LIFE OF JOHN CARTER - Part 16 - SO WHERE WAS JOHN CARTER?

            John was one of the leaders of Newry.  He was a major land holder and tax payer.  He had held various offices over the years in the town government.  It is possible that John was not willing to give up his standing in the community and join the Mormon faith.  This is only speculation but the facts as we know them would support this view.  As his family began to emigrate from Newry John continued to stay on.  He paid taxes in 1837 and 1838 as he had since 1811.  It is interesting that on the 1838 tax roll John no longer had any oxen – in fact his total livestock consisted of 1 horse, 2 cows and 1 swine.[1]  Most of his family was now gone and not much livestock was needed or maybe he was making plans for leaving himself.  The following is a list of his elected offices in Newry:

John Carter's Elected Offices While in Newry, Maine

            How long did he stay in Newry?  On 15 Mar 1838 John was elected collector and constable of the town.  He actually called a meeting for 10 Sep 1838 and was present and was paid $1.50 for his expenses in calling the meeting.[2]  At the next meeting on 25 Oct 1838 John was being replaced as collector and constable as he had vacated his office.[3]  Therefore he must have left town sometime after 10 September.  Was Hannah with him?  There is no evidence that she was or wasn’t.  Logic would hold that she was with him and after they heard that the rest of the family in Ohio was leaving for Missouri, it isn’t hard to see that Hannah prevailed on John to move out West to be near them.  If Hannah hadn’t been there, this writer doubts John would have left Maine.  With them were surely Mary Jane and most likely Richard Harrison, as they were the youngest offspring of the family and at this point not married.  

            The fact that they left suddenly can be seen in John's vacating his office and that no record of any land sale has been found.  Records are found for John purchasing in Newry about 262 acres of land by 1809.  In 1816 and 1817 John had previously sold two parcels of land.  Here are the abstracts:

            The first deed is found on Family History Library Film 11617, from the Eastern District of Oxford County, Book 26, p. 136:    Know all men by these presents, that I, John Carter of Newry County of Oxford and State of Massachusetts, Yeoman, in consideration of the sum of one hundred dollars paid by Josiah Smith of said Newry, Yeoman…a certain part of a lot of land lying being and situate on the North end of the lot No. Three in the third range containing fifty acres… this twenty seventh day of August in the Year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixteen.  Received November 19^th, 1825.[4]

            The second deed was recorded on the next page of the deed book:  Know all men by these presents, that I, John Carter of Newry in the County of Oxford and State of Massachusetts, Yeoman in consideration of the sum of two hundred dollars paid me by Josiah Smith of Newry aforesaid Yeoman…a certain parcel of land situated in the town of Newry on the East side of Bair River part of lots No. two and No. three in the third range of lots on the east side of the river….containing sixty eight acres and three fourths of the same more or less…this Eleventh day of March in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventeen.  Received November 19^th, 1825.[5]

            It may have been that John entered into these agreements with Josiah Smith to purchase about half of John’s land but John wasn’t really paid right away.  Since John didn’t record them until 1825 it can be guessed that it took that length of time for Josiah to pay the $300 John was owed.  Even with the sale of this land John still owned between 120 and 130 acres.  What happened to this land when John left Newry?  There is no known answer to that question.  Possibly he left it with Almira Carter Tripp as she and Alvin and their family stayed in Newry for several more years.  In any case John never entered into any deeds of sale upon leaving Newry.

            Our next post will discuss where John went when he left Newry in the Autumn of 1838.

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[1] Office of Town Clerk, Newry, Maine, Town Records, 1805 - 1846, op. cit.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Oxford County, Maine, Eastern District, Deeds, 26:136 (Family History Library Film # 11617).

[5] Ibid., p. 137.

LIFE OF JOHN CARTER - Part 15 - THE EXODUS FROM NEWRY PART 1

The exodus from Newry for the Carter is poorly documented.  There are few contemporary records that spell out when specific people left Newry.  The basic story has traditionally been that the family left Newry together for Kirtland but that just isn’t true as the facts will witness. 

Brigham Young

            Brigham Young first came to the Newry area, preaching in Bethel on 15 Aug 1835.  At that time he preached the wisdom of the local Saints moving to Missouri where the main body of the Church was moving.  Most likely the exodus probably began sometime between this 1835 meeting and the time of the August conference in 1836 cited previously.  William and Dominicus both paid taxes in Newry in 1836 but both were missing from the tax rolls the following year.[1]  

            The only independent evidences we have of the departure / arrival times for the individual members come from specific dates we can glean from their family records.  If the records can be believed – Dominicus’ daughter Sarah Emily was born in Kirtland on 11 May 1836 so they must have gone west before the 1836 conference.   William stated he was ordained an Elder in Kirtland in 1836.  After the conference of August 1836 two more of the family left:  “As was usual in those days, the spirit of gathering rested upon the converts, and agreeable to the counsel given, all who would do so gathered to the body of the Church then located in Kirtland, Ohio.  My mother prepared to take the journey with the little company that was going with the returning elders.  These were John Carter with his sister, Eliza, of Newry, Maine; Alphia Woodman and Phoebe Carter from Scarboro, Maine; and others that I do not call to mind at this time.  Eliza Carter became the wife of James C. Snow, and Phoebe Carter was the wife of Apostle Wilford Woodruff.”[2] It is interesting that John 20 and Eliza Ann 18 would be allowed to travel to Kirtland without their immediate family but they were in good hands and had older brothers already there.  As noted Eliza would marry in Kirtland on 10 Feb 1838 to James Chauncey Snow and John Jr. would marry Elizabeth Runnels Sweat near there on 11 Apr 1838.   John Jr. is the only John Carter from our family that went to Kirtland as further facts will show.

