I am seeking information on the family of Benjamin and Mary Carson who were in Bloom Township, Clay County at the time of the 1880 census. Is anyone able to tell me when Benjamin and Mary died and where they might be buried? The 1880 household consisted of: Benjamin Carson, 47, Farmer, IRE, IRE, IRE Mary Carson, Wife, 48, Keeping House, OH, PA, PA Anna Carson, Daughter, 25, At Home, OH, IRE, OH Ella Carson, Daughter, 18, School Teacher, IL, IRE, OH Eva Carson, Daughter, 17, At Home, IL, IRE, OH John Carson, Son, 15, Farm Laborer, IL, IRE, OH Edward Carson, Son, 13, F arm Laborer, IL, IRE, OH Benjamin Carson, Son, 11, At Home, IL, IRE, OH I believe Mary was originally Mary McCoy, a daughter of John McCoy and Elizabeth Beall. An 1880 edition of the 'History of Franklin and Pickaway Counties, Ohio' lists among the children of John and Elizabeth a 'Mrs. B. Carson,' but does not say where they were living at the time. Three sons of John and Elizabeth also settled in Kansas [Jefferson County]. A Mary Ann McCoy married Henry Clover in Franklin County, Ohio c. 1848. There is a Henry Clover (died 2 February 1852) buried at Clover Cemetery in Franklin County. Mary's parents and several other family members are also buried there. On 29 January 1854 a Mary Ann Clover wed Benjamin Carson in Franklin County. Everything seems to hang together except for proving the leap from Ohio to Clay County. If a death date is available, what newspaper might have been published in the area at the time? I would appreciate any assistance anyone may be able to provide. Larry Dickerson

G'day Larry, the following information is definitely relative to your query and was gleaned from "Pioneers of the Bluestem Prairie" published by The Riley County Genealogical Society, First Edition [1976]. Library of Congress Card Catalogue Number 76-11926. Details were on Page 21 & 22 and Benjamin is indexed as Surname #29. Best Wishes Don Johnston Melbourne, Australia Carson 29 BENJAMIN CARSON [m ary Ann McCoy] Son of John and Ann (Hobbs) Carson, was b in Co Armagh, Ireland 22 Jul 1832 and d Clay Co 18 Jul 1915. He m Mary Ann McCoy Clover who d 3 Sept 1905. Both were bur in Lincoln Cemetary in Bloom Township. Benjamin Carson began the trek that eventually led him to a farm in Bloom Twp during the Great Irish Potato' Famine of 1845-48 when he was approaching maturity. At the urging of one of their American cousins, John Carson and his wife gathered their 10 children and as many of their belongings as they could put in a wheelbarrow and walked 40 miles from their home in Co Armagh to Belfast, borarding one of the "coffin Ships" recalled to service by the crisis. After an interminable voyage, during which one of the younger children sickened and died, they reached America only to be shunted off to the Gulf of St. Lawrence where cholera was raging. With starving and sick people dying all around him, John Carson - in his early 40s- managed to procure passage by boat up the St. Lawrence, completing the journey into Ontario on foot. He and his older children "hired out" and otherwise scavenged for a living in the new land. Their last child was born and, ironically perhaps, was named Abraham. But to young Benjamin it was still not the Promised Land. He endured the privations until he was "hiring out" age. Then he persuaded his father to let him try for the US, the country they'd set out for from Ireland. His father and an older brother packed provisions in a knap sack; and, after prayers and tears, the three started south by foot through-the wild north woods with the North Star for a guide and a hunting knife poised for protection. By day they slept in underbrush. When his father judged they had crossed the border, he said, "We must turn back now. Find the Mississippi River and keep going south. . . and, Son, remember who you are!" That was the last time Benjamin saw his father, though they had some meager communication through the years - a sister, Mary, married Dixon Carson, a distant cousin, and settled in Marysville. Eventually all the John Carson family crossed over into the States, either by stealth or by marriage, many of them settling on the Eastern shore of Lake Michigan. Even John and Ann came. spending their declining years with their daughter, Elizabeth Carson Stedman in South Dakota.. Benjamin Carson found the Mississippi River, hired out as a cabin boy but jumped ship and swam ashore when he was ordered by the ship's master to help him flog a Negro boy his own age. The Negro youth raised his eyes to heaven and begged, "Lord, have mercy!" Benjamin instantly became a flaming Abolitionist. In later years he mourned, "He knew better than to ask MAN to