Mixing it up: the indirect evidence challenge.

For some time, cousin Robert and I have been reporting his descent from George F. and Elizabeth (Sanor) Carle, by their son John S. Carle (aka John Sanor Carle), born Missouri in 1841, and by John’s son, George Herbert Carle, born Washington (state), 1887.  We also report George F. Carle had maternal grandfather, Mathias Firestone, separately proven to have been a soldier in the American Revolution.

Robert wanted to join the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) based on his claim of descent from Mathias Firestone, but he couldn’t locate obvious proof his George F. Carle was the same man as Mathias’ grandson by that name. 

Tell a family historian there's no proof, and watch her go to work!  

Mathias Firestone (1744-?1829) had a well-proved daughter, Mary Ann “Mary” Firestone (1789-1869), who married Columbiana County, Ohio, 1807, to Richard L. Carle (c1777-c1837). [i] [ii] Richard and Mary (Firestone) Carle lived and farmed at Columbiana County from the time they were married until their deaths. [iii]

You be the judge! Using mostly indirect evidence, have we not proven the two men named George F. Carle are the same person? (Pssst, surprises at the end.)

STEP 1: Evidence that Richard and Mary (Firestone) Carle had son George, aka George F. Carle.

1. I am not a descendant of George F. Carle, but of Richard and Mary (Firestone) Carle’s eldest child, Rebecca Firestone Carle (1809-1892), married Columbiana County, Ohio, 1832 to John Miller. John and Rebecca (Carle) Miller lived most of their married lives at Williams County, Ohio. In researching Rebecca’s family, we find a biographical sketch of her son, William Carl Miller; the sketch includes a short clip about the Carle family reporting Rebecca had a brother named George. 

Commemorative Biographical Record of Northwestern Ohio (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1899), pp. 385-386; biographical sketch of William C. Miller, "Rebecca (Carl) [Miller] ... a daughter of Richard Carl, and of German descent … was the eldest of nine children, the others being Mary A.; Lydia; Harriet; George; Richard; John; Daniel; and Joseph." [iv]

2. Rebecca (Carle) Miller’s father, Richard L. Carle, died c1837. The only record located about his death is a probate file. We presume the man who was Rebecca’s brother, George F. Carle, was an heir to the estate and also served as an administrator.

(a) Columbiana County Probate Court, Ohio, Estate of Richard Carle, dec'd Case #1919 (1837), 20 extant pages, for administrator’s bond dated 15 July 1837; reports sureties George Burns, George F. Carle (signed Georg F. Carle), Joseph F. Carle and Michael Sainer; administrators were George Burns and George F. Carle; annotated image follows:

(b) Columbiana County Probate Court, Ohio, Estate of Richard Carle, dec'd Case #1919 (1837), for “George Burns, administrator, account of money paid to heirs” dated 30 Aug 1844, including entries for payments to "J & R Miller" and George F. Carle; annotated image follows, in relevant part:

“J & R Miller,” highlighted above, most assuredly refers to my Rebecca and her husband, John Miller.

3. There is little question that Richard’s widow, Mary, was Mary (Firestone) Carle and the mother of all his children. Rebecca’s youngest siblings, Harriet and Lydia Ann, were minors at the time of their father’s death. Daniel Firestone (1797-1864), the brother of Mary (Firestone) Carle, acted as the guardian for Richard Carle's minor heirs. A John Sanor was one of the sureties for the guardian’s bond.

Columbiana County Probate Court, Ohio, Guardianship of Lydia Carle, et. al.,  Daniel Firestone, guardian, Case #2133, five extant pages as of 1997; for guardianship bond, 3 May 1841; sureties were Daniel Firestone, George Lower and John Sanor; guardian was Daniel Firestone, minors were Lydia Ann and Henrietta Carle [elsewhere therein as Harrietta/Harriet Carle; surname sometimes "Snider"], separately, file calls the children “minor heirs of Richard Carle, dec’d,” the guardian's bond was witnessed by Jacob Lower, Sr. 

