Tuesday, November 30, 2021

Carringers in the News -- David J. Carringer Dies After a Three-Story Fall in 1870

 It's time for another edition of "Carringers in the News" - a weekly feature from the historical newspapers about persons with the surname Carringer (my mother's maiden surname) that are interesting, useful, mysterious, fun, macabre, or add information to my family tree database.

This week's entry is from the Carson Daily Appeal [Carson city, Nevada] newspaper dated 16 February 1870:

The transcription of this article is:  

"A Somnambulist Killed -- The Auburn Stars and Stripes, of the 10th, has the annexed:

"David J. Carringer, for many months an employee of S.G. Morris, proprietor of the American Hotel in this place, while in a somnambulist state, last Friday evening, stepped out of a third story window of he American and fell forty feet, into the adjoining lot of George Keehner breaking both legs, dislocating his angles and seriously injuring his spine.  The unfortunate man stated, when found, that at the time he fell he supposed he was entering the dining room of the hotel.  Drs. Chapin and Dubois were called in attendance.  On Saturday they amputated one of the legs of the injured man.  He, however, survived the operation but a few hours."

The source citation is:

"A Somnambulist Killed," Carson Daily Appeal [Carson city, Nev.] newspaper, Wednesday, 16 February 1870, page 3, column 3, David J. Carringer article;   GenealogyBank, Newspaper Archives (https://www.genealogybank.com : accessed 29 November 2021).

David J. Carringer was born about 1822 in Mercer County, Pennsylvania, the son of Jacob and Elizabeth (--?--) Carringer.  He died in early February 1870 in or near Auburn, California.  Apparently, he never married.  

David J. Carringer is my 1st cousin four times removed, with common ancestors of my 4th great-grandparents Martin and Magdalena (Hoax) Carringer. He may be the namesake of my 2nd great-grandfather David Jackson Carringer (1828-1902) who was the son of Jacob Carringer's brother, Henry Carringer.

There are hundreds of Carringer "stories" in my family tree - and this was one of them. Life happens, accidentally and intentionally, and sometimes a newspaper article tells us of a fatal incident in the life of a relative.  I am glad that I can honor David J. Carringer today.

You never know when a descendant or relative will find this blog post and learn something about their ancestors or relatives, or will provide more information about them to me.

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Disclosure: I have a complimentary subscription to Newspapers.com and have used it extensively to find articles about my ancestral and one-name families.


Copyright (c) 2021, Randall J. Seaver

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