have mercy. . . the Lord was his last refuge." Benjamin made his way up the Ohio River, doing odd jobs, sleeping and eating where he could, and finally hiring out on the farm of a McCoy family near Columbus. He became enamored of their daughter, May Ann McCoy Clover, a young widow with two children, William and Melinda. After their marriage, they bought land near Decatur, IL and developed a fruit farm. In one of the back country towns of IL Benjamin came upon a young rawboned lawyer making a maiden speech for public office. He rushed home to Mary Ann and said, "I heard a great man speak today. He's one of God's chosen. I noted his name purposely. It is Abe Lincoln." And in time he was to name one of his own children Lincoln. Meanwhile Mary Ann and Benjamin were collecting children - eight in all - two of the girls dying as toddlers. But Benjamin's peregrinations were not over. In 1871, he went to KS on an exploratory trip, rode horseback over central Kansas and into OK. At a grocery store he noted the Oklahoma potatoes were no larger than a hen's egg. That was no place for an Irishman. The following winter in 1872 he and his family joined a wagon train in Decatur heading for Clay Co, crossing at Omaha (for which he had to pay $3 to be towed up the bluff). He bought relinquishment on a farm in Bloom Twp from W. V. Heusted's brother, planted 15 varieties of apples, 6 or 8 of peaches, and grapes and other fruits, raised cattle, geese, wheat, and book-reading children. Benjamin and Mary Ann were Methodists, helping found Shiloh, their neighborhood church. Benjamin became as American as a nostalgic Irishman with his brogue intact can expect to be. Mary Ann McCoy's family, of longer tenancy (and more legitimacy) in the States, did not escape Civil War service. Of Northern sympathies, two young McCoy brothers died at the Battle of Antietam. Benjamin and Mary Ann's children who survived to adulthood were: Anna b 1855, d in CA, m John W. Sherwood; Ella b 24 Jan 1861, d 12 Nov 1950 at Clay Center, m 13 Oct 1881 to Horace Hull whose mother's name was Irene; Eva b 1863, d Houston, TX, m David Babb son of Martin and Elizabeth Babb; John Clay b 1865, Osage City, m 22 Jul 1888 to Maude Ryerson da and Abbie (Green) RyersOl' Lincoln b 26 Oct 1866, d 5 I m 1 Aug 1894 to Viola Be dau of J ames and Partena Pettey; Benjamin Franklin I Hebron NE, m Anna Fulccomer. All ( but Anna are known to h born in Macon Co IL. Nelda Flinner, 833 Wildcat Ridge, MHK gdau -----Original Message----- From: Laurence E. Dickerson [mailto:laurence@wi.net] Sent: Tuesday, 18 January 2005 9:57 AM To: KSCLAY-L@rootsweb.com Subject: McCoy / Carson I am seeking information on the family of Benjamin and Mary Carson who were in Bloom Township, Clay County at the time of the 1880 census. Is anyone able to tell me when Benjamin and Mary died and where they might be buried? The 1880 household consisted of: Benjamin Carson, 47, Farmer, IRE, IRE, IRE Mary Carson, Wife, 48, Keeping House, OH, PA, PA Anna Carson, Daughter, 25, At Home, OH, IRE, OH Ella Carson, Daughter, 18, School Teacher, IL, IRE, OH Eva Carson, Daughter, 17, At Home, IL, IRE, OH John Carson, Son, 15, Farm Laborer, IL, IRE, OH Edward Carson, Son, 13, F arm Laborer, IL, IRE, OH Benjamin Carson, Son, 11, At Home, IL, IRE, OH I believe Mary was originally Mary McCoy, a daughter of John McCoy and Elizabeth Beall. An 1880 edition of the 'History of Franklin and Pickaway Counties, Ohio' lists among the children of John and Elizabeth a 'Mrs. B. Carson,' but does not say where they were living at the time. Three sons of John and Elizabeth also settled in Kansas [Jefferson County]. A Mary Ann McCoy married Henry Clover in Franklin County, Ohio c. 1848. There is a Henry Clover (died 2 February 1852) buried at Clover Cemetery in Franklin County. Mary's parents and several other family members are also buried there. On 29 January 1854 a Mary Ann Clover wed Benjamin Carson in Franklin County. Everything seems to hang together except for proving the leap from Ohio to Clay County. If a death date is available, what newspaper might have been published in the area at the time? I would appreciate any assistance anyone may be able to provide. Larry Dickerson <Unsnip> Co-Moderator: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CampbellsAustralia Co-Moderator: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JohnstonAustralia Co-Moderator: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Irishancestorsgroup Co Administrator: Northern Ireland Genweb County Antrim http://www.rootsweb.com/~nirantri/ -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.296 / Virus Database: 265.7.0 - Release Date: 17/01/2005