Carsons in VA

The Carson Family

From Washington County, Virginia
To Rockcastle County, Kentucky
To Jellico, Tennessee
To Davie, Broward County, Florida

Who were David Carson's Parents?

David Carson is the earliest family member in this Carson line that we are able to identify. There is no agreement on who are his parents or from where he came. He was in Washington County, Virginia as early as 1772. (At that time he was already married to Elizabeth Dysart.)

Washington County is located in the southwestern corner of Virginia at the southern end of the Shenandoah Valley.

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Many of the Carson Family histories found on the internet are based on the undocumented story of Alexander Harvey Carson.

"THE SAGA OF ALEXANDER HARVEY CARSON"

BY RICHARD TAYLOR HUDSON CARSON

Published in The Urlar,

The quarterly journal of Clan Macpherson

Preface: The first Carson who came to America from Scotland in 1654 was Niles Carson. Now there are more than 27,000 households bearing the Carson Name, and 49 Carsons and McCarsons are members of the Clan Macpherson Association. George F. Black in his book, The Surnames of Scotland, states that “the name Carson is an ancient family in Galloway.” George Black lists many of our ancient ancestors. Among them are Maurice Acarson, Baliliff of the Isle of Man; Sir Robert Acarson, a cleric who witnessed a charter to Holm Cultram in 1276; Thomas Carson, deputy to the custumar of Linlithrow in 1373; Donald Akersan who petitioned the Pope in 1934 for a benefice in the gift of the abbot and convent of Holyrood; Patrick Corsen who witnessed a notarial instrument in Dumfries in 1453; and Adam Corsan, merchant burgess of Dumfries in 1665. Two Americans listed by Black are Joseph Carson, an early shipping merchant of Philadelphia and an earnest supporter of the American Revolution, and Kit Carson, an Indian scout and direct descendent of Alexander Harvey Carson.

The family name, Carson, appears under several different spellings such as Corsans, Carsson, Carsan, Carent, Acarson, MacCarson, and Akersan, but in America it is most often spelled “Carson”. The early families of Carsons who came to America prior to the Revolutionary War were from Scotland, England , and Ulster. The Carsons came with given names like John, William, James, Thomas, Samuel and Andrew. These given names appear over and over in many different families and in many generations which makes genealogy research very difficult. Tracing our Carson ancestry back to Scotland or finding the connection of Kit Carson becomes an almost impossible task. As I read various Carson family histories, the common thread is a claim that the famiy is related to Kit Carson. I assume this relationship is meaningful because ancestors of Kit Carson are eligible for the DAR or SAR. It also gives you bragging rights if you are asked the question, “Are you related to Kit?”.

The Following story of Alexander Harvey Carson will help many Carsons who claim a relationship to Christopher “Kit” Carson trace their roots back to Scotland.

“In the last part of the 1600’s, the Scots were able to worship as Presbyterians even though they were still persecuted and could not hold political office. During this period and throughout the 1700’s there continued to be a constant struggle between the church and the government, and preachers such as Alexander Harvey Carson were persecuted or exiled. By 1700 many of the Presbyterian Scots, including Alexander Harvey Carson, fled Scotland to Ulster, Ireland where land was cheaper but there was little political freedom. William Carson, the third son of Alexander (and Kit Carson’s grandfather), was born in Ireland in 1715, and a few years later Alexander Harvey Carson moved his family to a small town in England named Bradninch near a George Boone who was a weaver.

A close relationship began between Alexander (the great-grandfather of Kit Carson) and George (the grandfather of Daniel Boone). The Carsons and Boones had heard tales of rich fertile land and beautiful rolling acres in Pennsylvania that could be easily acquired and more importantly, they were told of the religious freedom in America. Both families decided to leave for America together. By the time the Carsons and the Boones left England, Alexander had four sons: John, born 1710; Samuel, born1712; William, born 1715; and James, born 1717. The eldest three sons were born in Ulster and James was born in England. The Carsons and Boones sailed on August 17, 1717 and arrived in the port of Philadelphia on October 10, 1717. A fifth son, Alexander, was probably born shortly after arriving in the colonies.