            What of the other children of John and Hannah?  Almira Carter Tripp and her husband, Alvin Baron Tripp, remained in Newry past the birth of her last child, Sarah, on Christmas Day, 1843. They were the last of the family to leave Newry.   Hannah Carter York had married Aaron Mareon York back in 1829 in Bethel and remained in the Bethel/Newry area until sometime between the birth of her James Chauncey Snow York on 16 July 1837 in Newry and John William York’s birth on 2 Sep 1841 in Lima, Illinois.  Hannah is stated as joining the Church in 1844 and Aaron’s church membership states he joined on 1 Jan 1846.  In either case this would make them late converts of the Church in our family.  Philip Libby Carter left Newry and was in Lowell, Massachusetts at some point before 17 Jul 1841 (based on a purchase receipt dated that day in Lowell, Mass. that was in possession of his daughter Dora Carter Bolt). He married Martha Eames York on 26 Nov 1845 in Lowell and was still there in 1850 when his family was enumerated on the census there.  He would become the last of the family to arrive in the Nauvoo area.

              In the next installment we will discuss why John Carter Sr. was never in Kirtland.

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[1] Office of Town Clerk, Newry, Maine, Town Records, 1805 - 1846, op. cit.

[2] Kate B Carter; Treasures of Pioneer History, op. cit.

LIFE OF JOHN CARTER – Part 14 – TECHNOLOGY VERIFIES PART OF HANNAH’S BAPTISM STORY

                The baptism of Hannah has always played a huge part in the tradition of the Carter family.  As previously stated there is only one known contemporary account of this event thanks to the then 15 year old Eliza Ann Carter Snow’s short journal.  It seems inexplicable that with 11 living family members (not counting spouses of the children) there would only be one account of this event.   The fact is we have one account to draw on.

                Questions arise – most that will never be answered - surrounding this day and event:

1.       What illness did Hannah suffer that brought her neigh unto death?

2.       How did the missionaries just happen to show up at her door – was it inspiration or had someone else sent them (such as Dominicus?)

3.       Who was present that day?  Were the married children around?  Did the married children even know about their mother being so sick?

4.       Was their house a half mile from the Bear River?

I have my opinions about each of the above questions but really #4 is the only question that can really be addressed with a definitive answer.  The ability to test this came with two “finds.”  The first a plot map of Newry showing where the various properties in Newry were located.  Secondly, I attended a class taught by Lisa Louise Cooke on using Google Earth.

When the decision to first settle Newry, Maine was made the orderly New Englanders divided up the land of this new community into rectangular lots consisting of about 100 acres each.  These lots were laid out in rows that ran from southwest to northeast.  These rows were called ranges.  The reference point for all this subdividing appears to be the point that the Bear Riven flowed into the  Androscoggin River. There was an east and west set of ranges based on which side of the Bear River they were  located.   Lot one of the eastern Range one was found on the north side of the Androscoggin River and east of the Bear River where they met.  The lots were sequentially numbered as they fanned out to the east.  There was a western range of lots that repeated this process starting with Lot one near the Bear River and sequentially increasing as they approached the Sunday River to the west.

Newry Maine 1805-1955 by Carrie Wight

John’s lots were in the eastern ranges.  His first purchase was Lots 2, 3 and part of 14 in Range 3.  Later he bought the south half of Lot 1 in Range 3.  This second purchase assured John of a minor contact with the Bear River on his property.   I was able to visualize all of this thanks to the book Newry Maine 1805 – 1955 by Carrie Wight where she published the Newry plot map.   With this information at my fingertips, it took a fortuitous attendance at a genealogy seminar class to bring this information to life.

 Several years ago I attended a seminar in northern Utah where Lisa Louise Cooke taught a class on “Google Earth for Genealogy.”  In this class she taught us how to take a map (like the Newry map) and overlay it on Google Earth so you could find in the present day where a property would be located.  This requires overlaying the map on Google Earth then manipulating it until to fits the contours of Google Earth.

The result – which is shown below – establishes that the middle of Lot 2 in Range 3 would be exactly a half mile from the Bear River.  Essentially this verifies that part Elia Ann’s account of her mother’s baptism.

In the summer of 2015 my wife and spent two weeks in New England.  As part of this trip we drove to Newry and, using the geo coordinates from Google Earth we were able to locate the approximate location of John Carter’s property.  It felt special to be standing along the side of the highway and knowing that Hannah walked along in this very place as she went to the Bear River to be baptized.

(This is 119 Bear River Road today.  According to the geocode coordinates this would have been where the portion of John's half of Lot 1 Range 3 was located.  The top picture is pointed towards the Bear River which is in the gully but not visible.  The lower picture faces east towards where the Carter home would have been on back in the woods.)

HANNAH KNIGHT LIBBY - Part 13 - HANNAH'S BAPTISM

Again, like in the previous post, I have relied heavily on a post previously published in the life of John Carter.  Changes I have made or information added to the original post will be shown in italics.)

We left John and Hannah coming into the year 1834 with 4 married children and 10 grandchildren and counting.  Life seemed to be going well.  Their continuation of living in Newry attests to the fact that their farm, and John’s blacksmithing, were bringing in the necessities of life.  But, then as now, life can change in a twinkling of an eye.