Separate research shows the two minor daughters later married. Harriet Carle married 1853 to Capt. Robert M. Reid, and Lydia Ann Carle married 1850 to Joseph Jackson. [v] 

4. Columbiana County Probate Court, Ohio, Estate of Mary Carle, dec'd 1869, Case #6806, 11 extant pages in 1997, Joseph F. Carle, administrator. From the administrator's accounting as well as Mary’s obituary and gravestone, we know this estate was that of Mary (Firestone) Carle. [vi] 

Nowhere in the file does the name George Carle or George F. Carle appear.

STEP 2: Evidence of George F. Carle at Ray County, Missouri.

5. 1850 U.S. Census, Ray County, Missouri, population schedule, no city listed (District 75), sheet 618 (penned), page 310 (printed), dwelling 294, family 284, George F. Carle household, as of 27 Aug 1850; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 18 Mar 2007), cites National Archives micropublication M432, roll 412. George is ae 39, born Ohio; his apparent wife is Elizabeth Carle, ae 32, also born Ohio. Apparent children are Richard, ae 13, Harriet, ae 10, John, ae 9, Lydia Ann, ae 2; and Elizabeth, ae 2/12, all children born Missouri except the eldest, Richard, said born Ohio. Relevant entry, annotated, follows.

6. Howard L. Conard, Encyclopedia of the History of Missouri, v. 5 [select pages for Ray County, Missouri] (1901), digital images from microfilm, McGuire Home (http://mcguirehome.tripod.com/Images/marriagesandwills_h3.jpg : accessed 2010), entry for Nancy J. Helton and spouse, James Tanner, married 15 Aug 1848, comments, "Nancy by consent of George F. Carle and wife with whom she was living"; cites a reference 134.

7.  Although Robert must prove the link from John S. Carle to his father, George F. Carle, for the purpose of his SAR application, that is not the charge of this blog entry. Robert has separate evidence about John’s parentage placing his ancestor, George F. Carle, at Missouri; we have some insight into Robert's separate evidence.

• "Civil War Declaration of Pension - John S. Carle," abstract by Robert Yates (address private); Robert Yates to GJ, E-mail of 16 May 2007, "...[John] is 66 years of age, having been born on the 9th day of August 1841..."
• “John Sainor Carle’s Volunteer Enlistment,” 17 August 1864, abstract by Robert Yates (address private); Robert Yates to GJ, E-mail of 17 Nov 2010, “I, John Carle born in Camden in the State of Missouri, aged 23 years, and by occupation a miner….”
• Robert R Yates, John S. Carle in "CARLE," Carle-L listserve , 26 Feb 1999 (archive online, Rootsweb.com), compiler writes, "My g-grandfather John Sainor CARLE was b. in Camden, Washington County, Missouri on August 9, 1841. John's father's name was George CARLE and possibly came from the 'Old Country' (Holland) ... John S. CARLE was a miner by trade and also was a surveyor. He helped survey Anacortes and Bellingham, WA. ... John S. Carle died September 26, 1912. He was buried on the family farm on Lopez Island, WA"; without further citation.

STEP 3:  Prove George F. Carle, son of Richard and Mary (Firestone) Carle, is the same man who resided Missouri and was enumerated at Ray County in 1850.

For this work, we examine yet other evidence and then look more closely at some of the documents previously mentioned.

8. The Ohio death certificate for Harriet (Carle) Cobourn, born Missouri, died Columbiana County, Ohio, reports she was the daughter of George and Elizabeth (Sanor) Carle.

Harriet J. Cobourn, dec'd 17 Oct 1915, Certificate of Death, v. 1748, file 53217 (19 Oct 1915), Ohio Historical Society, Columbus Ohio; informant is K. L. Cobourn of Salem, O.  Harriet's date of birth given as 18 Sept 1839, at Missouri, to parents George Carle and Elizabeth Sanor, both b. Ohio; informant separately identified as Harriet's son, Kertis L. ("Curtis L.") Cobourn (1871-1939). This is aka Harriet J. (Carle) Cobourn, wife of Nathan Cobourn, see Hinshaw, The Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, Vol. IV - Ohio, p. 671 "[COBOURN], Nathan, m. Harriet J. Carle, dt/ Geo. & Elizabeth, b. 1839, 9, 18 (G)."

