Robert Craigo's third wife, Elizabeth Hood, before her marriage to Robert. Specifically, Robert does not list Eli among his children in his Revolutionary War pension application, which he completed in 1820 under oath. He included seven children, both older and younger in age than Eli would have been at the time, and included the names of both Isaac and Jacob, but not Eli. (Note:Another son, Robert Jr, was born later, after Robert Sr's marriage to Elizabeth.) 

Finally, there are some researchers who believe that 8) Thomas Craigo of NC/GA may be a son of 7) John Crago of NC/MO, whom still others believe may be a son of 1) Thomas Crago of Greene Co., PA. However, only one well-documented Craigo male descendant of 8) Thomas Craigo has been DNA tested -- and that result would tend to refute at least one of these hypothesized links. The other NC/SC/MO Craigo’s tested so far have rather apparent non-paternal events (i.e., an adoption, a case of infidelity, and an out-of-wedlock mother passing her surname to her children) in their family lines which we believe account for their divergent DNA profiles.  No conventionally paper-proven descendants of 7) John Crago have yet been DNA tested, however.  These two family lines, 8) Thomas Craigo and 7) John Crago, are family lines which could use more DNA volunteers to help clear up this DNA picture.

Clues to Other Possible Early American Crago’s --

We know from ship passenger records that two Thomas Crago's apparently arrived in North America from England, one in June of 1749 and one in 1750. A casual researcher might be inclined to jump to the conclusion that the Crago’s in these first eight family lines might all be traced back to these two early immigrants. After all, Thomas seems to be a very common first name for these early Crago's. 

On the other hand, what evidence would argue against the conclusion that there may have been just two early Crago immigrants to North America, both arriving in 1749-1750? There are, in fact, several bits of information which argue against the simple conclusion.  Some of those clues are as follows:

 

1.    From a book of Land Patent Records of Eastern VA, we find a Terlock Crago or Crage (sp?) arrived in Virginia Colony 1671. Inspection of the original document leaves some doubt that this was actually a Crago, but it remains a possible Crago reference as early as 1671. 

We also know from VA land patent records that a James Cragoe or Cragan (spelling is again in doubt, based on an examination of the original hand-written document) arrived in Virginia about 1674. Both of these early immigrants, Terlock and James, may have died, -- like so many other early indentured servants who came to Virginia. Up to 90 percent of these early Virginia indentured servants are reported to have perished before establishing families of their own.  But, we don't actually know what happened to them. Either of them may have left descendants somewhere in the Virginia Colony area, but no records of Crago marriages or families have been found in this time period. A preliminary search of many old records at the Library of Virginia in April of 2008, did not turn up any Crago's or Craigo's or Cragoe's or Cragow's in VA during the following 100 years, from 1671 to 1770. 

My thoughts are that we have identified two possible (but not proven) Crago males who immigrated to the colony of Virginia in the 1671-1674 time frame. But neither one appears to have established a family in Virginia. We don't know how long they lived there, if they stayed, if they ever married, or if they produced any offspring. And, we don’t know for sure that they were actually a Crago or Cragoe.

 

2.    In 1683, in Portsmouth, Rhode Island Colony, a John Crago (the original  document has not been seen, so spelling needs to be checked further) is reported to have committed suicide by hanging himself in a tree. We have no other information about this person, or where he came from. So far, we have found no other Crago references anywhere in Rhode Island prior to 1900.

 

3.    The genealogy of “Sir James Crago,” prepared by the International Genealogical Society (IGS) of London in 1918 places three sons of a purported Sir James Crago, immigrating to King & Queen County, Virginia in September of 1718. These sons were supposedly named Thomas, Sr., John and Levi. 

This unsubstantiated genealogy goes on to place one of Thomas Crago, Sr.'s sons, Col. John Crago, Sr., in the southwestern corner of Pennsylvania (the present-day Greene County area), as early as 1767. Two other named sons of this Thomas Crago, Sr., were said to be Thomas, Jr., and Samuel, and another reported son was unnamed in this genealogy. The two or three brothers of Col.John Crago could have left progeny, but for now, they seem to have disappeared from the available records -- if they ever existed at all. 

Col. John Crago, Sr., is reported to have had 4 sons, with three apparently named at the time of his purported death in 1797 (John, Jr., Daniel, and James). It is possible, but unproven, that Thomas Crago, Sr., of Greene Co., Pennsylvania may have been the unidentified fourth son. Since Thomas, Sr., was killed about 1771, he would not have been living in 1797 at the time of Col. John Crago’s supposed death, and this might explain why he was not mentioned. 