We know that in the following account of Hannah’s baptism that she was sick in bed and supposedly dying. What ailed her we are never told but it could have been any number of things from a simple flu to any of a number of contagious diseases like typhoid. Whatever the ailment was, the family considered her live to be in danger of being snuffed out.

Newry being really just a scattering of small family farms and communication not being like today, John probably sent out Philip and/or John to tell the married children of their mother’s sickness.  If the traditional baptism date of Dominicus, 30 Jun 1834, this would mean his mother took ill almost immediately after his baptism and the missionaries that miraculously appear at Hannah’s door were probably sent by Dominicus. 

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints practice baptism by immersion.  Candidates for baptism are usually taught by missionaries over several meetings so they can be exposed to the various teachings of the Church and understand the commitment that the convert is making.  The location for a baptism today is usually at a church building that has a specially designed fount, but a candidate for baptism can be baptized in any body of water that is deep enough to immerse them.  My own father was baptized in a horse trough. 

Baptism of Joseph Smith Jr.'s Parents 1830

This picture doesn’t depict Hannah’s baptism but is actually depicting the baptism of the parents of Joseph Smith in New York four years previous to Hannah’s baptism.  Except for the largeness of the water body I would imagine that the event probably looked something like this.  The number of people who gathered may not have been as many but I am sure this event did draw a crowd besides Hannah’s own children.

               So now we finally come to the day of Hannah Knight Libby Carter’s conversion and baptism, 4 July 1834. There is only one first-hand account of this event and we can thank Hannah’s daughter, Eliza Jane Carter Snow, for that.  If it was not for the recollections of a 15-year-old girl, who later in life in 1892 felt inspired to write down her impressions, we would have been left without any hard evidence of what happened that day.

Eliza Ann Carter

               We have to realize this was just four years after the Church was organized and the Carters lived literally in the back woods.   The original document is housed in the LDS Church History Library in Salt Lake City.  It is so fragile that you are not allowed to see or handle the original, so you have to deal with an aged microfilm.  Her entire diary written with pencil in a notebook is all of 6 pages long and the bulk of the story is the conversion story.  Being ever the skeptic I spent an afternoon pouring over the film trying to read each word so I could see if the transcription we have is accurate or not.  Not every word was readable on the original but I am satisfied that the transcription is an accurate record of what Eliza Ann wrote.

Bear River south of baptism site

               Eliza Ann Carter Snow wrote of that day: “I first embraced Mormonism in 1834, in the town of Newry, Oxford County, State of Maine.  The first Mormon elders I ever heard preach were John F. Boynton and Daniel Bean.  They came to my father's house, and my mother lay very sick.  The doctors had given her up.  The elders told her they were preaching a new doctrine and they told her that she could be healed if she could have faith, that they would hold hands on her.  They did lay hands on her and said, 'In the name of the Lord Jesus be thou made whole.'  And she was made whole and arose and called for her clothes and said I must go to the water.  She walked one-half mile and was baptized in the river called Bear River and confirmed.   And there was a large branch raised up in that place."   (Eliza Ann Carter Snow, Autobiographical Sketch, 1892 April 10, LDS Church History Library, MS 9676 – microfilm of the original handwritten record transcribed by the author, 14 Feb 2012.)  The quote of the day was John’s comment on this event, “That beats doctor bills.” (Ibid.) The date of the baptism is not recorded by Eliza Ann, or anyone else in the family for that matter.  It can be inferred by the fact that the consensus date recorded in new 
FamilySearch for the baptism of most of the members of the family is 4 July 1834. 

               The effect of Hannah’s being brought back from near death and subsequent baptism sowed the seeds of division in this family on religious grounds.  It is true that the family seemed to migrate together over the next 20 years but evidence will be presented that they really didn’t make the trek west together.  Those who appear to share the baptism date with Hannah were John Jr., and Eliza Ann.  Richard Harrison probably was baptized at that time as he lived in the home even though his recorded baptism date is 31 Oct 1832 – an obvious error.  Dominicus, as previously mentioned,  was baptized about this time.  In fact, his traditional baptism date is 30 Jun 1834.  William, who was married, joined the church a little later on 17 Nov 1834.  One of the girls who did join the church lacks a baptism date – Hannah is supposed to be baptized in 1844 which would make her the last of the family to join the Church.    Besides their father, John, Almira, Philip and Mary Jane never joined the church.  Almira was already married and pregnant with her 5 child on July 4, 1834, so she may have not witnessed the healing of her mother.  Possibly the need to be loyal to her husband, who may have not been receptive to the gospel, played a part in Almira’s failure to convert.  The whereabouts of Philip who was 21 in 1834 is not known for sure but most likely he was there.  Why he didn’t join is not known.  The surprise in the family would have to be Mary Jane, the baby of the family, and only 12 when this event happened.  Again it is only for us to guess as to why she didn’t join.

One last issue for today – I have long been a champion of John Carter.  I realize he has been a much misunderstood figure in our family history.  It is unfortunate that four words recorded by his then 15-year-old daughter would define his life – “That beats doctor bills.”  It just isn’t right to define a person based on four words.  John was a good man.  As time will show he will keep his wife in contact with her LDS family members, but for him organized religion was not necessary.    It would be so nice if we knew more about him.  Unfortunately, what we have is what we got and that is all.