Alexander with his wife and his fifth son stayed in Philadelphia where Alexander, Sr. served in the Presbyterian Church, which had been founded in 1701. Along with the Boone family the four eldest sons moved west sometime before 1735. Their names are recorded in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania on that year (at that time part of Lancaster County). There were Indians living in the Tylpehocken and Octelaunee valleys just beyond the mountains of the Carson and Boone farms. In 1728 George Boone wrote the Governor that the settlers had fled and “there remains about twenty men with me to guard my mill and we are resolved to defend ourselves to ye last Extremity”. In 1745, John Carson, eldest son of Alexander, was one of the signers of a petition to Governor Hamilton asking for ammunition and arms to protect themselves against the Indians. After a peaceful relationship was restored with the Delaware Indians, John Carson founded Carsonville in Dauphin County.

The Carsons and the Boones discussed moving farther west in the late 1740’s. George Boone’s son, Squire Boone and his wife Sarah and sixteen year old son Daniel sold their farm and traveled west from the Cumberland Valley, then down the Shenandoah in 1750. Squire moved his family from place to place for nearly two years before he finally settled in the Yadkin Valley on the western frontier of North Carolina. Squire Boone wrote letters to the Carsons telling of the land grants in the wild areas to the south. William Carson, the third son of Alexander, decided to join the southern migration and followed the barrier-chain of the Alleghenies through Maryland and Virginia into the Carolinas. The southern branch of Alexander Harvey Carson’s family begins with William.

When William passed through the Shenandoah Valley on his way to North Carolina, he stopped in Rowan County, now part of Iredell County, near the site of present-day Statesville. Here, on December 1, 1761, he established a Carson land grant of 692 acres in the present Loray district. William being a faithful supporter of the Presbyterian Church later donated the land upon which the Concord Presbyterian Church was first built. Shortly after arriving in North Carolina, William married Eleanor McDuff in 1752 in a brief Presbyterian ceremony in a log church. Lindsey (Kit’s father), the first child of this marriage, was born on August 1, 1754. Subsequently, Andrew was born on March 1, 1756, Robert on July 20, 1759, Sarah in 1762, Eleanor in 1767 and Alexander in 1769. William’s son, Alexander moved as a young man to what is now the state of Mississippi and is the first Carson on record to go west of the Mississippi River.

In 1753, the Boone family acquired land in North Carolina’s Yadkin Valley from the Earl of Granville. Shortly before the American Revolution (about 1773) William Carson died. His sons, Lindsey, Robert, and Andrew served in the American Revolution under General Wade Hampton. Both Lindsey and Andrew served as Captains and had outstanding military records. After the war Andrew Carson married Thomas Young’s daughter. Robert and Lindsey Carson moved from North Carolina to South Carolina, and in 1784 Lindsay married Lucy Bradley. They had five children: William born 1786, Sarah born 1788, Andrew born 1790, Moses Bradley born 1792 and Sophia born 1793. During the Revolutionary War, Daniel Boone was busy laying the foundation for what was to be the state of Kentucky. Daniel was finally successful in establishing a fort at Boonesbourgh. Daniel would write Lindsey telling him of the new Kentucky frontier. Just before Sophie’s birth in 1793, Lindsey Carson moved his family to Kentucky. On April 5, 1793 shortly after Sophie was born Lucy Carson died. On February 11, 1796 Lindsey then married Rebecca Robinson of Greenbrier County, Virginia. Lindsey and Rebecca had ten children, six boys and four girls. Elizabeth was born in 1797 and later married Robert Coopers of Kentucky, Nancy was born August 28, 1801 and married a Mr. Briggs of Fort Briggs in Missouri, Robert was born November 10, 1803 and married a Calloway, Matilda was born November 4, 1805 and married an Adams, Hamilton was born January 18, 1808 and married three times to a Smith, a Campbell, and to a Cook, Christopher (Kit) was born December 24, 1809 and was married twice, Hampton was born May 23, 1812 and married Anita Crews, Mary Ann was born May 25, 1814 and married a Rubey, Sarshall C. was born on June 16, 1816 and married an Arnica, and Lindsey, Jr. was born September 11, 1818. Lindsey, Jr. was born a week after his father’s death. There are many excellent genealogies of the southern branch, which begin where this leaves off.