9. The obituary of above Harriet J. Cobourn, deceased 1915, called her siblings, then all deceased, as Richard, John, Lydia (Carle) Whinery and Elizabeth Carle.  The information compares favorably with the 1850 George F. Carle census record at Ray County, Missouri (herein, see Step 2, item 7); indicates the parents died shortly after moving from Missouri to Ohio, when Harriet was about 15 (so, c1854).

Obituary of Harriet J. Cobourn, deceased Sunday afternoon, "Deaths," The Salem (Ohio) News, edition of Monday, October 18, 1915; viewed as annotated copy from microfilm "original" by Peggy Cobourn Brobeck (address private), included in correspondence to GJ, 28 April 2007. Represented in part below.

From the obituary, "[Harriet] was born in Missouri and lived with her parents at a small boat landing on the banks of the Missouri river until she was about 14 years old when she came with her parents by boat to East Liverpool and drove from there to Salem, locating about four miles southwest of Salem, near New Middleton ... Her father's name was George Carle and her mother's maiden name was Elizabeth Sanor. She was the oldest of a family of five children, Harriett J. Carle, Richard Carle, John Carle, Lydia (Carle) Whinery, and Elizabeth Carle, all of whom preceded her in death. Mrs. Cobourn's mother died when the decedent was about 15 years of age, and her father passed away a few months later ... She was married to Nathan Cobourn December 25, 1869 ... [he] died in 1887..." [vii]

10. From the death and obituary records about Harriet (Carle) Cobourn, we attribute the trace of a separately identified Columbiana County marriage record to her parents.  See "Ohio Marriages, 1800-1958," database,  FamilySearch.org (http://beta.familysearch.org : extracted 17 November 2010), for George F. Carol and Elizabeth Sanor, married 16 March 1837, Columbiana County, cites Family History Center film #927766. 

11. Okay, we’re almost there. When considered with the evidence already presented, we believe the next few items prove Harriet (Carle) Cobourn and her siblings were descendants of Mary (Firestone) Carle, so that their father, George F. Carle, is also a descendant and surely Mary’s son by that name.

(a) Columbiana County Probate Court, Ohio, Estate of Mary Carle, dec'd 1869, Case #6806, in particular for "Final account of Joseph Carle - Administrator of Mary Carle Deceased," dated ?13 December 1872, 4 pp., opening with the language, "Amt on hands on last Settlement Jun 17th, 1871." [viii] Of the some 32 entries (transactions) recorded in the accounting, compiler attributes two payments from the estate to George's children, one each to Harriet [(Carle)] Coburn and Lydia Carle. (Image follows.) None of the entries in the extant accounting for Case #6808 can be associated with George's sons, John and Richard, or his daughter, Elizabeth.  

There is little doubt that this is the estate of Mary (Firestone) Carle. At the time of Mary's death, her nephew, Solomon Jefferson Firestone (1833-1912, son of Daniel F. Firestone) was the Columbiana County Probate Judge. Mary's son, Joseph F. Carle, administered Mary's estate; bonded first by additional sureties Nathan Cobourn (would appear Harriet Cobourn’s spouse) and George Burns. Later, it appears, sureties for the bond were named S. J. Firestone (would appear the judge himself) and another nephew, Daniel W. Firestone (1837-1896, son of Daniel F. Firestone). The change in sureties likely related to a letter in the estate file, Nathan Cobourn to the court (undated); he asks to be removed as a surety on the bond. 

(b) George F. Carle’s daughters, Harriet and Lydia, are the only two of his children we find named in the accounting records for estate of Mary (Firestone) Carle (Mary Carle, Case #6806). Harriet and Lydia are also the only two of George’s children we find in the 1870 census residing at Columbiana County—and they were living together at the time the distributions were made by Mary’s administrator. (Note the date of the census!)

1870 U.S. census, Columbiana Co., Ohio, population schedule, Perry Twp. (P.O. Salem), page 256, sheet 16, dwelling 116, family 119, Nathan Coburn household, 28 Jun 1870; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed  24 Mar 2007), National Archives microfilm publication M593, roll 1184; relevant entry, annotated, follows:

We find Lydia Carl, ae 22, born Missouri, without occupation, living with Harriet Coburn, ae 30, b. Missouri; Harriet is apparent wife of Nathan Coburn.  