In any case, the event of 4 July 1834 will begin the physical schism of the family over the following few years.  Regardless, Hannah never appears to look back and have any regrets for what transpired that day.  Surely she was relieved to have been healed and the miraculous way the events transpired left her with an undeniable faith in God and her new-found religion.  This faith would carry her through the remaining 30 plus years of her life, providing her with the needed strength to endure the many challenges – both physical and emotional – that she would experience over the ensuing decades.

LIFE OF JOHN CARTER - Part 13 - THE BAPTISM OF HANNAH KNIGHT LIBBY CARTER

Eliza Ann Carter Snow

So now we finally come to the day of Hannah Knight Libby Carter’s conversion and baptism, 4 July 1834. There is only one first-hand account of this event and we can thank Hannah’s daughter, Eliza Jane Carter Snow, for that.  If it was not for the recollections of a 15 year old girl, who later in life in 1892 felt inspired to write down her impressions, we would have been left without any hard evidence of what happened that day.

We have to realize this was just four years after the Church was organized and the Carters lived literally in the back woods.   The original document is housed in the LDS Church History Library in Salt Lake City.  It is so fragile that you are not allowed to see or handle the original, so you have to deal with an aged microfilm.  Her entire diary written with pencil in a notebook is all of 6 pages long and the bulk of the story is the conversion story.  Being ever the skeptic I spent an afternoon pouring over the film trying to read each word so I could see if the transcription we have is accurate or not.  Not every word was readable on the original but I am satisfied that the transcription is an accurate record of what Eliza Ann wrote.

Hannah Knight Libby Carter

Eliza Ann Carter Snow wrote the following:  “I first embraced Mormonism in 1834, in the town of Newry, Oxford County, State of Maine.  The first Mormon elders I ever heard preach were John F. Boynton and Daniel Bean.  They came to my father's house, and my mother lay very sick.  The doctors had given her up.  The elders told her they were preaching a new doctrine and they told her that she could be healed if she could have faith, that they would hold hands on her.  They did lay hands on her and said, 'In the name of the Lord Jesus be thou made whole.'  And she was made whole and arose and called for her clothes and said I must go to the water.  She walked one-half mile and was baptized in the river called Bear River and confirmed.   And there was a large branch raised up in that place."   (Eliza Ann Carter Snow, Autobiographical Sketch, 1892 April 10, LDS Church History Library, MS 9676 – microfilm of the original handwritten record transcribed by the author, 14 Feb 2012.)  The quote of the day was John’s comment on this event, “That beats doctor bills.” (Ibid.) The date of the baptism is not recorded by Eliza Ann, or anyone else in the family for that matter.  It can be inferred by the fact that the consensus date recorded in new FamilySearch for the baptism of most of the members of the family is 4 July 1834. 

  The effect of Hannah’s being brought back from near death and subsequent baptism sowed the seeds of division in this family on religious grounds.  It is true that the family seemed to migrate together over the next 20 years but evidence will be presented that they really didn’t make the trek west together.  Those who appear to share the baptism date with Hannah were John Jr., and Eliza Ann.  Richard Harrison probably was baptized at that time as he lived in the home even though his recorded baptism date is 31 Oct 1832 – an obvious error.  Dominicus was baptized about this time.  In fact his traditional baptism date is 30 Jun 1834.  Could he have been baptized first and could it have been him that sent the missionaries to his mother’s home?  It is for us to guess as the truth will probably never be known.  William, who was married, joined the church a little later on 17 Nov 1834.  One of the girls who did join the church lacks a baptism date – Hannah is supposed to be baptized in 1844 which would make her the last of the family to join the Church.    Besides their father, John, Almira, Philip and Mary Jane never joined the church.  Almira was already married and pregnant with her 5 child on July 4, 1834, so she may have not witnessed the healing of her mother.  Possibly the need to be loyal to her husband, who may have not been receptive to the gospel, played a part in Almira’s failure to convert.  The whereabouts of Philip who was 21 in 1834 is not known for sure but most likely he was there.  Why he didn’t join is not known.  The surprise in the family would have to be Mary Jane, the baby of the family, and only 12 when this event happened.  Again it is only for us to guess as to why she didn’t join.

One last issue for today – I have long been a champion of John Carter.  I realize he has been a much misunderstood figure in our family history.  It is unfortunate that four words recorded by his then 15 year old daughter would define his life – “That beats doctor bills.”  It just isn’t right to define a person based on four words.  John was a good man.  As time will show he will keep his wife in contact with her LDS family members, but for him organized religion was not necessary.    It would be so nice if we knew more about him.  Unfortunately what we have is what we got and that is all.

In any case, the event of 4 July 1834 will begin the physical schism of the family over the following few years.

LIFE OF JOHN CARTER - Part 12 - THE MISSIONARIES COME TO NEWRY

          One last episode before we explore the day of Hannah Knight Libby’s baptism into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints .   We, who have done any family history know where this story is headed but before going there I would like to take you where most members of the family has never gone – to learn about the climate of religion in Newry and the appearance of missionaries for the Church.  One other topic needs to be addressed – the actual first baptism in the family.  You see, in spite of family lore, it appears that Hannah wasn’t the first member of the Church in the Carter family.

          To tell this story I will need to rely heavily on the research of our cousin Carole York.  Carole wrote her master’s thesis for the University of New Hampshire in 2010 on Western Maine Saints: The First Mormons of Western Maine 1830—1890.  This thesis is about the forty-nine individuals and ten families who converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) in Bethel and Newry, Maine and the missionaries who brought them into the church.  So of all members of the family Carole is the best researched this phase of the family’s history.  Parts of her story were posted online after be published in The Courier (the publication of the Bethel Historical Society – See http://bethelhistorical.org/legacy-site/Western_Maine_Saints.html).