The western branch consists primarily of farmers, educators, and ministers. They lacked the adventuresome spirit of the southern branch although their love of land took them westward over the Allegheny Mountains. The western branch of Alexander Harvey Carson also begins in Carsonville, Pennsylvania, as did the southern branch. John, Samuel, and James stayed in Dauphin County as farmers and merchants and raised their families. It was their children (grandchildren of Alexander Harvey Carson) that began the western migration of the Carsons before the Revolutionary War over the Allegheny Mountains into Washington County in Western Pennsylvania, then into the panhandle of the present state of West Virginia, and later into Jefferson County, Ohio, and Indiana. It is interesting to note that members of the southern branch and western branch often meet up in Ohio, Indiana or Missouri and never know how they are related.”

My story would not be complete if I did not mention that I trace my roots back to Alexander Carson in Scotland through his second son, Samuel. I am the sixth generation in a direct line to Samuel. My Grandson, Samuel is the eighth generation to bear his name. My family is part of the western branch of Alexander Harvey Carson. Jack Harvey Carson, our Membership Secretary, is also a descendant of Samuel, and Jack’s son carries the name Alexander into the ninth generation of the Alexander Harvey Carson family in America.

Much of the information on Alexander Harvey Carson was taken from “Kit Carson, a Portrait in Courage” by M. Morgan Estergreen, University of Oklahoma Press, and “Kit Carson, A Pattern of Heroes” by Thelma S. Guild and Harvey L. Carter, University of Nebraska Press. Other information was taken from “The Surnames of Scotland” by George F. Black and “History of Lands and Their Owners in Galloway” by P.H. McKerlie

The Art work on the Carson Coat of Arms shown at the Beginning of this article was drawn by Edward G. Carson, member of the Clan Macpherson Association. (not shown in this retyped version of the article)

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Email from Carson researcher, Josette L. Maxwell of Boone, NC, sent July 09, 2003

First and foremost, there is no documentation nor reason to believe the
Alexander Harvey Carson family tree. The individual who first "published"
it consistently refused to present any documentation for his so called
"facts". Clearly, a good deal of it (in terms of Carsons in the U.S.) can
be proven to be in error. It is not possible from parish records to
demonstrate the validity of the Scotland Alexander.

Secondly, someone misread the will of Samuel Carson m. Jeanet some time ago
and this error has been sustained over time. The Estate Papers clearly
identify David, William and Samuel as the only sons of Samuel and Jeanet.
John Linn is abstracted in several renditions of wills of Adams County as a son
in law; other documents establish him in Adams County with a wife Mary. George
Daborn has also been abstracted as a son in law rather than son. There is
probably a misspelling of his name because there are no records for a Daborn
that I've found in Adams County.

In what is now Adams County, PA, there were three Carsons early on.
First, William Carson who married Mary Moore and had children William, Rachel, Ann (based solely on documentation).
Secondly, Walter Carson m. Agnes and has documented children William, Agness, John and Elen with probable son Walter.
Third, there is Samuel Carson m. Jeanet with documented children David, William, a female who married George Daborn, Mary m. John Linn, Elizabeth and Samuel.

Based solely on documentation:
Samuel Carson was b. 1699 (on tombstone) and died 28 Sep 1759, buried
Conewago Presbyterian Church in Straban. He was a Constable in Mt. Pleasant
Twp 1757, secured a warrant for 100 Acres March 9, 1742/43.
David Carson m. Susanna McBride. He's on a tax list in Mt. Pleasant 1762.
Marriage mentioned in the will of Susanna's mother, father Andrew McBride.
There is a land grant transfer of Susanna's inherited land from her father
being sold; at that time she is in Miffin County, PA.
Daughter Mary Carson b. 16 May 1756 (church record with father identified).

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