But, since this John, Sr. was not reported to have been married until 25 Dec 1742, it seems quite unlikely that 1) Thomas Crago, Sr. was his son. We know from other sources that this Thomas Sr. was killed by Indians about 1771, when he had a son of his own reported to have been 11 years old born in December of 1759. This sequence pushes the limits of plausibility. Let me illustrate this -- let's suppose that 1) Thomas, Sr., was born about 1743, the year after John married. Thomas, Jr.,is known to have been born in 1759. In this case Thomas, Sr., would have been just 16 when Thomas, Jr., was born. This would imply that Thomas, Sr., was married at the age of 15!  I doubt that this could be a viable link between the supposed Sir James Crago IGS account and the well-documented Crago’s of Greene Co., PA.

Continuing with a review of the IGS document, we learn that John Crago, Jr. is reported to have had four sons Samuel, Archibald, David, and John Crago, and possibly a Joseph Crago. John Crago Jr. is reported to have fought with the Virginia Regulars under Captain Meyer in 1771-81 during the Revolutionary War.  Could this Archibald Crago be the same man as our 1) Thomas Crago?  Not likely -- since John Sr married in 1742, John Jr could not have been born until 1743, Archibald could not have been born until perhaps 1760 and he could not have had an 11 year old son by 1771.

I should note here that this genealogy of Sir James Crago was prepared by the IGS in London in 1918, a period in US history when fanciful genealogies were reportedly quite common. And, IGS apparently no longer exists. Much of this particular IGS report has also failed more recent substantiation efforts by professional researchers in England and in Virginia. The English portions, in particular, seem to have no basis in fact. If some parts of the genealogy are true however, the report could point to three male Crago immigrants in 1718. To date, however, researchers have failed to verify conclusively ANY of the many Crago “Facts” contained in this IGS report. 

 

      Since this genealogy seems to have been prepared for a Greene Co., PA readership, it is hardly surprising that there are a few references to that part of Pennsylvania, to lend credibility to the report.  I am guessing it may have been prepared for the wife of Congressman Thomas Crago, or one of their descendants.  She seems to have had an interest in tying their ancestry into one or more of the major genealogical societies. She apparently joined the Magna Carta Dames. 

 

4.      The Horn Papers (another questionable source) report that a John Crago was born in 1732 in Berkeley Co.,VA to Thomas Crago and Margaret Seaton. It is not stated where this Thomas Crago came from. A brother to this John is reported to have been James Crago.  Louis Cragow (immigrating in 1746, according to the Horn Papers) was perhaps a half-brother. Other Crago’s are reported in the Horn Papers to be tied to the Conococheague Valley (located in Maryland, and present-day Franklin County,PA), where the Greene Co., PA 1) Thomas Crago seems to have originated prior to traveling to present-day Greene County, Pennsylvania. 

On the face of it, this would seem to be a promising link, since the association of the Crago's with Conococheague in MD and VA is mentioned in both the Horn Papers and Leckey's more credible Ten-mile Country publication. And, the 1767 Maryland manor inventory (see point 7 below)was for the Conococheague Manor, owned by Lord Baltimore. Therefore, there is credible primary documentation of the association of a John Craigo with Conococheague to support what is written in both of the above documents. 

It is interesting to note that the Lucas, Swan, van Metre, and Hughes families,also mentioned in the International Genealogy Society paper, were from this area of MD and adjacent VA and were also early settlers in the present day Greene County region of PA. The IGS genealogy cited above states that the Crago's traveled with this group. The Crago's certainly married into the families. 

Unfortunately however, the names and dates (implied or actual) in the Horn Papers don't match up with anything we know about either the documented Greene Co., PA 1) Thomas Crago line, or the Jackson Co., OH 2) Thomas Crago line. 

To date, the only other possible independent Crago link to the Horn Papers maybe the 4 Nov 1777 marriage record of a William Crago and Mary Parker in the records of St.Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church, Philadelphia Co., PA. The Horn Papers report that Louis Cragow (the supposed 1746 immigrant) had a son by the name of William born apparently in the 1750’s. We find no evidence that this Philadelphia marriage produced any children. While we have found a William Craigo indexed in the Savannah, Chatham Co., GA census in 1820, the original document appears to actually be a Craig. These are not convincing links to the Horn Papers.

The reader should be warned that the Horn Papers have been determined by respected independent historical researchers to be largely fabricated -- and fictional. One must decide if any facts may be true or whether the entire document is a work of fiction. Look on the Internet for more commentary about the ”Horn Papers.” One such site, hosted by the University of Massachusetts,is 

http://www.umass.edu/wsp/methodology/errors/horn.html

 

5.      A handwritten scrap of paper found in the family Bible of a descendant of Eli Craigo (b. 1807) says that a Thomas Bennett Crago immigrated to Virginia Colony in 1742. No source, credible or otherwise, is given for this information, however, and we have not found one.