There was no organized religion in Newry in 1834.  In fact the first church was built there in 1865.  Services were sometimes held on the Sunday River and baptisms were administered at Artist Bridge.  There was a Baptist Church in Middle Intervale on the opposite side of the river in Bethel.  This church served the Newry area and parts of Hanover and Bethel.  To reach it, people in Newry would have to row a boat across the river or take a ferry if it was in operation.  It is unknown if the Carter’s worshiped with the local Baptists.  They had been members of the various Congregationalist churches in Scarborough.

Umbagog Lake from Letter B Township (Upton, Maine)

In June of 1832, two years after Joseph Smith published the Book of Mormon, there came a young man to the home of Daniel Bean, Jr., in Letter B (now Upton), an unorganized territory in the western mountains of Maine, just east of Lake Umbagog.  (This was about 15 miles NE of where the Carters lived.)  This man was Horace Cowan and he was joined shortly by Hazen Aldrich.  The two men began preaching the Latter-Day Saint doctrines and were so well received that the Mormons soon organized a church of a large number of members, entirely breaking up the Free Will Baptists and the Congregationalists.  As Peter Smith Bean later recalled, “They took whole families . . . . Half the settlers left and were believers in the Mormon doctrine.”  It was this Daniel Bean Jr., who with his companion, John F. Boynton would in 1834 bring Mormonism to the Carter family.

Not an awful lot is known about the life of Daniel Bean Jr.  He was the son of Daniel Bean Sr. and Margaret Shaw.  Daniel Bean, Jr., was baptized 23 March 1833 into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  He became active as an Elder, missionary and leader of the LDS branch in the western Maine mountains.  Daniel’s grandparents were Jonathan Bean and Abigail Gordon.  For any of us who are descendants of Aaron M. York (and Hannah Carter) or Sarah York, wife of William Furlsbury Carter, this brings us a pleasant surprise.  Daniel Bean Jr. was actually our cousin as we too are descended from Jonathan and Abigail Gordon Bean.  Sarah York Carter her brother Aaron M. York were actually 1st cousins once removed from Daniel Bean.  This might account for the success he had in preaching to the Carters in Newry.

John F. Boynton

John F. Boynton was born September 20, 1811, in Bradford, Essex County, Mass.; baptized in September, 1832, by Joseph Smith, in Kirtland, Ohio, and ordained an elder by Sidney Rigdon. He performed a mission, together with Zebedee Coltrin, to Pennsylvania in 1832 and another one to Maine in 1833 and 1834. February 15, 1835, he was ordained an apostle in Kirtland, Ohio, under the hands of Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer and Martin Harris, after which he accompanied the Twelve on their mission to the Eastern States and Canada. During his last mission he borrowed all the money he could among the brethren, with which he entered into the mercantile business with Lyman E. Johnson, and followed it until he apostatized and was dis-fellowshipped from the quorum of apostles Sept. 3, 1837, in Kirtland, Ohio. On the following Sunday he made confessions and was forgiven, but as he did not repent of his evils, he was finally excommunicated from the Church. (http://www.gapages.com/boyntjf1.htm)

So who were the first Carter converts of  Daniel Bean Jr. and John F. Boynton?  Though there is some discrepancy in the records it appears that Dominicus Carter was baptized 30 Jun 1834.  One record I have seen showed 30 June 1832 but the 1834 date appears to be the accurate one.  If this is correct it was Dominicus who was baptized five days prior to his mother’s conversion and baptism.  This fact could have a big part to play in the story of his mother’s conversion story.  That story sill be coming next.

SAME BLOG - NEW LOOK

I attended a class last night at the Fresno County Genealogical Society and the speaker Jana Last talked about how hard it is to read blogs that are too "colorful."  I thought about that and decided to change the look and make it more pleasant to the eye.  Hope you like this new template.

LIFE OF JOHN CARTER- Part 11 - THE CARTER FAMILY IN JULY, 1834

Before we discuss in detail the day that changed the course of our family’s history, July 4, 1834 – the day the Gospel of Jesus Christ was accepted by Hannah Knight Libby Carter, I would like to describe the setting, both the geographical setting and the family setting.

Newry was a small, rural community of somewhere around 400 residents in 1834.  The population in 1830 was 345 and by 1840 it would rise 34% to 463.  This 400 person collection of people was spread out along the Bear and Sunday rivers that ran through the town on farms that were connected by trails.  This was not a modern community by any means.  Communication would be by foot or maybe horseback – if the family owned a horse.

The Carter family had matured over the years and some of the children had already married and begun to establish their own families.  Of the eleven known children of John and Hannah nine were living in 1834.  John Harrison had been born in Newry on 13 Jan 1815 and died not quite three months later on 11 Apr 1815.  The couple’s last child Rufus, was born 9 Oct 1825 and died according to family tradition on his second birthday, 9 Oct 1827.  The other nine children would live to adulthood, marry and have families of their own.  Their various situations on 4 July 1834 is as follows:

