I have several Elon Carmans in my family tree.

Elon (1792)
Elon Joseph (1840)
Joseph Elon (1872)
Joseph Elon (1891)
Joseph Elon (1901)
Joseph Elon (1914)

There is also an Elon Carman who lived in and around Philadelphia that I knew must be related, but I couldn’t find any definitive evidence of the relationship beyond DNA matches with some of his descendants.

Yesterday, I found his baptismal record. » Continue reading “Connecting the Elons”

This is a timeline of the locations I’ve found Elon Carman & his family and notes to help with further research.

Montgomery County

Flourtown is in Springfield Township in eastern Montgomery County, near Philadelphia County.

Montgomery Township is north of Flourtown and borders New Britain & Warrington Townships in Bucks County.

Bucks County

Buckingham Township is in the center of Bucks County which is east of Montgomery County and north of Philadelphia County.

Chester County

Chester County is southwest of and borders Montgomery County. Chester County is west of & borders Delaware County which is between it and Philadelphia County.

Londonderry Township (London Derry) is in western-central  Chester County.

Penn Township is directly south of Londonderry Township.

1820 Census 

Enumerated as follows, with possible matches to family members:
1 Male < 10 – Charles about age 2
1 Male 26-45 – Elon about age 28
1 Female < 10 – Elizabeth about age 5?
1 Female 26-45 – Martha about age 28

1830 Census

Enumerated as follows with possible matches to family members:
1 Male < 5 – Elon about age 1 (see below for note on this possibility)
1 Male 5-10 – Unknown who this might be
1 Male 10-15 – Charles about age 12
1 Male 20-30 – Unknown who this might be
1 Male 30-40 – Elon about age 38
1 Female 5-10 – Mary Ann about age 9
1 Female 15-20 – Elizabeth about age 15?
1 Female 30-40 – Martha about age 38

1840 Census

Enumerated as follows with possible matches to family members:
1 Male 10-15 – Elon about age 11
1 Male 40-50 – Elon about age 48
1 Female 50-60 – Martha about age 48

1850 & 1860 Censuses

Elon and Martha Carman are living alone in Philadelphia

Elon Carman (c1829-         )

There is an Elon Carman, sometimes reported as Elwood, who married Mary Lowry. I have also found an Elon Kite Carman in newspapers who might be the same person. My working theory is that he is the son of Elon & Martha Carman and the brother to Charles, but I have not yet found any solid records to back this claim. I have matched on AncestryDNA to descendants of this Elon Carman as a 4th-6th cousin.

Sources

1. War of 1812 Widow’s Pension File
2. Charles R. Carman death certificate
3. Chester County Poor School Children Records
4. “United States Census, 1820,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHLF-KX8 : accessed 15 January 2017), Ellen Carmon, Buckingham, Bucks, Pennsylvania, United States; citing p. 294, NARA microfilm publication M33, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 99; FHL microfilm 181,405.
5. “United States Census, 1830,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHPT-HJK : 18 August 2015), Elon Cannan, Montgomery, Montgomery, Pennsylvania, United States; citing 357, NARA microfilm publication M19, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 154; FHL microfilm 20,628.
6. “United States Census, 1840,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHYT-1MC : 24 August 2015), Elan Carman, Montgomery Township, Montgomery, Pennsylvania, United States; citing p. 51, NARA microfilm publication M704, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 477; FHL microfilm 20,552.

This is the second post detailing the evidence I’ve discovered that supports the claim that Elon Carman (ca.1792-1866) and Martha Johnson (ca.1792-1871) are the parents of my third great-grandfather Charles R. Carman. The first post presented the Chester County Poor School Children Records. This post will present the pension files from the War of 1812.

After the death of her husband, Martha Carman applied for pensions from both the federal government and the state of Pennsylvania.

Mark of Martha Carman from pension application, with her address.

The application to the state of Pennsylvania was filed by Martha Carman on 2 Jun 1866. At the time she stated her residence at 2312 N. 5th Street in Philadelphia. This would mean she was living with Charles R. Carman since in the 1865-68 Philadelphia city directories his address is also listed as 2312 N. 5th Street.

In addition to them residing at the same address, Mrs. Caroline Carman, likely the same Caroline Carman who was the wife of Charles, signed as a witness for the application.

The application to the federal government was filed by Martha in 1871. She reported her address as 1334 Potts Street in June 1871. In December 1871, Martha’s funeral was held at the home of her son-in-law William L. Pomeroy at 1334 Potts Street. Martha’s pension application was witnessed by a Mary Pomroy.  I believe Mary Pomroy is the same Mary Ann Carman listed in the school records with Charles. Census records have a Mary Pomroy, wife of William, who was born around the same time as indicated by the school records.

Between the school records and these pension application files, I have confidence that Elon Carman & Martha Johnson are the parents of Charles  R. Carman, who married Caroline A. Brill, and Mary Ann Carman, who married William Pomroy (aka Pomeroy).