 

6.      A Rachel Crago is reported tohave died on 16 Nov 1746, in Sudbury, Middlesex County, Massachusetts. Her mother is listed as Abigail Parmenter. (Indexing Project (Batch) Number: B50052-2  System Origin:Massachusetts-EASy  Source Film Number: 185454  Reference Number: yr1663-1829 p 251).  The original document has not been examined.  We know nothing more about these people.

 

   7.    Steade Craigo has a copy of a hand-written original tenant list which shows that a John Craigo is listed in 1767 as a tenant on the manor of Lord Baltimore in Washington Co., MD, (across the river from Berkeley Co., VA). This would imply a birth date for John Craigo before 1746. This document appears to be a good reference. But, where would he have come from? We have no record of a John Craigo immigrating during this time period, (except possibly the John Crago mentioned in the IGS genealogy). And, did he leave any descendants? We cannot be sure at this point. 

There is a possible link currently being researched, however. We're currently exploring the possibility that this reference may be linked to a John Crego, born about 1707 in America, which could, if proven, tie together these "Thomas Crago DNA Profile" Crago's and the Crego's of New York and Cornwall, England. But, we'd like to see more Crego's DNA tested before accepting such a link between the Crago’s and Crego’s.  We currently have no DNA evidence of any link between Crago’s and Crego’s in America.

Steade Craigo further reports that a John Craigo is also listed as a chain-bearer for surveyor John Queen, Sr. in 1786 in present-day Cleveland Co.,NC. The Col. John Crago of the IGS Genealogy is reported to have been a surveyor in that document. I can’t help but wonder if it is a coincidence that a number of the early 19th century Crago settlers in the Ross Co., OH area are buried in a cemetery known by some as the Hiram Queen or Lane-Queen Cemetery.  But we have no known link between NC and OH Crago’s in this time period.

 

8.    We know that a Sarah Crago (or Crage?) is reported to have married Henry Fordyce in 1772 in Essex Co., New Jersey. It is not likely that she produced any children with a Crago surname, and she would therefore not be relevant to tracing those persons with a Crago surname, but “Who were her parents?” and “Where did she come from?” This marriage reference and the date, which implies she would have been born about 1746-1752, point to the possible existence of a Crago or Crage household in or near Essex Co., NJ that we have not yet properly identified, or adequately researched.

 

9.  A Charles Crago is reported to have appeared in the 1770 Rent Rolls of Fairfax Co., Virginia.  We don't know who this may be, or if this is a transcription error.

 

10.   A Francis Crago is reported to have immigrated to America in 1776. We find no evidence, however, that he stayed here, or survived, until the first U.S. census in 1790.

 

11.   A Moses Crago is reported by Leckey (in his book The Ten-Mile Country) to have been in Washington Co., PA about 1784, where his name (as transcribed), appears in the Tax rolls. We don't know where he may have come from, whether he had any children, and where he may have gone. A Moses Craig/Craige shows up in NC in later years, but we have no proof that this is the same Moses Crago of Washington Co., PA. I believe that only DNA testing of this NC man’s descendants (if any exist) could resolve this point.

 

12.   A Daniel Craigo, aged 45+ (and therefore born prior to 1765), appears in the 1810 Census of East Bethlehem Twp., Washington Co., PA, with a wife and several unnamed children listed. We don't know who this may be, where he came from, and where he and his family may have gone in later years. Washington Co., of course, was the predecessor of Greene Co., and the family may be related to the Greene Co. Thomas Crago b.1734 line. And, the surname may have simply been transcribed incorrectly. A Daniel Kerrigo shows up in 1800, for instance. But, which name is correct? Most census names at this time seem to have been spelled phonetically. 

It's worth observing that 4) Nathan Crago named one of his sons Daniel, and that seven other known descendants of Nathan were named Daniel. It seems plausible that Nathan Crago may tie into this reference to an early Daniel Craigo family.

All of these bits of information -- some obviously more suspect than others -- point to at least the possibility that there may have been one or more Crago immigrants to North America in addition to the two Thomas Crago's reported in 1749 and 1750. 
 
Clearly, there is more work to do. But, DNA results are helping us to paste some of the pieces together, and they promise to do more of that in the future. On its face, all of these bits of information begin to build a case for the conclusion -- also postulated by the unreliable Sir James Crago Genealogy (from the International Genealogical Society) and the equally questionable Horn Papers -- that there were one or more Crago households in Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York or Pennsylvania between 1671 and 1756. 

1756 may be the year when we have the first "hard" record of a Crago in America. We have Tax records from present-day Peters Twp, Franklin Co, Pennsylvania and the New York militia service of Thomas Crago. This information seems to tie well with what we know about the 1) Thomas Crago of Greene Co., Pennsylvania.

All of this information, however, points to a need for more research into the Colonial records of Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York and New Jersey during the 85 year period from 1671 until 1756. This represents about a three-generation time frame.