1. Dominicus Carter – the oldest born in Scarborough in 1806, had already married Lydia Smith in Newry on 21 May 1828 and had three children.  In fact on the momentous day Lydia was great with child as she would deliver their 4 child, Sidney Rigdon Carter on 30 August of that same year.   We will have more to say about Dominicus later.
2. Almira Carter – the second child was born in Scarborough in 1808.  On 15 Jan 1829 she had married Alvin Baron Tripp in Newry.  In July 1834 Almira and Alvin had 4 children and were expecting their 5^th child that following December.
3.  Hannah Carter – the last child born in Scarborough in 1809, had married Aaron Mareon York in Bethel on 2 Dec 1829.  They lived in the Bethel-Newry area but it appears their actual home was in Bethel by 1834.  At this point they had two children.
4.  William (Furlsbury) Carter – had been born in Newry on 1 May 1811.  On 1 Mar 1832 he had married at Bethel to Sarah York.  Their first child, Peter York Carter, was born on 5 Jul 1832.  In July 1834 Sarah as about to deliver their second child – who would be born in August of 1834.
5. Philip Libby Carter – Philip had been born in Newry in 1813.  So at this point he was 21 years old.  I believe he was still living in Newry but would soon strike out for Massachusetts to make a life for himself.
6. John “Harrison” Carter – the 7^th child and 6^th living was born 6 Oct 1816 in Newry.  At this point was 17 years old and living at home.
7. Eliza Ann Carter – the 8^th child and 7^th living was born 28 Sep 1818 in Newry.  In July 1834 she was 15 and living at home.
8. Richard Harrison Carter – the 9^th child and 8^th living was born 8 August 1820 so he was 13 years old and living a t home.
9. Mary Jane Carter – the last surviving child had been born 13mar 1823 so she was 11 years old and living at home.

Dominicus Carter, William Furlsbury Carter,and Philip Libby Carter

John Harrison Carter, Eliza Ann Carter Snow, and Mary Jane Carter Dooley

          So on the day that Hannah joined the Church it was likely that the household probably consisted of 7 people:  John, Hannah and their children – Philip Libby, John “Harrison”, Eliza Ann, Richard Harrison and Mary Jane.   It will be my contention that the married kids were probably not present.  There is no evidence that any of the married children joined the Church at the time of their mother’s baptism, though three of the four married children did join the Church.

        Next up will be a look at the arrival of Mormon missionaries in the Newry area.

LIFE OF JOHN CARTER - Part 10 - ELECTED OFFICES IN NEWRY

To understand the interaction that John Carter had with his peers in Newry, Maine when he lived there we need to understand the purely democratic nature of local government in early New England.  Newry in 1810 was actually in Massachusetts and remained as such until 1820 when the people of the area we know of as Maine were allowed to succeed from Massachusetts and form their own state.  Maine was accepted as the 23^rd state of the Union on 15 March 1820 as part of the Missouri Compromise  where Maine was admitted into the union as a free state and Missouri was admitted as a slave state – thus preserving the equal number of slave and free states in the Union.

So how was the community of Newry governed?  The following is from the article “Town Meetings” found at Wikipedia:

Typical Town Meeting

“Town meeting is a form of local government practiced in the U.S. region of New England since colonial times, and in some western states since at least the late 19th century…The Puritans, who believed in Congregationalist church governance, established town meetings when they established the various New England colonies.

In Maine, the town meeting system originated during the period when Maine was a district of Massachusetts. Most cities and towns operate under the town meeting form of government or a modified version of it. Maine annual town meetings traditionally are held in March. Special town meetings also may be called from time to time.

The executive agency of town government is an elected, part-time board, known as the Board of Selectmen or Select Board, having three, five or seven members. Between sessions the board of selectmen interprets the policy set at Town Meeting and is assigned numerous duties including: approving all town non-school expenditures, authorizing highway construction and repair, serving as town purchasing agent for non-school items, issuing licenses and overseeing the conduct of all town activities. Often the part-time selectmen also serve as town assessors, overseers of the poor as well as road commissioners. Generally, there are other elected town officers whose duties are specified in law. These may include clerks, assessors, tax collector, treasurer, school committee, constables, and others.”

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Town_meeting)

                In 1810 when John and family arrived in Newry, it had been established as a town for five years.   So even though it was relatively new, John was would have been considered an outsider when compared to the original inhabitants.  Though other men would be found serving in elected positons most every year, John’s service was more sporadic.  That being said, John would still have to be viewed as a contributing member of this small Maine community.

                Newry held annual and monthly town meetings to transact the business of the community.  These town meeting books have been preserved and filmed by FamilySearch.  (Office of Town Clerk, Newry, Maine, Town Records, 1805 - 1846, Family History Library Film #11589, pages unnumbered)

                In 1812 he was elected as the town field driver.  In New England this was the town officer charged with driving stray cattle to the town cattle compound.  In 1817 he was elected to a committee with John Libby and Luke Riley.  Unfortunately the purpose of this committee was undecipherable.

Early New England Style Home

                In 1822 John was sworn in as town tax collector and constable after having given the lowest bid – 6 cents on the dollar.  This means his pay for being tax collector was 6 % of the money that he raised.  John continued as tax collector / constable into 1823 and was also one of the Highway Surveyors that year.  On 7 Apr 1823 he was replaced as tax collector / constable by Abel Hibbard.  At that town meeting John was paid $.59 for nails and $2.41 for posting notices for the meetings.

                On 2 Mar 1829 John, Melven Stow, and Joseph S Barker were chosen as selectmen and assessors.  Selectmen in New England were officers chosen annually to transact the general public business of the town and to have a kind of executive authority.  The assessors were the men who determined the tax rates on property.  That year John and John Libby were a committee that reported on the town boundaries.  There was talk in Newry of parts of the town being absorbed into nearby communities and the two men were a committee who reported on this topic to the community as a whole. 

