HANNAH KNIGHT LIBBY CARTER - Part 5 - BIRTH AND EARLY YEARS

               Hannah Knight Libby was born on Monday, 9 Oct 1786[1] in Scarborough, Cumberland, Maine to Zebulon Libby and Lydia Andrews.  Hannah descended from several generations of ancestors who had been among the earliest settlers of what would become the United States of America. 

               Capt. Zebulon Libby, as her father was known, was born in Scarborough, 1 Feb 1757[2] ; and married in Scarborough, 19 Oct. 1780[3], to Lydia Andrews, daughter of Deacon Amos and Anne (Seavey) Andrews of Scarborough. A year or two after his marriage, he settled on a portion of his father's large purchase which was then in Scarborough, but is now in Saco. There he always lived.  It appears that Zebulon and Lydia were buried on their farm property – in the Libby Plot Cemetery on Watson Mill Road in Saco.[4]  Watson Mill Road is the first road to the west of Broadturn Road in Scarborough were the Carter family resided.  In fact, John Carter just prior to his marriage to Hannah had purchased a piece of land that straddled the Saco/Scarborough boundary and probably was adjacent or quite near to the Libby homestead.

Location of Libby and Carter farms in rural Scarborough, Maine

               Zebulon was a patriot having served three years in the Revolution, and was afterward a captain in the militia. His Revolutionary war record is summarized as follows:  “Private, Capt. Abraham Tyler's Co., Col. Edmund Phinney's (31st) regt.; billeting allowed from date of enlistment, May 9, 1775, to date of marching to headquarters, July 6, 1775; credited with 57 days allowance; also, order for bounty coat or its equivalent in money dated Cambridge, Oct. 26, 1775; also, Private, Capt. Abraham Tyler's co., Col. Edmund Phinney's regt.; muster roll dated Garrison at fort George, Dec. 8, 1776; also, Corporal, Capt. Benjamin Parker's Co;., Col. Nathan (Nathaniel) Wade's regt.; enlisted June 25 [1778]; company stationed at Rhode Island for 6 months.”[5]  He died 6 Dec. 1835 and his widow died 9 Dec. 1838.[6]

               Hannah was the fourth of eleven children born to Zebulon and Lydia Andrews Libby.  Ten of the eleven children lived to marry and have families of their own, so the descent of this family quite numerous.  Hannah had two older brothers (Amos born 29 Jan 1781 and John born 20 Dec 1784) and one sister (Mary Ingersol Libby born 11 Mar 1783).  The children continued to come after Hannah in a regular pattern of every two or three years:  Eunice, born 6 July 1788; Anna, born 24 Feb 1791; Thimothy, born 9 Oct 1793; Lydia, born 23 Sep 1795; David, born 15 Sep 1798; Josiah, born 10 May 1800; and finally Clarissa Milliken Libby, born 25 Feb 1802.  Josiah was the one child that didn’t live to adulthood, dying three days short of nine months on 7 Feb 1801.  Hannah was 14 years of age and must have been deeply touched by this event.  This large family was essential in running a large farming operation.  Without the heavy machinery we have today, the family was the main source of labor for the many farm duties.

               No real details of Hannah’s early life are known.  The best we can do is reconstruct what her life was probably like.  Scarborough was one of the earliest settlements along the northern New England coast.  “In about 1630, John Stratton opened a trading post on Stratton Island in Saco Bay off Scarborough's shore.  In 1631, the Plymouth Council for New England granted the "Black Point Patent" to Captain Thomas Cammock, nephew of the Earl of Warwick. Cammock built a house and began residence in 1635 on the 1,500-acre (6.1 km2) tract of land, which extended from the Spurwink River to Black Point - today this area is known as Prouts Neck.  However, he then sold his holdings and moved to the West Indies. Nevertheless, settlements developed at Black Point, Blue Point (i.e., Pine Point), Dunstan (i.e., West Scarborough) and Stratton Island.  By 1650, there were fifty homes.  The town offered excellent fishing and farming. On July 14, 1658, the Massachusetts General Court incorporated them all as Scarborough, named for Scarborough in Yorkshire, England.”[7]  It was north of the Dunstan (West Scarborough) settlement that the Libby and Carter families would buy land in later years and begin their farming endeavors.  But before that Scarborough was laid to waste by Indian attacks in the King Philip’s War of 1675-1676.  The true resettlement of this area didn’t occur until 1702 when a fort was built on Prout’s Neck and commanded by Captain John Libby (Hannah’s second great uncle).  Despite occasional subsequent harassment, the second settlement succeeded. By 1749, it was economically prosperous. Cattle and timber were important local products for export, with Scarborough's many water power sites operating a dozen sawmills.[8]

