Relay – A Family History Blog

THIS POST HAS BEEN UPDATED IN A NEW POST – PLEASE CHECK THE NEW POST AND DON’T RELY ON THIS INFORMATION.

In a previous post (much longer ago than I am comfortable admitting) I mentioned that some of my most persistent brick walls were the parents of Alice Carson who married Joseph Savage in 1771 in Hallowell, Kennebec County, Maine.  Recently I decided to explore the limits of what I have gathered on Adam Carson and Alice (or Elise) Alexander.  Here is a summary of what I’ve been able to glean to date.  Primarily from published County Histories, Vital Records and a scattering of published land and probate records.  I am not footnoting this – yet – but do have sources for every fact I mention.

Adam Carson appears to have been born around 1718, perhaps in either Scotland or North Ireland.  Some online family trees suggest a birthdate as early as 1708 but that seems unlikely given

a) the year of his marriage – 1746 and the fact that his wife apparently predeceased him and they had several children together

b) the marriage year – 1771 for two of his children.

c) the likely birth year of his son Ephraim – 1762

County histories mention that he lived to be 99 and died just before 1800 so something doesn’t fit somewhere.  Of course in early America anyone attaining great age was prone to add padding rather than subtracting years so the 99 is probably 92 or maybe even 89.

He appears to have come to  New Hampshire, most likely with at least 2 brothers or cousins, before 1746.  On 27 November 1746 he married Alice Alexander in Hudson, New Hampshire.  His likely brothers John (who married Sarah McQuiston in Hudson, New Hampshire on 28 June 1750) and William Carson remained in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire but Adam moved at some point before 1771 to Hallowell, Kennebec County, Maine where his son William married Hannah Savage and his daughter Alice married Hannah’s brother Joseph Savage in the same year.

Adam and many of his family including sons Ephraim,  William and son-in-law Joseph moved to Canaan, Somerset County by 1781 where Adam was assessed for poll tax.  In 1792 Adam received his final grant to lot 5 of the original division of Canaan.  He had apparently been living on the land for several years as there is a deed recorded in 1788 where he gave the eastern half of the lot to his 4 unmarried daughters – Janet, Elizabeth, Anne and Sarah.  All 4 sisters had apparently died by 1833 when the estate of their brother Ephraim was settled and the eastern half of the lot was sold at auction.  Ephraim owned 50 acres of the adjacent lot 4 at some point and his brother William owned nearby lot 2.  Any record of land holding by Joseph Savage has been lost.

Adam Carson died between the granting of his land in 1792 and the census of 1800. According to the history of Skowhegan (a town set off from Canaan in the 1820s) Adam lived to be over 99. I question that primarily because that would make him nearly 70 at the marriages of William and Hannah and most likely 40-50 years old at their birth.  Records indicate that Ephraim was 70 when he died in 1832 giving him a birth year of 1762 which would mean that Adam was between 72 and 78 at Ephraim’s birth. While not impossible there is no indication that Adam had a much younger wife which is the only way this is likely.

Sadly I have nothing beyond her name for Alice Alexander Carson.  No possible birthdate, no death date, no mention in Canaan records or in the 2 published histories of the region.  And no real possibilities for a birth family.

I think I might have enough to pursue Adam’s connection to New Hampshire farther.  Which is progress perhaps.