Taliaferro
Taliaferro (/ˈtɒlɪvər/ TOL-i-vər), also spelled Tagliaferro, Talifero, Tellifero, Taliferro, Tolliver, or Toliver,[1] is a prominent family in eastern Virginia and Maryland. The Taliaferros (originally Tagliaferro, Italian pronunciation: [ˌtaʎʎaˈfɛrro], which means "ironcutter" in Italian) are one of the early families who settled in Virginia in the 17th century. They migrated from London, where an ancestor had served as a musician in the court of Queen Elizabeth I. The surname in that line is believed to trace back to Bartholomew Taliaferro, a native of Venice who settled in London and was made a denizen in 1562.[2]
The origins of the Taliaferro name were of interest to George Wythe, Virginia colonial lawyer and classical scholar, who had married a Taliaferro. Wythe urged his former student and friend Thomas Jefferson to investigate the name when Jefferson traveled to Italy. Jefferson later reported to Wythe that he had found two families of the name in Tuscany, and that the family was of Italian origin.[3] Jefferson enclosed his sketch of the coat of arms of the Tagliaferro family as reported to him by a friend in Florence, Italy.[4]
Individuals
It is the surname of the following persons:
- Adam Taliaferro, American college football player severely injured during a game
- Al Taliaferro, American comic-strip artist
- Benjamin Taliaferro, early 19th-century U.S. Representative from Georgia
- Charles Taliaferro, American philosopher
- Clay Taliaferro, American dance artist, educator, Duke University professor
- Edith Taliaferro, American actress
- George Taliaferro, American football player
- Hardin E. Taliaferro, American humorist and Baptist preacher
- Jack L. Taliaferro, U.S Army Colonel
- James Taliaferro, early 20th-century U.S. Senator from Florida
- John Taliaferro, antebellum U.S. Representative from Virginia
- Lawrence Taliaferro, United States frontier agent
- Lorenzo Taliaferro, running back for the Baltimore Ravens
- Mabel Taliaferro, American actress
- Ray Taliaferro, American radio host
- Richard Taliaferro, colonial architect in Williamsburg, Virginia
- R. Catesby Taliaferro, American philosopher and mathematician
- Walter R. Taliaferro, pioneer U.S. Army aviator
- William B. Taliaferro, Confederate States of America general
- Kay Toliver, American teacher
- Anthony Tolliver, American basketball player
- Billy Joe Tolliver, American football player
- Charles Tolliver, American musician and composer
- Melba Tolliver, American journalist
- Mose Tolliver, American primitive artist
It is the middle name of the following persons:
- William Taliaferro Close, late surgeon who worked in Africa, father of actress Glenn Close
- Robert Mercer Taliaferro Hunter, U.S. Senator and Confederate Secretary of State
- Samuel Taliaferro Rayburn, 20th-century Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives
- John Taliaferro Thompson, early 20th-century U.S. Army officer who invented Thompson submachine gun
- Booker Taliaferro Washington, postbellum African-American political leader, educator, orator, author, and ex-slave
It is the first name of the following persons:
- Toliver Craig, Jr., representative in the Kentucky General Assembly
- Toliver Craig, Sr. (first called Taliaferro Craig), 18th-century American frontiersman and militia officer
Fictitious characters named Taliaferro, Tagliaferro, Taliafero, Taliferro, Toliver, or Tolliver
Given name
- Tolliver Groat, Junior Postman, later Senior Postman and Postal Inspector in Ankh-Morpork, the fictional capital of Discworld
- Tolliver Lang, the stepbrother of the protagonist of The Harper Connelly Mysteries
Surname Tagliaferro
- Roy Tagliaferro, an alias of serial killer Red John, in The Mentalist
Surname Taliaferro
- Paul Taliaferro, a character in David Weber and Steve White's science-fiction novel The Shiva Option (2002)
- Peachey Taliaferro Carnehan, a character in Rudyard Kipling's short story "The Man Who Would Be King" (1888)
- Penelope Taliaferro Russell, secretary to John Joseph Bonforte in Robert A. Heinlein's Double Star (1956)
- Roderick Taliaferro, the title character in George Cram Cook's first novel, Roderick Taliaferro: A Story of Maximilian's Empire (1903), with illustrations by Seymour M. Stone
Surname Tolliver
- Ben Tolliver, a recurring character in the Gunsmoke radio and television series and the protagonist of the episode, "Ben Tolliver's Stud" (ep. 206×11 on television and ep. 166(46) on radio)
- Crane Tolliver, a character played by Wiley Harker on the ABC soap opera General Hospital
- Cy Tolliver, a character played by Powers Boothe on HBO's Deadwood TV series
- Jeffrey Tolliver, a recurring character in crime writer Karin Slaughter's Grant County series
- June Tolliver, the "girl" in John Fox, Jr.'s romance/western novel, The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (1908)
- Kenny "Captain Peacock" Tolliver, a character in Miz Scarlet and the Vanishing Visitor (A Scarlet Wilson Mystery, #2), published in September 2013 on Smashwords by Sara M. Barton
- Michael Tolliver, a gardener, who is a recurring character in Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City series
- Mister Tolliver, a Genesis (comics) character
- Steven Tolliver, owner of a sailing ship line in Cecil B. DeMille's film Reap the Wild Wind (1942)
- Timothy Tolliver, protagonist of Aaron Shepard's children's book Timothy Tolliver and the Bully Basher (2014), distributed by Amazon Digital Services (ASIN B004I1KRTQ)
- Toby Tolliver, a character in early 20th-century American theatrical tent shows
Places
The following places are named Taliaferro:
- Camp Taliaferro, Texas, United States, named for Walter R. Taliaferro
- Taliaferro County, Georgia, United States, named for Benjamin Taliaferro
- T. C. Taliaferro House, Florida, United States
- Taliaferro Hall, College of William and Mary, Virginia, United States
- Taliaferro Hall, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, United States, Named for Thomas Hardy Taliaferro. Dean/College of Engineering; Dean/College of Arts and Sciences
Others
Tolliver can also refer to:
- Taliaferro (apple), an apple cultivar grown by Thomas Jefferson at Monticello
See also
Notes
- ↑ Gary R. Toms and James Pylant. "Talliaferro is Tolliver: Surnames Sound a Challenge for Researchers." Reprinted from American Genealogy Magazine, Vol. 13, Nos. 1 & 2, and revised 9 April 2006 at GenealogyMagazine.com. Accessed 6 January 2007.
- ↑ The Origin of the Family of Taliaferro by Anthony Wagner and F. S. Andrus The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography Vol. 77, No. 1, Part One (Jan., 1969), pg. 22
- ↑ Old Kent County, Some Account of the Planters, Vol. 1, Malcolm Hart Harris, Reissued by Genealogical Publishing Company, Baltimore, Md., 2006
- ↑ The American Herald, No. 3 (2008), The American Heraldry Society