               The area known as Dunstan in Scarborough, Maine, has a rich history. Settled by Europeans in 1651, it was named for Dunster, the English hometown of early settlers Andrew and Arthur Alger. Early settlers quickly established farms, businesses and schools in this beautiful area, still famous today for its pristine beaches and protected salt marshes.

               Dunstan immediately became an important hub for goods and services. In Colonial times, Dunstan Landing became a key access point to the Atlantic Ocean for lucrative timber exports. In particular, tall Dunstan timber was highly sought after for masts for the King's navy. From the early 1700s to the mid-1800s, ship building was big business in coastal Maine, and many ships were built in Dunstan shipyards. While connected to far-away ports through industry, Dunstan retained its village charm.[9]  John Carter’s grandfather, Benjamin Carter, who first owned the land John was raised on, earned much money selling timber for masts to the King’s navy prior to the Revolutionary War.  So though Zebulon Libby was described as a farmer, his economic endeavors probably spread out to timber cutting.  One biographer of Zebulon stated that he was also a blacksmith and a manufacturer of hay rakes.[10]

               Hannah thus grew up in a prosperous community on a probably well to do farm.  Whether Hannah received any formal education is questionable.  By 1800, although 161 towns had been incorporated within the territorial limits of Maine, only seven had grammar schools.[11] From this it may be assumed that no more than seven had over one hundred families and that the population was relatively sparse.  Since the Libby family lived in a rural area of farms, Hannah most likely received what education she did receive at the feet of her mother.

               It was in this relative prosperous environment that Hannah spent her early, formative years.

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[1] Black, Susan Easton, compiler. Membership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830–1848.50 vols. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Religious Studies Center, 1989. Private Donor.

[2] Scarborough (Maine). Town Clerk (Main Author) LDS Microfilm - FHL US/CAN Film [12221], Vol 1, Page 266.

[3] Second Church of Scarborough Marriages, 1744-1800 in the Maine Historical and Genealogical Recorder [Ancestry.com], vol. 4 (Portland, Me.: S.M. Watson, 1887) - "Oct. 19, [1780.] Zebulon Libby and Lidia Andrews."

[4] "Maine, Nathan Hale Cemetery Collection, ca. 1780-1980," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/QVJP-R6D8 : 30 October 2014), Zebulon Libby, 1835; citing Saco, York, Maine, United States, Libby Plot Cemetery, Maine State Library, Augusta; FHL microfilm 1,316,077.

[5] Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors in the Revolutionary War, Vol 9, p. 784 (images online at Ancestry.com).

[6] Maine, Nathan Hale Cemetery Collection, op. cit.

[7] Wikipedia, Scarborough, Maine

[8] Ibid.

[9] http://www.dunstancrossing.com/history.html

[10] Betty Andrews Storey "The Descendants of Lieut. John Andrews of Ipswich, Essex County, Massachusetts,", 2009.

[11] William J. Corthell, Twenty-Third Annual Report of the State Superintendent of Common Schools, 1876, p.20.

LIFE OF JOHN CARTER - Part 5 - LATER SCARBOROUGH/SACO YEARS

                  We left John purchasing a farm of 72 acres on the border of Scarborough and Saco not far from the family farm of his father.  It was here that John and Hannah had their first three children.