 

Early Canadian Crago Immigrants

 

A review of Canadian Census records, and some related material, seems to point to the fact that there were four relatively early immigrants to Canada who, collectively, account for most of the Crago’s in Canada today.  All of these settlers in Canada seem to have originated in England.  I believe we’ll find more specific links to Cornwall as we investigate and document these families further.  The four early immigrants seem to be --

 

1)     John Crago b. abt 1820 of England, who seems to have immigrated to Ontario, Canada about 1842, with 45 known Crago surnamed descendants.

2)     William Crago b. abt 1819 of St Pinnock, Cornwall, England, who seems to have immigrated to Ontario,Canada between 1851 and 1861, with 13 known Crago surnamed descendants.

3)     John Crago b.  abt 1848 of St Pinnock, Cornwall, England, who seems to have immigrated about 1860 to Ontario, Canada, with 9 known Crago surnamed descendants.

4)     Walter Crago b. abt 1844 of Exeter St Sidwell, Devon, England, who seems to have immigrated before 1873 to Ontario, Canada, with 6 known Crago surnamed descendants.

 

Clearly, these Canadian immigrants appear to have arrived long after the early immigrants to the American Colonies (pre-1751).  And, with just 39 surnamed Crago’s estimated to be living in Canada today, this group of Crago’s would seem to be relatively easy group to document more thoroughly.  Likewise, with their recent apparent links to Cornwall and Devon, England, they would be particularly interesting volunteers for the Crago DNA project.

 

Early English Crago Family Lines

 

Our work on the early English Crago family lines has just begun.  Recognizing this, it may be helpful, however, to write up what we are learning as the work progresses. In that way, others who may be able to assist us with additional data or clues can contribute to the research effort.

John Cragoe b. 1534, William Crago b. 1624 and Francis Crago b. 1755 appear to be the ancestors of most Crago's and Cragoe's I've identified to date in England.  All three have roots in Cornwall, but this research is still very preliminary and they may all share a common ancestor.  More DNA volunteers with known English roots would help to sort out these English Crago, Crego and Cragoe family lines.

 

Early Australian Crago Family Lines

 

Recent correspondence from a Crago in Australia, and some other observations, indicate there were two early Crago immigrants to Australia. They are reported to have been brothers but settled in two different areas.  One group is reported to have settled in New South Wales, while the other settled in Victoria.  Work continues on constructing these family trees.

 

Early New Zealand Crago Family Line

 

A cursory review of available records of the Crago’s in New Zealand seems to indicate there was one early immigrant to New Zealand,arriving from the Truro area of Cornwall.

 

South African Crago Family

 

William Crago b. about 1904 in Cornwall, England, immigrated to South Africa about 1930 and raised a family there and in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).  A few family members still live in South Africa, but most of the South African Crago males are now deceased.  The last known male Crago of this line is now living back in England. 

Crego Family Lines

 

Two Crego volunteers with deep ancestral roots in America have been tested to date, and from those tests we have determined a very clear DNA profile for Richard Crego b. 1732 of New York State.  This DNA profile is distinct from the three confirmed Crago DNA profiles to date. Furthermore, we have not seen any overlap, either on paper or in the DNA testing, between the Crago and Crego lines in America since at least 1732.

 

In England, however, we do find paper evidence that the Crego, Cregoe and Crago family lines may share some common ancestry.  DNA testing in England may well confirm some common ancestry there.

 

No discussion of the Crego surname would be complete without acknowledging that there are a great many Crego’s in the Spanish-speaking world (in Spain and parts of South America and the Carribbean).  It is unclear at this time whether these family lines may be related to either of the Cornish Crego’s or the American Crego’s.  However, because naming conventions in the Spanish-speaking world seem to follow the maternal lines, instead of the paternal lines, this may be a very difficult question to resolve with existing DNA testing protocols.  It is a question, however, that I’m open to further exploration.

 

Si alguna Crego de habla española está interesada enexplorar esta cuestión, yo daría la bienvenida consultas, ya sea en español o Inglés. Yo no soy fluido en español, pero creo que puedo tropezar a través dela correspondencia de correo electrónico con la ayuda de las herramientas detraducción en línea. Espero tener noticias de algunos de ustedes.

 

Conclusion 

 

Clearly,we have a need to explore further the Crago DNA lines in England, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, in order to better complete the world-wide Crago family tree. Our research program has been operating for the past thirteen years, and we continue to learn more every year.

If any reader has Crago/Craigo/Cragoe/Craig information not referenced here (particularly events prior to 1850), we'd be very happy to add it to this report.  And, feel free to contact me if you have questions about your own Crago, Crego or Craigo family, or a related Craig family line. 

Tom Crago, Ph.D. 
TomJanetTravelin@aol.com 

1 Sep 2020 in Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA 

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