Craig Family

The British government appointed Captain Walter Patterson as Governor in 1769 when St. John’s Island became separated from Nova Scotia. Patterson, an Irishman, owned part of Lot 19 and had two young children. The Island was still a primitive wilderness at the time with only 150 families in the whole province. There was not a school, even in Charlottetown, and so to educate his children, Patterson advertised in the British Isles for a tutor. Captain Patterson chose from the applicants William Craig to tutor his children in this new land. William Craig, and his wife Kennedy Copeland, arrived in Charlottetown on August 30, 1770 with the Patterson Family. Besides tutoring the Patterson children, William became active in politics and in 1773 was appointed a member of the first Council and House of Assembly set up by the Governor. William was still a member in 1786.

About 60 families from Argyllshire arrived in Malpeque on the barque Annabella in 1770, the same year the Craigs arrived in Charlot- tetown. When the Patterson children no longer required the services of a tutor, William moved his family to Malpeque, where he became the first school teacher in that community. William and Kennedy had known many of these people in Scotland.

William moved his family to Bedeque around 1790 where he again taught school and remained until he died. Kennedy moved to Shipyard, now part of Hamilton, after William’s death to live with her daughter Elizabeth. The Prince Edward Island Register of 9 Dec 1828 reported: Died- At Shipyard, near Malpeque, on the 28 or 29 of November, Mm. Kennedy Craig, b. I 753. An old and respected inhabitant.

William Craig and Kennedy Copeland had 7 children:

Elizabeth b. 1780, d. 1851, m. Dougald Stewart.

+Robert b. 1782.

Jane b. 1785, d. 1846, m. Robert Stewart.

Alexander b. 24 Sept 1786.

John b. 19 March 1788, d. 25 Jan 1852, bur. North Bedeque Cem., lst. m. 10 Jan 1810 Ann Robins, b. 1789, d. 1827, daughter of John Robins and Mary Hooper; 2nd. m. Elizabeth Owen. They had a General Store and farmed in Lower Bedeque.

William b. 28Jan 1791.

Ann b. 1791, m.John MacGougan.

Robert b. 1782, son of William Craig and Kennedy Copeland, m. 1802, Mary Wightman.

Robert and Mary settled in Princetown Royalty, now Malpeque, where records show that land was granted to Robert and his two sons,

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