                 That John was not living on the family farm isn’t surprising since a subsistence farm can only support so many people.  John’s oldest brother, Richard Jr. would in time take over the family farm after their father died.  This is similar to the European practice of primogeniture, where the eldest son would get the farm and the younger sons would have to go forward and make their own way in life.  John had tried the sea but that experiment had come to an unfortunate early end.  He had now turned to farming (and probably some lumbering on the side) with his 72 acre plot of land not far from his parent’s home.  There is no record of why after 5 years on this farm in Scarborough John would want to move his family to Newry.  It is possible that Scarborough was becoming too congested or possibly the forests were becoming depleted.  But for some reason John chose to move his family.  First, though, came several land transactions.

                  In two different deeds in 1808 and 1809 John sold this land off to Jonathan Foss and Jonathan McKenney.  The first deed dated 23 March 1808 for $600 he sold half of the 72 acres to Jonathan Foss.  This deed was presented by Foss to be recorded 11 Aug 1809. (York County, Maine, Deeds, 80:201 - misindexed as p. 281. Family History Library Film #12682.) On 8 March 1809 John sold to Jonathan McKenney the rest of the 72 acres (including the home that he lived in and his barn.  This deed was returned on 14 July 1810. (York County, Maine, Deeds, 83:66-67 Family History Library Film #12684.)

                  John appears to have remained on at least part of the above property after he had sold the property.  The second deed was drawn up March 8, 1809 but not received (or recorded) until July 14, 1810.  That time spread could be there for several reasons.  One might be that the John was slow in turning in the deed.  Another reason could be that John didn’t actually receive the payment for the land until shortly before the recording date.  Another possibility is that John entered into an agreement to sell but with the understanding that the he would continue to live on the land for a certain amount of time (possibly to harvest his crops, etc.)  For whatever reason John remained on the property for a year after the initial instrument was drawn up.

                  Interestingly, while John is selling his land in Saco/Scarborough but still living there he had already begun to purchase land in Newry.  This move was preceded by two purchases of land in Newry.  For whatever reason, just two months after Almira was born, on 8 March 1808, John made his first purchase of land in Newry, Oxford County.  A second deed was entered into on 6 May 1809 for more land in Newry.  At the time Hannah was pregnant with their third child, Hannah, and probably wanted to wait for her birth before actually making the move. 

                  The first Newry deed signed and delivered on 6 May 1809 for $110 was between James Beaty of Newry and John Carter of Scarborough for land “being part of lot number one in the third range (vis) fifty acres to be taken off the south end of said lot with a parallel line across said lot. “( Oxford County, Maine, Eastern District, Deeds, 4:270-271 Family History Library Film # 11606.)

                 On 8 March 1809 (but not recorded until 8 May 1809) John previously purchased for $500 “a certain lot of land in the town of Newry in the County of Oxford, being lot number three in the third range of lots in said town containing one hundred acres more or less … Also  another lot of land in said town of Newry being  lot number  two in the third range of lots in said town, containing one hundred acres more or less.  – Also a certain track of land situated in said town of Newry viz. twelve acres taken off the fourteenth lot in the third range bounded easterly on William Bucks land & westerly Bear river so called & northerly on a brook that empties into said river.”( Oxford County, Maine, Eastern District, Deeds, 4:271-272 Family History Library Film # 11606.)

                  Land in Newry was quite a bit cheaper than in Saco.  The sum of the four previous deeds is that John sold his 72 acres in Saco for $1200 and bought 262 acres in Newry for $610.  So sometime after the 1810 census was taken in Saco and before the 1811 tax was collected in Newry, the John Carter family actually made the move to Newry.

