Craik-Lord Family papers

U of L law professor Nathan S. Lord donated this portion of his family's personal papers in October, 1981. Letters, business and legal documents, genealogies and clippings document the lives of some of the descendents of Revolutionary Era physician James Craik (1730-1814) and longtime Dartmouth College president Nathan Lord (1792-1870). Most of the material relates to Craik's grandson and namesake, James Craik (1806-1881) and his mother, Maria D. Craik Ewell of Kanawha County, Virginia and later Paducah, Kentucky. James Craik served as rector of Louisville's Christ Church from 1844 until his death and was succeeded there by his son, Charles Ewell Craik. The former served the national Episcopal church in important positions also, especially during the Civil War.

A smaller number of letters and other documents relate to Nathan S. Lord (1831-1885), the son of the college president; especially during his service with the Sixth Vermont Volunteers during the Civil War. (Of note is a photograph of General Grant at Lookout Mountain.) The younger Lord married Maria Craik and, following her death, Juliet Craik, her sister. Both were daughters of James Craik and each bore three children. The firstborn of the second marriage, Samuel Shrewsbury Lord, was the grandfather of the donor. The family papers rested with Samuel's daughter, Elizabeth, until she gave them to the donor.

The archives of Christ Church Cathedral contain many of the writings of Rev. James Craik, including a history of the church and The Divine Life. The archives of the Diocese of Kentucky contain a photograph of the James Craik family and additional biographical information about the de facto Bishop of Kentucky in the last years of the tenure of Benjamin Bosworth Smith.

The Craik-Lord Papers at the U of L Archives date from 1818 through the 1950s, with the bulk in the 1820s - 40s.