----- Original Message ----- From: caldw To: Gerry Hill Sent: Saturday, August 10, 2002 8:12 PM Subject: CARSON FAMILY Thanks for your response to my query posted on the Jones County list. I am also going to post this there also in case anyone else is interested. Certainly the John Carson you mention as the executor of the will of Andrew Griffin in Greene Co., GA in 1796 could be, and probably is, identical to the John Carson who was a brother to Joseph, David and Adam. Their parents, Thomas Gibson Carson and Margaret McDowell, according to my records, are buried in Greene County. Thomas Gibson McDowell died on 18 Nov 1790 in Greene County and is reportedly buried at the Carson Cemetery in Greene County. He could be buried, however, at the Greensboro Cemetery in Greene County because that is where his wife, Margaret McDowell is buried. She died in Greene County on 16 Dec 1784. Their son, John Wesley Carson, was born at Newby, Co. Armagh, Ireland, on 24 May 1760. He died in Jones County and left a will there in the 1820s. John Wesley's brothers are as you mentioned from the Carson Bible. (I think it is, in fact a Bible from the John Wesley Carson line). I list, among John Wesley Carson's children, a "Polly" Pauline Carson, most probably the Mary Carson who you mention as having married into the Cox family. "Polly" is the old nickname for Mary (for whatever reason I will never know) and therefore Polly Pauline is probably Mary Pauline, if her proper name were recorded. In regards to my line of descent from the Carsons, I descend from Joseph Carson, John Wesley's brother. Joseph was born at Newby, Co. Armagh, Ireland on 12 Jan 1766 and died in the part of Baldwin which became Jones County. His date of death was 12 Nov 1798. We have suspected, but have no proof, that he was married to a Susan Russell. (I note an early Russell family in Baldwin and Jones Counties) Joseph had at least one child, Martha Carson born on 21 Dec 1791 in the area which became Jones County She was my 3 great grandmother. Martha married James Beckham at the home of her uncle David Carson in Jones County on 27 June 1811. She died at Zebulon, Pike Co., GA on 3 Dec 1872. Her obituary was published in the Southern Christian Advocate, a Methodist periodical (published in Charleston, SC) in their issue of 15 Jan 1873. "Mrs. Martha Beckham, widow of James Beckham, Sr., deceased, died at her residence near Zebulon, Pike County, Georgia, on December 3, 1872. She was a daughter of Joseph Carson, was born in Wilkes or Washington Co., Georgia (informant was wrong - it was the Beckham family which once lived in Washington County - cec) on December 21, 1791, was married to James Beckham at the home of her uncle, David Carson, in Baldwin County (should have been Jones County as Baldwin had already been divided - cec) June 27th 1811. James Beckham, son of Solomon Beckham and Susannah Stacey Weathers, was a nephew of Samuel Beckham, a Revolutionary War Soldier, buried in Baldwin County. Following this marriage James Beckham and his wife Martha Carson remained in Jones County until at least 1820. Several of their children were born there including their eldest daughter, Susan Russell Beckham, my great grandmother. She was born in Jones County on 10 May 1812. David Carson, brother to John Wesley, Adam, and Joseph Carson married Nancy Brantley in 1807 in Jones County. She was undoubtedly from one of the Brantley famlies which lived in Jones County at the time. He remained in Jones County until at least 1816 when he is found on a county tax list. Then he moved to Selma, Dallas County, Alabama, perhaps in 1817 or 1818. It was at this time that settlement began in that area. Later several other members of the Carson family moved to Selma, as well. I have quite a lot of information on Adam Carson's line, down to the present, information which I have not, as of yet, put in my genealogy program. I am beginning to do that next week. I have several generations of the Carson family back in Ireland prior to Thomas Gibson Carson and his wife Margaret McDowell which is entered. I cannot vouch for its accuracy. I entered it in order to have it to do more research eventually. Where did you get the information concerning Joseph Carson's having been a Captain in the Revolutionary War? That is something which I did not have but would be very interested in obtaining a copy. In regards to Joseph Carson's wife, she possibly, as I said, was Susan Russell, or could have even been the Elizabeth Carson who left a will in Jones County in the 1820s. Martha, however, is not mentioned as a child. I do not think that she was was Martha's mother. I can send you a text file which will open in Wordpad with everything I have on the Carsons down to the present if you would like to see it. I could also send it as a GEDCOM. I always prefer GEDCOMS because the work of putting the thing in the computer is already done. One curious little bit of information and a thought. My grandfather, Robert Emmett Caldwell, was a grandson of Martha Carson and James Beckham. Robert Emmett was a Protestant Irish Patriot executed by the British in 1808 for his anti-British activities. We have always wonder why Susan Beckham Caldwell (Martha's daughter) could have named a son for Robert Emmett. But, looking at the Carsons and their origin, it seems to fall into place. No doubt the Carsons had no good feelings about the British back in Ireland, and perhaps that is why they joined the American Revolutionary Movement so quickly after coming to America. Maybe Robert Emmett Caldwell's name was just a bit of that old anti-British feeling taken forward for a two or three generations. At least I have not come up with a better explanation. I would like to send what I have to you and then would like anything additional which you have which would add to it. Charles Caldwell.