1817 – The Year Without a Summer was in 1816 but the effects didn’t
just go away. In many place in New
England in 1817 municipalities were forced to find seed for their farmers to
plant so there wouldn’t be widespread starvation as the individual farmers
often had nothing to plant after their failed crops of the previous year. We don’t directly know how the weather change
effected the Carter family. The tax
records show he added two oxen and a 1 year old cattle but had no 3 year old
cattle after having two the year before.
In 1817 they increased their mowing acreage to 2.5 acres which is what
he would have the rest of the years in Newry.
Hannah was probably grateful to have survived this potentially disastrous
event with her family intact. Dominicus
at 11 was probably a help to his father and Almira and Hannah at 9 and 8 would
have been able to provide their mother some support.
It should be noted
that another member of the Libby family actually moved to Newry after John and
Hannah. Hannah’s next older brother,
John Libby and his wife Anna moved to Newry around 1814. John Libby is found on the tax rolls of Newry
from that time until they left probably after Anna died in 1838. John lived out his last years in Gorham,
Maine, which is just outside Portland, back on the coast. In any case, Hannah probably enjoyed having a
family member living nearby.
1818 – 1827 - Little or no details about the family are
known during this time. The family farm
seems to have done well. For the most
part John tilled 1.5 acres, though some years just a half acre. He consistently mowed 2.5 acres to provide
food for his livestock and finally had about one acre of pasture. His livestock usually consisted of two oxen,
a horse, between 2 and 4 cows, between 2 and 8 cattle, and between 2 and 5
swine. Assuming that John was probably
earning extra income from blacksmithing, the family was probably doing fine on
Newry standards.
During this time,
they had the rest of their family on a fairly regular two-year cycle. Eliza Ann was born on 28 Sep 1818, Richard
Harrison on 8 Aug 1820, Mary Jane on 13 Mar 1823 and finally Rufus on 9 Oct
1825. If our records are accurate Rufus
died on his second birthday, 9 Oct 1827.
That left the family with 9 living children. All nine would live to marry and leave
posterity. Considering the time that
they lived the Carters were very blessed as many families lost more children
than they did.
 |
| Dominicus Carter |
 |
| William F. Carter |
1828 – 1833 –
Families in those days were large so that there would be plenty of children to
help in running the farm. One downside
is that eventually the children would grow up, marry and move off the farm
leaving the farmer with less hands to do the work. This is the dynamic that began to happen to
the Carter family. On 21 May 1828
Dominicus, just a month short of his 22nd birthday, became the first
to leave when married Lydia Smith.
Dominicus would remain in Newry so even though he began to be taxed on
his own, the and his father may have jointly run their farms. The next year saw the marriages of the two
eldest daughters. On 15 Jan 1829, two
weeks after her 21st birthday Almira wed Alvin Baron Tripp. They would remain in Newry and raise a large
family there before eventually moving to Illinois. Hannah was the next to marry on 2 Dec 1829 to
Aaron Mereon York. They moved to nearby
Reedsville and Bethel for several years before moving back to Newry about
1837. Finally, on 1 Mar 1832 just short of his 21st
birthday, William married Sarah York (Aaron M York’s sister). William and Sarah stayed in Newry for the
first several years of their married life.
So as 1833 John
and Hannah’s family had shrunk to 5 children at home. At this point John was 51 and Hannah was
47. Their life was comfortable. The five children at home were a big help to
their parents in the operation of the farm.
The family was growing though. They had
4 married children and 10 grandchildren.
Life must have been good at this point.
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