Sources

1. “Pennsylvania, War of 1812 Pensions, 1866-1879,” index and images, Ancestry.com (http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=2394 ), Martha Carman, widow of Elon Carman.  (Transcriptions available here)
2. “War of 1812 Pension Files,” digital images, Fold3 (http://www.fold3.com/browse.php#247|h5iT6dgqR ), Elon Carman, Widow’s Pension no. 88, Pennsylvania. (Transcriptions available here)
3. “U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995,” index & images, Ancestry.com (http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=2469), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
4. “Martha Carman obituary,” Public Ledger (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), 8 December 1871; GenealogyBank (http://genealogybank.com), Newspaper Archives. Obituary text: “CARMAN — On the 6th inst, MARTHA CARMAN, in the 92 year of her age. The relatives and friends of the family are respectfully invited to attend her funeral from the residence of her son-in-law, William L. Pomeroy, 1334 Potts street on Saturday, Dec 9th, at 7 o’clock. To proceed to Mechanics Cemetery.”

I am not one for the whole bucket list idea, but as we pass from one year to the next I recognize there are some genealogical mysteries I would like to solve in my lifetime.  Here is an incomplete list in no particular order. Some are things that are likely never to be answered. Some are only a matter of time.

1. The disinheriting of Charles H. Ware.  In his will, Uriah Ware very explicitly excluded his son Charles. For the longest time, I was unable to prove the whereabouts of Charles after he left home. I have since discovered him in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania which seems a long way from Camden County, New Jersey. How did he end up there and why did his father disown him? I may never know.

2. What happened to Frances Funston? Joseph Funston was married twice according to his Civil War pension file. His first marriage to Frances ended in divorce. She was the mother of his children and according to what was found in the pension file, did not appear to contest the divorce. Joseph remarried right away. I have never found Frances in any record after the divorce in 1872, not alone or with any of her children who were by then grown. She likely remarried, but to whom I have no idea. (Update 7/17/14: I found her!)

3.  May Whitaker? When talking about her family, my grandmother always said there was a Whitaker in there somewhere. On death and marriage records for her uncles and mother, it was their mother who was listed as May (or Mary) Whitaker. I have her on the 1880 census with her husband Joseph and children, and with a Mary Partington who is identified as Joseph’s Mother-In-Law. Then she died in 1886. Did her mother remarry a man named Partington? Was the family wrong and May’s last name was really Partington? I have found no other records of her or her mother, under Whitaker or Partington. May was born in England around 1852. I have no immigration date so I do not know if she came over as a child or adult. Based on the ages of their children, she and Joseph married around 1871. There is still a lot more searching to be done on this one.

4. What ethnicity and religion were the Carmans? There are several Carman lines in the eastern United States. There was an Englishman who settled in Long Island and his ancestors stretched south into New Jersey and east into Pennsylvania. There was a German who landed in Philadelphia whose name became anglicized as Carman. My Carmans have been in the Philadelphia area a long time. My latest research suggests they were in Montgomery County in the late eighteenth century and likely well before that. Are they connected to the Germans, the English or some other Carman line? My 3rd great-grandparents were Catholic and their church was set on fire during the Riots of 1844. From what I read, it was the two Irish churches which were targeted while the nearby German church was left untouched. Were they Irish? My 2nd great-grandfather married a German Protestant. Was this when the Carmans became Protestant? The more I learn about this family, the more questions I have.

5. French! My grandmother had no idea where her Carmans came from and she knew there was a Whitaker but not who it was. Another thing she always used to say was that she had French in her, but she did not know from which line. My family ethnicity is fairly boring: lots of German, English, Irish, Scottish and way back on my father’s side a bit of Scandinavian  But mostly just lots and lots of Germany and British Isles. What I am trying to say is that French would be exotic. Ironically, the closest I have come to finding it has been through the only ancestors I have traced back to Germany: the Hornefs.  The area of Germany they lived in was near the border which by the little I have read moved around a bit. There was also the movement of people as Protestants sought safe havens. I have found church record indexes with their names in German and French. (Georg Peter/George Pierre) Is this the French my grandmother heard about? Since most of my grandmother’s ancestry has brick walls in the United States I may never know for sure.

6. The princess in the hogshead. I’ll end on this one, because it’s a bit silly. In the seventeenth century a young Swedish princess had to flee her home due to political troubles. She stowed away on a ship by hiding in a hogshead. The ship wrecked off the New Jersey coast and she washed up alive but destitute. A trapper, John Garrison, found her and eventually married her. And thus, all Garrisons in Southern New Jersey are descended from Swedish royalty. Or, so we claim. Who is ever going to prove otherwise? 🙂

One hundred seventy-three years ago this week, on 14 Sep 1839, Charles R. Carman and Caroline A. Brill were married by Reverend Father Weiland in Philadelphia. They were my third great-grandparents.

I learned of their marriage date from Caroline’s Widow’s Claim for Pension. Charles served as a private in company A of the 81st regiment of Pennsylvania.

Charles Carman and Caroline Brill marriage information from Widow’s Claim for Pension

Caroline was unable to provide a marriage certificate because the record of their marriage was destroyed when the church burned down during the Riots of 1844. There were two churches that were set fire during the riots in Kensington: St. Michael’s and St. Augustine’s.

Charles Carman and Caroline Brill’s marriage record was destroyed during the Riots of 1844 in Philadelphia.

To prove her marriage, Caroline had to submit a Secondary Proof of Marriage form which included affidavits from Eliza Mann and Mary Gray who had known Charles and Caroline for many years and which also listed the names and birth dates of their adult children.

Click on the images above to see full-sized scans of the documents.