 

                On 2 Mar 1830 Enoch Foster, John Carter and Andrew Twitchell were selected as field surveyors and Fence viewers.    John was paid $15.37 for town business transacted in the previous year.  On 4 Mar 1833 John served another year as collector and constable.  Interestingly the rate of the replacement the next year was 1 cent and 9 mills on the dollar which means the pay for this position had be greatly reduced from 6% to a little over 1% in just a few years.

                The previous paragraphs chronicle John’s elected career through 1833.  The sum of the forgoing is that John appears to be a respected leader of the community.  He will in fact be elected to office twice after 1833 but we will reserve the record of those offices for a later day.  The reason is we have about reached the chronological point in this narrative that will describe events that will completely and forever change the lives of the members of this family.

LIFE OF JOHN CARTER – Part 9 – THE TALE OF TWO PAPERS IN A TRUNK

There are times life takes unexpected turns, and today’s blog will describe one of those events.  Back in installment 7 of John Carter’s story we discussed the children of John and Hannah and their birth information as recorded by their brother, William Furlsbury Carter, as he recorded this data on his journey home from his mission to India in 1854.  It was described in installment 7 how William most surely copied the information in his letter (the photo of which was previously posted in this blog) from a list that his brother, Philip Libby Carter had written down in 1835.

Philip Libby Carter (1813 - 1876)

                It occurred to me in the past few days to inquire of Joe Conover, our cousin and descendant of Philip Libby Carter, if he might have the original of the Philip Libby Carter list.  With that request begins the Tale of Two Papers in a Trunk.

                None of this story could be described today except for the dogged researching of Leslie A Carter more than 60 years ago.   Even though the John and Hannah family was not his direct line, he was compelled to help research our ancestor’s stories.  His ancestor, Richard Carter Jr (1780 – 1860) was a brother of our John Carter.  This Richard’s son, Varanes Carter (1823 – 1909) moved from Maine and  ended up in Tioga, Illinois, though he was not a member of the LDS Church.  Because of Leslie’s family coming from Hancock County, he was acquainted with the remnants of our family that continued to live there and thus his intense interest in our family.  In 1952 his journeys took him to the home of Mrs. Dora Carter Bolt (the grandmother of Joe Conover) who lived in Lima.   It was on this visit with Dora that she produced two documents for Leslie to view.  For whatever reason Leslie didn’t take a picture of either of these documents.  If he had had his camera with him, I am sure he would have copied them, so he must not have been with camera that day.

                The first of these documents was previously described and the image of its transcription was posted below in the former blog entry.  In 1835 probably about the time of his leaving Maine for Massachusetts made a copy of the family births.   One would think that he might have had access to a family Bible or he interviewed his mother.  In any case he took with him in 1835 a list of the births of his siblings.

                The second of these documents was an 1839 document transcribed by JCS.  It reads as follows:

                                A Family Record

                                Arlotte L. Carter was born May 18 A.D. 1829

                                Lucinda M. Carter was born January 14 A.D. 1831

                                Sidney R. Carter was born August 29 A.D. 1834

                                Lydia Ann Carter was born February 20 A.D. 1838

                                John Carter was born May 19, A.D. 1783

                                Hannah N. Carter was born October 4^th 1786

                Dora Carter Bolt felt that the author JCS was non-other than James Chauncey Snow, Dominicus’ brother-in-law.   The children listed here were 4 of the children of Dominicus Carter and Lydia Smith.  The list is incomplete as it leaves out two children, Barrett and Sarah Emily, who had died previous to 1839.  The mother Lydia herself, died on 24 Oct 1838.  One has to think that the death of Lydia must have precipitated the creation of this list.   Why James Chauncey Snow  wrote this family record and how it ended up in the possession of Dora is unknown.  Regardless it ended up in Dora’s possession probably as a result of the Mormons being driven out of Illinois.  When the LDS part of the family left the area in 1846 or so they may have left some documents with Philip for safe keeping, or it may have been that after the LDS family homes were destroyed, it is possible Philip and others may have searched for things that needed saving.  The Carter Hill home that Philip lived in adjoined the little community of Morleyville so he would have been an eye witness to what happed when the mobs destroyed his father and sibling’s homes.

The Old Deerskin Chest

                In any case after that 1952 viewing by Leslie, these documents were probably returned to the old family trunk where they resided, forgotten and deteriorating until literally yesterday, when Joe Conover was able to locate them.   This trunk – what of it?  This is what Joe wrote about it:  “The chest is 18 inches wide, 10 inches front to back, and 7.5 inches deep on the outside and 5 inches deep inside.  It is deerskin covered.  The only history I know is that from my earliest memory it was always inside a larger trunk in the storeroom at Carter Hill.  My memory says Grandma Bolt said it was her grandfather’s (i.e. Philip Libby Carter).  But my memory deceives me these days.

Inside lid of Chest

There is some old writing on the inside of the lid.  Also some later pencil marks that were probably put there by me or my siblings at some point.  But I can make out the name Ella Dora and an “86”.  There are the words “Trunk of …” but I can’t make out the rest … something like Jerad or Jezeb…  Perhaps this means something to you.  The name Ella Dora sounds familiar. I will send a photo of the inside trunk lid.”

I am not positive who Ella Dora was but Philip Libby Carter did have a daughter Dora Ella Carter who married Oliver Perry Spencer.  They lived and died in the Tioga/Lima area.  The Jerad or Jezeb could possibly be Zebulon as Hannah’s father was Zebulon Libby.  Possibly Hannah had received the chest from her father, and used it to preserve important papers and records.  When the Mormons left Nauvoo it would be likely that this chest would be one of those items that Hannah just couldn’t take with her, so she left it with her son, Philip Libby Carter.  This is all supposition on my part but seems to make sense. 