LIFE OF JOHN CARTER - Part 4 - EARLY MARRIED LIFE

We really know very little of the details of John and Hannah’s early years of marriage.  What little we do know has had to be gleaned from census records, land records and church records.  It will be remembered that John had bought a house in Portland in December of 1804.  About 16 months later he marries Hannah in March of 1806.   Assuming he was still a mariner at this point, his world was in the process of being overturned buy forces that led to the War of 1812.  In 1806 Britain passed the Non-Intercourse Laws that made trade between the colonies and anyone except Britain illegal.  In 1807 they physically placed an embargo on the Colonial coast and were impressing (capturing) colonial sailors who were involved with countries other than Britain.  This essentially stopped legitimate shipping almost completely and led to privateers who survived by hiding from the Crown.  So by 1807 John must have left sea life for good, though the actual date is probably closer to his marriage date. 

                It is possible that John had premonitions that the life of a mariner was going to become difficult as some 4 months before he married Hannah, John purchased for $1200 a tract of 72 acres part in Scarborough, Cumberland County and part in Saco, York County.  In fact in the census of 1810 the family was enumerated in Saco, though the children are recorded as being born in Scarborough.  In any case the land, though not adjoining his father’s property, was not far removed from his childhood home. Saco is the township in York County that is directly south of Sarborough, Cumberland County.  Sometime in this 1806 – 1810 time period John had to have moved from his home in Portland to the farm in Saco/Scarborough.

 The family tradition is that John and Hannah had their first three children in Scarborough.  Dominicus was born 21 Jun 1806, Almira followed on 3 Jan 1808 and Hannah was born on 28 Jun 1809.  Everything ever recorded have these children as born in Scarborough.  Land records and the 1810 census essentially support this tradition, albeit with the little twist of the census listing them in Saco.

1810 Census - John Carter Family in Saco, York, Maine

                  These census records prior to the 1850 census only give the name of the head of the house and numbers representing the numbers of males and females living in the home based on certain age ranges.  On the 1810 census the family is recorded thus:  1 Free White Male under 10 – (Dominicus 4), 1 Free White Male 26 thru 44 – (John 28), 2 Free White Females under 10 – (Almira 2 and Hannah 1), 1 Free white female 26 thru 44 – (Hannah 24).  Therefore this census enumerated John's family exactly as we know it.  Often non-family members lived in a home but in this case it appears to just be John's family in the home.

                John must have done well financially as a mariner as he had the money to buy the house in Portland in 1804 and then to pay $1200 for 72 acres of land in 1805.  As will be seen John was capable of purchasing land throughout his life probably based on some nest egg he did develop while working as a mariner and his apparent ability to manage money.   In any case it can be seen that around the time he married Hannah, he had left the sea and was a farmer, an occupation he would follow the rest of his life.

               

LIFE OF JOHN CARTER - Part 3 - MARRIAGE TO HANNAH

Our next glimpse of John is his marriage to Hannah Knight Libby in Scarborough:

A list of Marriages in the Second Parish in the Town of Scarborough
From April 1805 to April 1806
Record by Robert Hart, Town Clerk
1806
Mar 2, John Carter & Hannah Knight Libby

John and Hannah's Marriage:  Office of Town Clerk, Scarborough, Maine, Town Records, 1681 – 1893, Family History Library Film #12221, page 225

            The above image is the original of this document so you can attest to the accuracy of the transcription.  Many in the family have tried to show this marriage as occurring in 1805 (including Archibald Bennett) but it really didn’t occur until 2 March 1806. In all honesty this was a cover up of the fact that John and Hannah had to get married.  The truth is they didn't marry until 1806 and that is what it is.  The page starts with marriages in 1805 but two lines above John and Hannah's marriage you can see the clerk wrote 1806.  Why do I say there was an attempt to make the date more proper?  Leslie Carter and Archibald Bennett discussed this heatedly in early correspondence until Leslie provided the above original.  At that point Archibald admitted his mistake and called it a "subconscious error" which I interpret as an attempt to make the date more acceptable to his LDS descendants.  Because of the fact many of the readers of this blog may still have old family group sheets in their possession that give the 1805 marriage date, I feel this point needs to be addressed.  The problem we have today is these errors (regardless of how they were created) have a life of their own and are hard to stop.  We don't need to judge our ancestors in situations like this but rather report truth when truth is found.  In truth then some two and a half months after the marriage, the birth of their first born, Dominicus, occurred on 21 June 1806.  