You might think we’ve got this circled—but wait, there’s more!

(c) At Columbiana County, yet another estate. This time for Richard L. Carle, dec’d (1876). The estate contains only one asset--a distribution from Joseph F. Carle, administrator of the estate of Mary Carle, “which amount Richard L. Carle would have been entitled to as an heir at Law of said Mary Carle, Deceased."

By separate research, we know this 1876 estate does not belong to Richard L. Carle, the son of Mary (Firestone) Carle, as her son didn’t die until 1880. [ix]  The 1876 estate reports heirs at law Mrs. Harriet Cobourn, Mrs. Lydia Whinery and John S. Carle.  Given the evidence examined, we attribute this estate to Richard L. Carle, the son of George and Elizabeth (Sanor) Carle, with the heirs being Richard’s siblings.

Columbiana County Probate Court, Ohio, Estate of Richard Carle dec'd 1876, Case #8661 (docket no. 5, page 425), six extant pages as of 1997, for Final Accounting, 24 Mar 1877, John E. Rogers, administrator. (Image follows)

PSST ... Little Surprises

In the course of compiling the material for this blog, we scanned a few Internet genealogical sites--just to make sure we hadn't missed evidence that might contribute or contradict this proof. 

Lookie, lookie--see what we found. At Ancestry.com, there were two patent deeds related to land in Williams County, Ohio; both records were indexed as "George F. Carle." When we looked at the deed images, we found the actual purchaser's name had been George Firestone Carle--one reporting his residence as Columbiana County, Ohio; the other as Ray County, Missouri.

Issued 18 April 1849, certificate 4867,  for George Firestone Carle of Columbiana County, Ohio

Issued 1 July 1850, certificate 16169,  for George Firestone Carle of Ray County, Missouri

George Firestone Carle (Columbiana County, Ohio), cash entry certificate 4867, Lima (Defiance), Ohio, Land Office; digital image, "U.S. General Land Office Records," Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 14 November 2010), cites "United States. Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Records, Automated Records Project; Federal Land Patents, State Volumes, http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/, Springfield, Virginia: Bureau of Land Management, Eastern States, 2007"; subject land described as 80 acres--the "east half of the south east quarter of Section eleven in Township seven, North, of Range three, East"; relevant part of this image follows:

George Firestone Carle (Ray County, Missouri), cash entry certificate 16169, Defiance [formerly Lima], Ohio, Land office digital image, "U.S. General Land Office Records," Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 14 November 2010), cites "United States. Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Records, Automated Records Project; Federal Land Patents, State Volumes, http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/, Springfield, Virginia: Bureau of Land Management, Eastern States, 2007"; subject land described as 40 ares--the "South West quarter of the South East quarter, of Section eleven, in Township Seven North, of Range Three East"; relevant part of this image follow:

This "find" is ever so sweet. Unrelated to this proof, we know that Mary (Firestone) Carle's brother, George Firestone, married a woman, Rebecca Carle, who we report as the younger sister of Richard L. Carle. Since my ancestor had been named Rebecca Firestone Carle, I suspected the son was George F[irestone] Carle. Wonderful to see that full name in print.

Endnotes---

i. For the marriage and Mary (Firestone) Carle’s ancestry, see George Ely Russell, C.G., FASG, FNGS, "Firestone Family of Frederick County, Maryland," Western Maryland Genealogy, Vol. 9, No. 1 (Jan 1993), and Vol. 9, No. 2 (April 1993), pages 62-72, for #7-Mathias^2 Firestone, vol. 9, No. 2, page 63-64, for the children of Mathias and Anna Maria (Bieber) Firestone, including "42 vi. Anna 'Mary'^3 Firestone, b. 9 Oct. 1789; bp. Frederick Town E-L Church 18 Oct. 1789; sponsors: John and Louisa Lieblich: m. Columbiana Co., Ohio, 17 Dec. 1807 Richard Karl/Carle," citing "Pastor Krug's Marriage Register," Maryland Magazine of Genealogy 4:27 and Columbiana County, Ohio, Marriage Records, 1804-1835 (E. Liverpool, Ohio: Griscom DAR Chapter, 1938).