In any case the old chest sat neglected until June, 2016 when these two treasures were found and through the graciousness of Joe Conover, will be seen by most of our family for the first time in 160 years.

Dominicus Carter Family List of 1839

Philip Libby Carter Family List 1835

 And now you too know the Tale of the Two Papers in the Chest.

LIFE OF JOHN CARTER – Part 8 – LIFE IN EARLY NEWRY, MAINE

John was in Newry for both the 1820 and 1830 census enumerations.  Though only the head of households name is given, the family can easily be seen in each census.  The 1820 census enumerated the family thusly on 7 Aug 1820 ("United States Census, 1820" index and images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org: accessed 26 February 2012). entry for John Carter, residence Newry, Oxford, Maine; citing Census Records, FHL microfilm 0,281,241; National Archives, United States Federal Archives and Records Center, Washington D.C., United States: 

1820 Census for Newry, Oxford, Maine - John Carter

                Males under 10                  – 4 (William 9, Philip 7, John Jr. 4 and Richard Harrison – just born – in fact the census date must have been incorrect.)

                Males 10 – 15                     - 1 (Dominicus 14)

                Males 26 – 44                     - 1 (the father, John 38)

                Females under 10               - 1 (Eliza Ann 2)

                Females 10 – 15                 - 2 (Almira 12, Hannah 11)

                Females 26 – 44                 - 1 (the mother Hannah 34)

                The 1830 census results in returns that closely fit the family but are not exact.  The enumeration was as follows (Family History Library Film 497946, Oxford County, Maine, page 202 – NARA publication M19, NARA Roll 50):

1830 Census of Newry, Oxford, Maine - John Carter

                Males 5 – 9                         - 1 (Richard Harrison 9+)

                Males 10 – 14                     - 1 (John Jr 13)

                Males 15 – 19                     - 2 (William 19 and Philip 17)

                Males 50 – 59                     - 1 (the father, John 48)

                Females 5 – 9                      - 1 (Mary Jane 7)

                Females 10 – 14                  - 1 (Eliza 12)

                Females 15 – 19                  - 1 ?? (both Almira and Hannah were married in 1829)

                Females 40 – 49                  - 1 (the mother, Hannah 44)

                It should be noted that the family home was beginning to empty as the children started to marry and leave the home.  Dominicus had married 21 May 1828 to Lydia Smith and was enumerated next to his father on the 1830 census.  Almira married Alvin Baron Tripp on 15 Jan 1829 in Newry and their family was enumerated in Newry that year.  John and Hannah’s third child, Hannah had recently married on 2 Dec 1829 in Bethel, Oxford, Maine to Aaron Mereon York.  (No record of them has been found on the 1830 census. They were possibly living in someone else’s home that year.)

                So what was life like in Newry from 1810 to 1830?  Summarizing all the books written on early Newry it was the consensus of the writers that life in Newry was challenging in the least.  Newry was on an important trail from the coast at Portland to Errol, NH known today as Route 26.  Still Newry was remote and to survive the population of Newry had to be self-sufficient.  They had a saw mill for wood and a grist mill for flour.  The families there were farms where most of the food stuffs for the family were produced.  Quite frankly one writer summarized life as barely above the level of subsistence.

1818 Tax Roll for Newry, Oxford  Maine

                John paid taxes in Newry continuously from 1811 until 1838 when they moved west.  The Newry Town Records contain a yearly synopsis of the taxes levied on each family in the community.  (It should be understood that whereas we pay taxes on the land and buildings that we own, taxes in early Maine was based on your livestock.) Though the things recorded varied from year to year a good picture of the family can be drawn from these records.  The general picture would be as follows:  John usually had 2 oxen and (at least after 1820) 1 horse.  He usually had from one to 4 cows and 1 to 8 cattle.  He usually had two swine (though the number ranged from zero to 5 in different years.  Until 1827 the records listed the land holdings and usage of each family.  From 1812 to 1815 he tilled (plowed) 1 acre.  From 1816 until 1822 he tilled 1.5 acres.  From 1823 to 25 it was only .5 acre.  In the last year land was listed (1827) he tilled 1.5 acres.  Beginning in 1814 he mowed land (hay?).  In 1814 it was a half acre, in 1815 it was one acre and in 1816 it was 1.5 acres.  Beginning in 1817 until the records stopped in 1827 he mowed 2.5 acres.    In 1821 they began to record pasture land and each year after that until 1827 he was listed with 1 acre of pasture.  He also reported undeveloped land (probably forest) and this figure varied from a high of 230 acres to a low of 57 depending on the year.  The last kind of land reported was waste land and he again had various amounts from 15 to 40 acres.  This land was probably swamp or other unusable land.

                From the above you get a good picture of a small family farm being operated for a family of about 11 people.  The one or 1.5 acres of tillage would have to supply the family with their food.  They had a couple of acres of hay for the small herd of cattle (dairy and beef), plus an acre of pasture on which to raise them.  They had a couple of oxen to plow with and a horse for John to get around on along with a couple of pigs for some pork.  The vast majority of his land was undeveloped but if this was forest they would supply trees for lumbering – which would bring in much needed money.

                 (Next up will be a study of John's elective offices and responsibilities in Newry.)