Hannah Knight Libby Carter (original in possession of Joe Conover)

             John’s wife, Hannah Knight Libby, was born October 9, 1786 in Scarborough, Maine, the daughter of Captain Zebulon Libby (a 3 year soldier in the Revolutionary War) and Lydia Andrews.  Most of her immediate ancestors were early settlers in Scarborough.  

The following are descriptions of her in her later life.  Mrs. Ella K. Milliner stated in 1933 that she was of medium height, less than 5 feet 2 inches, very slim and proud with a delicate face, brown hair and light blue eyes, overall a handsome woman.  She always had her hair combed straight down, parted in the middle, straight down at the ears, and tied by a ribbon in a bow at the back.  She was real dressy, and had a beautiful black silk dress, with a plain waist, high neck and lace collar.   Frances Carter Knight, a daughter of Dominicus Carter, described her grandmother from memory as short and had a round face.  She was light complexioned and her eyes were a light color.  She did not look as old as she was.  Her hair was grey when Frances knew her.  She wore a little lace cap.  He had a good education, and was always very industrious, keeping her knitting close by, and working when she was what might be considered too old to work.   Unfortunately there is no comparable description of John, nor is there any image that we know of in existence.

LIFE OF JOHN CARTER - Part 1 - EARLY DAYS

       The life of our ancestor began in Scarborough, Cumberland County, Maine on 19 May 1782.  He was third child of Richard Carter and Jane (Anne) McKenney.  John was in the fourth generation of our Carters to live in Scarborough though only his father Richard was actually born there.  The McKenneys had been in Scarborough for several generations.  

       The colonial Scarborough that John was born into was actually the second settlement there.  Scarborough was originally settled in the 1630’s first at Black Point, then later at Blue Point and later at Dunstan by 1651.  In 1658 these settlements were incorporated as the town of Scarborough – the name of a town in England where some of the settlers had lived.  By 1676 Scarborough, a town with three settlements of more than 100 houses and 1000 head of cattle, had been destroyed in Indian skirmishes.  The inhabitants tried repeatedly to rebuild the town but in the 1690’s it was abandoned.     

         The second settlement of Scarborough dates from 1702.  In 1720 town meetings were reestablished and by 1790, ten years after John was born, Scarborough had 2,235 inhabitants.  Dunstan became a prominent part of Scarborough because of the shipping and trading at the landing there.  This was just some 3 ½ miles down the Broadturn Road from the Carter residence.  This area was noted for supplying trees that were made into masts for the British ships in the days before the Revolutionary War which had recently ended.

Richard Cater home (at right) 280 Broadturn Road, Scarborough, ME

        The family home of Richard Carter exists today.  It is found at 280 Broadturn Road.  There is the original structure of one story and a taller, turreted addition that was added at a later date.  We don't know for sure that John was born in this home, but since most children were born at home in those days we can assume it was here that John was born. 

Richard Carter 1755 - 1828

        As a sidelight, this is where in a small knoll in the back yard John's father, Richard Carter, was buried.  We know this from the fact that the stone is still there (or was a few years ago.)  There were a couple of other stones that couldn't be read that could possibly be for his wife, Jane, and maybe two babies that they lost at or near their births. 

        The Carter family probably subsisted with a mixture of farming, livestock, and lumbering.  This was not an easy existence but with hard work a family could subsist comfortably.  A family could produce the greater part of their food supplies and their livestock supplied beef and milk for them as well.  The typical settler lived in a comfortable home and provided for the needs of his family.  This was land that Richard had inherited when his father, Benjamin Carter passed away.

       We know that John lived on the family farm until he was at least 17, as his presence at home can be inferred by a male child of his age being in the home of his father.

Up next:  John Carter the sea captain in Portland, Maine