  

ii. Dirck Lowe "Richard L." Carle, baptized "Dirick Lou Cerel," see A. Van Doren Honeyman, "Neshanic Reformed Church Baptismal Records, Early Records, 1762-1796," Somerset County Historical Quarterly, ongoing series beginning Volume I, No. 2 (April 1912) (Somerville, New Jersey : Somerset County Historical Society, April 1912); online transcribed digital edition, GenealogyLibrary.com (http://www.genealogylibrary.com : extracted 15 Jun 2007); entry at page 135, entry for Josif and Maria Cerel, baptism of "Dirick Lou," June 8, 1777. Church baptism records were made in Dutch through the Revolutionary War, and were arranged earlier by date, the Quarterly editor (Honeyman) alphabetized the entries;" the Low/Lowe baptisms were recorded under the surname Lou, even though Dirck Lowe's name appears elsewhere in the church records as Low and/or Lowe.

iii. Separate research/evidence show that Richard and Mary (Firestone) Carle lived their married lives at Columbiana County, Ohio. This evidence includes but is not limited to estate records, land records, plat maps and census records.

iv. As an aside, at least as far as we have been able to learn in our separate research, it was Rebecca's mother, Mary (Firestone) Carle, who was of German descent, not the father, Richard, whose family name is more commonly spelled "Carle." Richard was born in New Jersey; we know much about Richard's maternal ancestry; it was Dutch. We have yet to discover German ancestry on Richard's father's side.

v. Robert M. Reed and Harriet J. Carles, Columbiana County, married 1 Sept 1853, "by Rev. H.H. Moore, a Methodist Minister," for bride, groom, date and location, see Jordan Dodd (Liahona Research), compiler, "Ohio Marriages 1803-1900"; database, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 2000-200X), cites Columbiana County, Ohio Marriages, 1851-70 FHC film # (0927767 - 0927768) which in turn cites country marriage books;  for Jackson-Carl marriage see Family Tree Maker Marriage Index: Ohio; 1789-1850; CD-ROM (Novato, California: Broderbund Software, 1996), Joseph Jackson to Lydia Ann Carl, Columbiana County, 17 Dec 1850. 

vi. "Paulding County, Ohio - Death Records 1867-1872," Gateway to the West, 2 vols (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co.: 1989), II: 334, for record, "Carle, Mary - d 9-15-1869; a 80-11-6; w; pd Emerald twp.; pb Maryland.", originally published by Ruth Bowers and Anita Short, Gateway to the West , (42 mostly quarterly issues vols. 1A-11, 1967-1978), Vol 11 (1978); viewed as digital images, Genealogy.com (http://www.genealogy.com : accessed 31 Mar 2007); preface reports that these records are from "Death Record 1" located in the Probate Court at the court house in Paulding. Continuing, "Page on which the record may be found in the original book is given in parenthesis. Only Persons over 40 years of age have been included in this record. Abbreviatons: d=died; m=married; w=widow or widower; s=single, pd=place of death; pb=place of birth; res=residence. Residence is the same as the place of death unless stated otherwise."

vii. Obituary reports Harriet was the eldest of the five children, but she was probably not the eldest. See 1850 U.S. Census, Ray County, Missouri, population schedule, for George F. Carle household, as of 27 Aug 1850, discussed herein.

viii. The extant Mary Carle estate accounting records do not reconcile and contain debit entries are dated from 22 June 1871 to 12 December 1872; credits, from 2 June 1870 to 6 Dec 1872).  

ix.“Carle,” Richard L. Carle obituary, publication unknown, annotated July 1880; Paulding County (Ohio) genealogical files; digital images from photocopies by Kevin Arvin (address private) to GJ,  E-mail c30 July 1999; reports Richard’s only relatives as a brother from Columbiana County and sister, Mrs. Harriet Reid, of Emerald township. Compiler notes Richard's sister Rebecca (Carle) Miller also survived; she passed away in 1892. 

Update notice: As of early July 2012, I have begun updating the templates I use in Blogger.com and working to correct font and line break issues. As part of this work, the original 18 Nov 2010 article was updated and republished on 11 July 2012. There were no intentional changes made to the text in the process of this update. --GeneJ