Family:Robert Craighead and Agnes Hart (1)

Views

Watchers

Jeffhomes

Browse

Parents: Thomas Craighead and Janet Ferguson Rev. Robert Craighead b. 1633 Ayrshire, Scotland d. 22 Aug 1711 Londonderry, Londonderry, Ireland	Parents: John Hart and Agnes Baxter Agnes Hart b. Abt 1644 Scotland

m. 1658

Family tree▼

Facts and Events

Marriage^? 1658

Children

		Birth	Death
1.	Samuel Craighead
2.	Rev. Thomas Craighead	Abt 1660 County Donegal, Ireland	26 Apr 1739 Newville, Cumberland, Pennsylvania, United States
3.	Katherine Craighead	1672 Derry, Northern Ireland	10 Apr 1754 Chilmark, Dukes, Massachusetts, United States
4.	Robert Craighead	1684 Londondery, Ireland	31 Jul 1738 Dublin, Ireland

Add child

Robert Craighead was born in Scotland in 1633. He attended the University of St. Andrews where he received his M. A. in 1653. Sometime before 1658 he emigrated to Ireland. In 1658 he is on record as recieving tithes in the parish of Donoughmore, County Donegal. He wa deposed for non conformity in 1661, but continued to minister in the area. He returned to Scotland during the crisis of 1689 and officiated in Glasgow in 1689-90. He returned to Ireland and was installed at Derry in 1690. He was involved in a controversy with Bishop King from 1694-97. Accourding to William Latimer,

Dr. William King, born of Presbyterian parents in 1650, and induced to become a renegade as he passed through Trinity College, was now Bishop of Derry, and he regarded the church of his fathers with all the animosity of an apostate. About the end of 1693, he publised an attack on Presbyterians, entitled, "A Discourse concerning the Inventions of Men in the Worship of God." In this production, he accused Presbyterians of being badly instructed in Christian principles, of not attending public worship with regularity, of neglecting to read the Scriptures in their meetings, and of celebrating the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper at only very distant intervals. To this pamphlet replies were published by the Rev. Joseph Boyse of Dublin, and the Rev. Robert Craghead of Londonderry. Mr. Boyse wrote in a better style than Mr. Craghead, but both writers proved plainly that the most important of the Bishop's charges were false. They showed clearly that Presbyterians read the Scriptures, and were well instructed in their principles; and, that if the Lord's Supper was celebrated to which the Bishop himself belonged. In reference to the persecution they had endured, " we were," said Mr. Craghead, " more hunted by day and night than the greatest malefactors in the kingdom, private houses being searched for us in the night season, lest any should be found preaching or praying. I have been for a long time that my nearest neighbours durst not come into my house, to hear a chapter of the Bible read and expounded to them; and at length forced to leave the congregation, my habitation, and family altogether." This controversy continued for several years and called forth nine publications. It had the effect of making Presbyterians more firm in their faith, and of causing them to guard against falling into the faults with which they had been accused by the Bishop.

In 1698 he returned to Scotland where he was admitted to Blackfriars in Glasgow. He returned to Derry about 1699.

He died August 22, 1711 in Derry.

[edit]